… And Sustainability, And Fun

Not just participation, but sustainable participation.

Like I said, I’m very accommodating of irregular participation.  Or of withdrawals due to work and social commitments, illness and injuries, as long as withdrawing late doesn’t become a habit. 🙂

Some people try to play two or three times a week, others try to play once every two or three weeks.  Not many of us will be able to match Bobby, who has played more than 50 sessions and games over 6 months.  It’s all good.

Some play to get regular exercise – a more social and enjoyable alternative to jogging or the gym.  Others play just for the fun of it.

Sometimes, work or other commitments may keep a participant away for weeks if not months.

Sometimes, it take weeks if not months to fully recover from injury. It makes sense to allow an injury to fully clear up than to rush back and risk aggravating the injury.

If while recovering, you need a regular fix of sport or activity, then try some sport or activity that won’t risk aggravating the particular injury.  If there is sufficient interest in other sports or activities expressed on the blog, I’m always open to trying to organise it through FIOFAFI.

If you find that you’re picking up injuries too easily or frequently, perhaps you need to consider your playing style.  Sometimes, you do need to spend time in a gym or in other activity to strengthen or stretch vulnerable muscles or joints.  Or find more effective means of dealing with health issues.

The aim is for FIOFAFI to provide everyone with opportunities to participate in activity that they enjoy, and to work on their health and fitness, even as you get older.  If it also provides an incentive to do so, even better.

On the other hand, it’s flexible.  Anyone could easily go 9 months without playing and still remain on the Participant List.  However, even if you’re not playing due to other commitments, injury, or being away from Singapore for a length of time, you can still “participate” by contributing on the blog.   Treat the blog as an online clubhouse which you can access at any time, from anywhere in the world.

A growing pool of participants also keeps the entire FIOFAFI system sustainable, so always feel free to introduce new people.

Sometimes, we have people who play once or twice and never come back.  Perhaps FIOFAFI is not for them.  Or regulars who stop playing for one reason or another, and then having lost the momentum, never come back.

I’m always interested to know why anyone stops playing.   As I’ve said before, it would be good if they could let me know, whether on the blog, or by e-mail or SMS, but as I went on to add, I guess if someone is not interested enough to continue playing, they’re unlikely to be interested enough to let me know, let alone tell me why.

On the other hand, with non-regular games and other activities, FIOFAFI can be anything anyone wants it to be. Provided the pool is large enough, it is possible to cater for more particular needs or interests.

Commenting on the blog or voting in polls helps me to have an idea of what people might be looking for or be interested in.   Sometimes, impromptu changes to the regular system can be popular and enjoyable.

FIOFAFI sessions allow anyone to participate without the demands of playing in league competition or other competitive matches.    As you play when you can and you want to, you don’t have to commit your time as you would for a league competition.

On the other hand, most of us enjoy competition.  Using rankings to determine the line ups more often than not gives rise to two evenly contested teams, and the rankings are a challenge.

Each regular session’s player poll is just for fun.

As line ups are determined session by session based on the current rankings, an opponent in one match could be your team-mate in the next, so there’s no point getting too worked up over any incident that occurs during a game. If it’s a foul, just call the foul.  In any event, just shake hands and get on with the game.  If the incident merits further discussion, there’s always the blog.

In response to several incidents early in the year, I tried listing some core values:

• Facilitating a work-life balance.
• Maintaining health and fitness even as we get older through regular and sustainable participation in activity.
• Voluntary participation with maturity and in good spirits.
• Achieving a balanced and healthy perspective on sport and competition.
• Developing friendships and finding enjoyment through participation.

It all boils down to participation, sustainability and enjoyment.

Sustainability of participation also helps to maintain numbers.  It’s about how to keep people coming back for more.

I get the feeling that most of all, people come back because FIOFAFI is fun.