President’s Message

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		<h1>President’s Message</h1>
		<date>Monday, 7 Aug 2006</date>
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			Greetings fellow archers,
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			The exams are just around the corner and many of you will be ‘hitting’ the books and cramming for the many tests.  Well, stay focused and best of luck on your tests.		
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		<h2>SAFRA 19 & 20 August Indoor Tournament</h2>
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			SAFRA always organizes one of the best indoor tournaments around and I believe they will do so again this time round.  It is an 18m 2-day competition with the first day for individuals and the second for the qualifying teams.  Don’t forget that their closing date is 12 August 2006 for all categories.  Coaches and club officials, please give them your fullest support.		
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		<h2>PESTA SUKAN 2006 PRISON TOURNAMENT</h2>
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			This is a fairly extensive competition and quite complicated, so please read the information very carefully before you sign up your archers.  Understand that the fee for the Interschool Meet has been very drastically reduced to $10 with no fees being charged for the team events.  Of course with the reduction goes the goody.  So, I believe, the organizers will keep everything to the barest minimum.		
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				IMPORTANT:  The Interschool results on this third of September shoot will be used to invite archers into the National Archery Training Squads.  The NATS is a new initiative by AAS to formally organize the selection process of our National Trainees.  Full details of this scheme will be announced shortly through this website and by a briefing to all clubs and coaches of AAS.  The next selection will be about 6 months later.  Open Class Archers above the age of 18 will have their first full FITA open trial on September 17, 2006.
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		<h2>SINGAPORE SPORTS COUNCIL LIBRARY CARDS</h2>
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			As a member of the Singapore Sports Council, we are entitled to use their well stocked library situated at the National Stadium.  They have many fine books and reference materials there and all clubs and coaches are encouraged to make full use of this resource.		
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			Before proceeding there please get a library card from either Ken Ang (1), Coach Choi (1), or from the AAS secretary Sonny Nair (3 cards).
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		<h2>MORE GOOD NEWS TO COME</h2>
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			Your committee is presently working on a number of projects and though I am dying to tell you about it, I can’t.  It has not been formalized and I do not want to steal the thunder from the team members who are putting their hearts and souls into the projects.  If you do meet up with any of the committee members of AAS, please give them a word of appreciation or encouragement because they really deserve the pat on the back for their dedication and sacrifices.  To those who have written in to thank and praise us for the work done to-date, we thank you.  It is great to know that despite the many frustrations, there are many out there who genuinely appreciate what is being done for the sport of archery.		
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		<h2>RESTORATION OF COACH TERRISS’s MASTER COACH STATUS</h2>
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			I have verified Coach Terriss’s qualifications and together with SSC we are satisfied that his credentials are bona fide.		
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			I am equally convinced that even though he may have failed in certain areas required of him as a volunteer member in the former committee, these failings do not reflect on his coaching capabilities or coaching credentials and as such are totally unrelated.  Based on this, I am of the opinion that to continue his suspension would be a grave injustice to him.
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			I have, as such, instructed SSC to re-instate Coach Terriss’s status as a Master Coach with the National Register of Coaches.
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			Similarly, I am also releasing the certificates of all those coaches who recently took the training and test with Coach Kim during the recently concluded Archery Technical Level 2 course.  They completed the course, sat successfully for the exams and as such, deserve the certificates like the rest of their fellow class mates.  Whether, they have done their hours of coaching or not has no relation whatsoever to their entitlement of their certificates.
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			If the hours were a pre-requisite, it should have been made known prior to the course and not arbitrarily introduced and administered by any single individual.  To those coaches who have been inconvenienced, I sincerely apologize on behalf of AAS.
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			A word of advice to all Coaches: it is not how many certificates you have or how high a level of competence you have achieved.  A true professional coach shares his knowledge and skills with his archers.  A true professional coach is driven by the desire to see his charges improve and achieve success no matter how little that yardstick may be.  A true professional Coach will never impede his archer’s advancement for any reasons whatsoever.  Doing so will be selfish and totally against the Code of Ethics of a Professional Coach.  Remember, it is always about the archer who is putting his faith in you as a Coach.  Do right by them, always.		
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			George Loh<br />
			President<br />
			Archery Association of Singapore<br />
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