Inspiring Singapore’s next generation with more opportunities to participate in track and field

Inspiring Singapore’s next generation with more opportunities to participate in track and field

Singapore’s national movement for sport – ActiveSG – continues to deliver its promise to offer meaningful opportunities for all to live better through sport with the launch of its Athletics Club today. Targeted at youths aged 6 to 24 years, the club is designed for participants to learn, enjoy, participate and compete, with programmes catered from the entry to competitive level.

The club is part of Sport Singapore (SportSG)’s ongoing effort to introduce a series of academies and clubs aimed at creating accessible options for youths to play and realise their fullest potential in a sport. The first to kick off this series was the ActiveSG Football Academy, launched just earlier this month.

Athletics is fundamental for all sports

SportSG’s Chief for ActiveSG Lai Chin Kwang highlighted that the different disciplines in track and field help to build skills that are fundamental in helping to keep youths physically and mentally fit. He said: “Athletics forms the basis for all sport skill development and is key in promoting life-long enjoyment of physical activity. While we do hope to widen the talent pool in track and field through the ActiveSG Athletics Club, it also lays the foundation for sports they choose to pursue later.”

For this reason, the ActiveSG Athletics Club is led by a team of full-time staff who have the necessary qualifications, expertise and passion in the area of fundamental movement skills. They include Dr Esther Chia, a PhD graduate from the University of Western Australia in Exercise and Health Science who has lectured courses in motor development and learning; as well as Miriam Lee, who is about to receive her PhD in Motor Control and Learning from the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. They work closely with the coaches and partners in the fraternity to identify developmental needs and develop the curriculum, in line with the club’s vision and in an effort to build a robust sport eco-system.

Lai also reiterated that the Athletics Club, as with all other ActiveSG academies and clubs, is more than just about teaching youths the technical aspects of sport: “The ActiveSG Athletics Club will provide youths with the opportunity to learn the right techniques in track and field, and we will guide them along as they progress up the pathway. But more importantly, they will experience and demonstrate important values such as perseverance, integrity and team spirit. They will also pick up valuable life skills that will help them become better, future-ready individuals.”

5 clubs islandwide supported by 2 established head coaches

Supported by Head Coaches Melvin Tan and Steven Quek who are no strangers in the field, the ActiveSG Athletics Club will hold its training sessions at five locations across the island: Bedok Stadium, Bishan Stadium, Bukit Gombak Stadium, Home of Athletics (Kallang Practice Track) and Woodlands Stadium.

Starting from 30 May 2016, it will kick off two programmes for the year – the “Athletics for Kids” for children aged 6 to 12 years, and “Athletics for Youth” for those aged 13 to 24 years. Priced at $130 and $180 per season respectively, the former will look into the development of athletics fundamentals through games and fun challenges, while the latter will guide participants towards training for specific track and field events of their choice. Both programmes will run 1.5-hour training sessions on weekday evenings from 6:30pm to 8:00pm and/or weekend afternoons from 4:30pm to 6:00pm, thrice a week. Registration will commence from Friday, 6 May 2016 on ActiveSG.

Said Quek: “I am honoured to be appointed head coach of the ActiveSG (Distance Running) Athletics Club. This is an excellent opportunity to work with our youth not only in the technical aspects of track and field, but also a platform to guide them on the fundamental values and life skills that are so important in both long term sports development and life in general. Through a progressive and comprehensive year-round training programme, I hope that the athletes could raise the level of performance and build on the recent achievements of our distance runners.”

Said Tan: "The idea of having an athletics club for the public is awesome. The objectives behind this project are interesting and meaningful. I am definitely honoured to be part of this brilliant initiative by ActiveSG as the Head Coach for Sprints. Apart from imparting knowledge and skills to the participants, I will also hope to inculcate the ethos of ActiveSG. A good training plan will get you somewhere, but upholding a good value system and inculcating good habits in life will see you through your entire athletic career. Finally, my desire is for athletics to thrive in Singapore whereby an average athlete can train and compete on a regular basis while the talented will be nurtured further for national representation."

Team Singapore Sport Ambassadors to inspire the next generation of athletes

Participants of the ActiveSG Athletics Club will also be able to rub shoulders with and be inspired by some of Singapore’s home-grown track and field stars across generations. Coming onboard as Team Singapore Sport Ambassadors are Calvin Kang, C Kunalan, Dipna Lim-Prasad, Glory Barnabas, Kenneth Khoo, Lieu Teck Hua, Shanti Pereira, and U K Shyam, who will make their appearances at some training sessions to share their experiences, lend advice and motivate the youths.

Annex A: ActiveSG Athletics Club Factsheet

Overview
At the ActiveSG Athletics Club, children and youth may sign up for training programmes in track and field disciplines to learn specific athletic skills through a series of well-designed lessons, games, exercises and mini competitions that are led by professional coaches and movement skills experts.

Beyond acquiring an athletics skill set, the programmes will also help to develop important life skills and values such as team spirit, discipline, determination, respect and integrity.

Programmes for 2016

ActiveSG members can offset 30% of the fee with ActiveSG dollars.

Training Venues
Training sessions are held at five venues across the island:

• Bedok Stadium

• Bishan Stadium

• Bukit Gombak Stadium

• Home of Athletics (Kallang Practice Track)

• Woodlands Stadium