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MCYS MEDIA RELEASE NO: 08/2008

DATE OF ISSUE: 14/02/2008

PRESS RELEASE

‘LIVE LIFE, BREATHE SPORTS’


SPORTING CULTURE COMMITTEE RELEASES ITS
RECOMMENDATIONS

The Sporting Culture Committee (SCC) released its report today,


detailing 23 recommendations to catalyse the growth of an inclusive
sporting community, groom our own sporting heroes to bring home
international glory, and develop a dynamic sports industry that generates
economic opportunities.

2 Formed in September 2006 by the Ministry of Community


Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), the SCC is chaired by
Parliamentary Secretary Teo Ser Luck. Mr Teo and his fellow committee
members, who hail from the people, public and private sectors, share a
passion for sports and a strong belief about the benefits of sports to the
individual, community and nation. The list of committee members is
available at Annex A.

3 Said Mr Teo, “After many months of brainstorming by the members


of the Sporting Culture Committee, as well as consultation with various
groups and stakeholders from within and outside the sporting fraternity, I
am pleased to share the Committee’s report with the public. I believe this
report is an important step towards nurturing a sporting culture in
Singapore.”

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4 The Committee’s recommendations emphasise providing sports
opportunities for all – the young, working adults, families, seniors and the
disabled – and ensuring engaging experiences for active sports
participants, spectators and even volunteers. The recommendations
include the formation of a National Sports Strategy Committee to oversee
the implementation of the SCC’s recommendations, initiating the inclusive
multi-sports Singapore Games, supporting the development of sports clubs,
and creating more playing spaces in the heartlands.

5 Mr Teo added, “The Committee members strongly believe that


sports has the power to galvanise people. Sports is fun and allows families,
friends and neighbours to bond in an emotive and experiential manner
when they play and watch sporting events together. The Committee hopes
that everyone will come onboard and work together to build an enduring
Singapore Sporting Culture.”

6 The Sporting Culture Committee has submitted its report to MCYS.


The Ministry will study the recommendations and give its response during
the Committee of Supply sessions in March.

Attachments:
Annex A – Composition of Committee
Annex B – Sporting Culture Committee report (Executive Summary)

ISSUED BY

THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, YOUTH AND


SPORTS
14 February 2008

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ANNEX A

COMPOSITION OF COMMITTEE

Chairman
Teo Ser Luck Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Community
Development, Youth and Sports

Members
Bernard Tan Managing Director (Fixed Income),
Development Bank of Singapore
Chairman for sub-committee looking at
“Demand and software – Developing a sporting
lifestyle”

Ng Ser Miang Executive Board Member, International Olympic


Committee & Vice President, Singapore
National Olympic Council
Chairman for sub-committee looking at “Glory
for the nation – Sports heroes and champions”

Low Teo Ping Vice President, Singapore National Olympic


Council, President, Singapore Sailing
Federation & President, Singapore Rugby Union
Chairman for sub-committee looking at “Building
the sector – Creating a sports ecosystem and
developing the sporting industry”

Benson Puah Chief Executive Officer, The Esplanade Co. Ltd

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Chairman for sub-committee looking at “Supply
and hardware – Catalysing sporting
opportunities in the community”

Alex Chan Chairman, Singapore Sports Council


Chairman for sub-committee looking at
“Increasing mindshare – Public education and
awareness”

Ang Peng Siong Managing Director, APS Swim School


Warren Buckley Chief Executive Officer, Suntec Singapore
(until 4 June 2007)
Chris Chan Secretary General, Singapore National Olympic
Council
Chew Hock Yong Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Community
Development, Youth and Sports
Mike DeNoma Group Executive Director (Consumer Banking),
Standard Chartered Bank
Koh Ching Hong Managing Director, Toyota Borneo Motors
Dr Michael Koh Director (School of Sports, Health and Leisure),
Republic Polytechnic
C. Kunalan Asst. Professor, National Institute of Education
MAJ Lien Choong Luen Asst. Director (Future System Directorate),
Ministry of Defence
Ravi Menon Deputy Secretary (Policy),
Ministry of Finance (until 1 April 2007)
Darrell Metzger Chief Executive Officer,
Sentosa Development Corp. (until 1 April 2007)
MG Neo Kian Hong Chief of Army, Ministry of Defence
Ng Wai Choong Deputy Secretary (Policy), Ministry of Finance
(from 1 April 2007 onwards)
Niam Chiang Meng Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Community
Development, Youth and Sports

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Oon Jin Teik Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Sports
Council
Ms Seah Jiak Choo Director-General of Education, Ministry of
Education
Ms Norma Sit Managing Director, RED ART Liveworks Pte Ltd
Ms Sum Chee Wah Director (Education Programmes Division),
Ministry of Education
Dr Benedict Tan Head (Changi Sports Medicine Centre),
Changi General Hospital
Tan Boon Huat Chief Executive Director, People’s Association
Tan Ju Seng President, Singapore Disability Sports Council
Ms Naomi Tan Co-curricular Officer (Co-curricular Activities
Branch), Ministry of Education

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ANNEX B

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE’S REPORT

After extensive deliberations and consultations, the Sporting Culture


Committee has come up with twenty-three recommendations, which will
contribute to a vibrant and self-sustaining sports culture. These
recommendations will build upon our current sports development efforts
and help Singapore work towards a National Sports Vision whereby:

Sports is a celebration of a healthy and spirited lifestyle.


It ignites passion, builds character and bonds Singaporeans.
Together, all of us in Singapore will strive to be active in
sports for health, for vigour and for life.

This vision is encapsulated by our tagline:

Live Life.
Breathe Sports.
Guiding Principles

The Committee proposes the following principles to establish shared values


and nurture strong multi-stakeholder commitment and guide stakeholders
as they work to implement the SCC’s recommendations:

• To create sporting opportunities for all;

• To focus on the “software”, “hardware” and “heartware”


components for sports;

• That sports is an investment which will take time to be


economically self-sufficient;

• To look for win-win solutions as sports compete for funding,


sponsorships, people’s time; and

• To create a unique value proposition for sports that create


attitudinal and behavioural shifts, to encourage people to adopt
sports into their lifestyles.

Targets

The Committee has proposed the following targets for Sporting Singapore:

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• Attaining 66% sports participation by 2015, whereby 2 in 3
Singaporeans take part in sporting activities at least once a
week;

• Building up spectatorship at live sporting events and attracting


more volunteers into sports to involve at least 10% of our
population on a regular basis;

• Attaining medal glory in the 2012 and future Olympics,


maintaining our position among the top 10 sporting nations in
Asia, and nurturing a steady stream of world-class Singaporean
athletes; and

• Having the sports sector contribute S$2b value-add to the


Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2015.

Recommendations of the Sporting Culture Committee

• Recommendation 1: Convene a National Sports Strategy


Committee to take ownership and oversee the implementation of
the SCC’s recommendations, as well as review and advise on
national sports policies.

The Committee’s additional recommendations can be classified under four


broad strategies, as follows:

Strategy 1 – Inspiring the Nation

The Committee aims to raise public awareness and interest towards sports,
in particular local sports.

• Recommendation 2: Develop entertaining sports-centric media


channels to elevate local sports coverage in television, print,
internet, new media etc.

• Recommendation 3: Support creation of compelling sports


content by offering matching grants through a Sports Content
Creation scheme.

• Recommendation 4: Promote our sporting champions as


inspiring heroes and positive role models.

Strategy 2 – Generating Sporting Opportunities for All

The Committee aims to advocate sports as a choice lifestyle and leisure


activity for Singaporeans from all walks of life.

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• Recommendation 5: Maximise usage of publicly-funded sports
facilities through efficient facility planning and innovative spaces in
town centres.

• Recommendation 6: Create more playing spaces that allow


imaginative and spontaneous play.

• Recommendation 7: Create 360° sporting environments that are


customer-friendly and accessible to all demographic segments.

• Recommendation 8: Teach every child at least four sports so


that they pick up the love of sports from young.

• Recommendation 9: Create more play opportunities for every


child particularly in the before and after school hours.

• Recommendation 10: Initiate the Singapore Games to get


Singaporeans excited about local sports and home-grown talents.

• Recommendation 11: Host one marquee sports event every


month so that Singaporeans can experience the buzz of major
home-grown and international sporting competitions.

Strategy 3 – Building a Flourishing Sports Ecosystem

The Committee aims to generate high levels of community involvement,


with market-driven initiatives to support sports clubs, programmes and
infrastructure.

• Recommendation 12: Grow vibrant sports clubs to offer


Singaporeans ample sporting opportunities throughout their lives.

• Recommendation 13: Set up an NSA Advisory Council as a


platform for NSAs to discuss issues and strategize areas of
collaboration.

• Recommendation 14: Fortify NSAs’ sports management


capabilities so that NSAs can be become world-class leaders in
their respective sports.

• Recommendation 15: Train ‘Learn to Play’ instructors to expand


the pool of qualified instructors to teach children and beginners.

• Recommendation 16: Raise standards of the coaching industry


to benefit trainees, coaches and the wider sports industry.

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• Recommendation 17: Create the market to grow sports
enterprises, so that sports companies can anchor in Singapore and
expand into the region.

• Recommendation 18: Make Singapore an international sports


medicine and sports science (SMSS) centre of excellence to
serve our athletes and the broader sports and wellness markets.

• Recommendation 19: Encourage the private sector to manage


sports facilities and programming for the public to enjoy more
varied and accessible playing opportunities.

• Recommendation 20: Enhance the legal framework to support


sports so that sports issues and disputes can be managed with
greater professionalism, transparency and speed.

Strategy 4 – Developing Champions

The Committee aims to develop sports champions to provide a powerful


source of inspiration for the nation.

• Recommendation 21: Form a multi-agency ‘Glory for the


Nation’ committee to strive for sustained Olympic and Paralympic
medal honours.

• Recommendation 22: Start a world-class Sports Institute at the


Sports Hub to provide top-notch training, competition facilities and
services for our elite athletes to excel.

• Recommendation 23: Ramp up youth talent development so


that we can broaden the pipeline leading to sports excellence.

The Path Ahead

Our plans are ambitious and to be successful, we require the 3M’s of


Mandate, Money, and Manpower.

• Mandate: We would need the full backing of our national leadership


as well as the support of the sporting fraternity and wider community.

• Money: We need to increase our national investment in sports to


order to create a self-sustaining sports ecosystem in the future. The
Committee estimates additional investments of S$39.8 million (for
2008 to 2010) and S$36.6 million (for 2011 to 2015) will be required
to implement the SCC’s recommendations.

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• Manpower: We would need passionate and competent personnel at
multiple levels to see through the recommendations.

The Sporting Culture Committee’s report is a start point, not an end point.
The Committee hopes that everyone will come onboard and work together
to build a Singapore Sporting Culture.

Live Life.
Breathe Sports.

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Sporting Culture
Committee Report

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C ontents:

Chapter Page
Foreword 3
Overview 5
Our National Sports Vision 14
Overview of the Four Strategies 20
• Strategy no.1 25
• Strategy no.2 32
• Strategy no.3 45
• Strategy no.4 61
Conclusion: The Path Ahead 66
Annex A: Members of the Committee 68
Annex B: Learning from Overseas 71

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F oreword

Opening Address by Sporting Culture Committee Chairman,


Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Community Development,
Youth and Sports, Mr Teo Ser Luck

Now is the right time to kick-start the second growth of sports in Singapore. There are
exciting developments ahead, with the construction of the Sports Hub and a new National
Stadium by 2012. The development of the sports industry and participation are set to grow.
This signals a new chapter in the sporting landscape of Singapore.

But without people to fill its seats, jog on its lanes, sweat in its gyms, and chase around its
courts, Singapore would only have ‘hardware’ to boast, without ‘software’ to back it up.

That is why I set up the Sporting Culture Committee, to take a hard look at the sporting
culture in Singapore and see how it could be further strengthened in order to bring sports to
everyone, to put the value of sports into every individual, family and organisation, to ‘Live
Life. Breathe Sports’.

Sports has the power to inspire people, whether watching an elite athlete excel after years of
relentless training, or a disabled athlete complete an Ironman distance triathlon, or seeing a
weekend warrior push themselves beyond their usual limits to complete their first marathon.

Sports has the power to bond people – families and friends gel through playing or watching
sports together. Casual soccer buddies catch up while indulging in their passion on weekends.
Sports has the power to create an emotional connection that few other activities can. Witness
the sight of complete strangers cheering in a stadium bound by one voice, one heart, one goal
– wishing the best for their team, or their nation, Singapore in the sporting arena.

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Sports also has the power to galvanise people. Active participation in sports will lead to a
more robust, resilient, and healthy society. In an era of rising affluence and increasing
obesity, it is important that we create opportunities for everyone to be active and exercise.
What’s more, sports is synonymous with fun and sense of community.

For our youth, the leadership skills and character development that they gain from
participating in sports will stand us in good stead when they take on the challenge of leading
our nation in the future.

I would like to thank all my Committee members, the Secretariat staff as well as members of
the sporting fraternity and wider community for their invaluable contributions and
commitment to this project. Building a strong sporting culture will not happen overnight.
Rather, I hope the recommendations of the Sporting Culture Committee will empower and
guide our stakeholders in sports to grow our sporting culture from strength to strength over
time.

Thank you.

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O
VERVIEW

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The First Lap: Committee on Sporting Singapore

In 2001, the Committee on Sporting Singapore (CoSS), chaired by then Minister for
Community Development and Sports, Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, released 40 recommendations
centred around three strategic pillars of Sports for All, Sports Excellence and Sports Industry.
The CoSS recommendations targeted 6 key areas:

• Getting everyone started on a sturdy sports culture;


• Creating a more conducive sports environment;
• Developing more effective National Sports Associations (NSAs);
• Developing and implementing a Sports for All masterplan;
• Pursuing Sports Excellence; and
• Developing a vibrant Sports Industry.

Current Status

Today, two-thirds through the 10-year plan put in place by the CoSS, Singapore has
implemented 31 out of the 40 recommendations. The remaining 9 recommendations are work
in progress.

For Sports Excellence, Singapore is on track to be among Asia’s top 10 sporting nations. Our
athletes have steadily improved their performances at the Major Games1, most recently at the
2007 Southeast Asian Games, the 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2006 Asian Games. We
are on track to establish a new gold medal tally benchmark at the 2010 Asian Games.

The launch of the Singapore Sports School has laid critical building blocks for a sustainable
sports excellence system. The Sports School provides a world-class environment for students
who want to excel in the sporting arena, without compromising on receiving quality
education. For elite athletes who have completed formal schooling, the Singapore Sports

1
The term ‘Major Games’ refers to the following competitions: Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, Asian Games,
Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games.

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Council (SSC) has introduced the Programme for Elite Athlete Career (PEAC), which
provides support to able-bodied and disabled athletes, allowing them to pursue both
professional and sporting aspirations.

The sports industry is growing steadily, with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contribution at
an estimated S$696 million in 2003, up from S$581 million in 19982. The SSC has reached
out to the business community to increase marketing and networking opportunities. Now, we
have more local marquee sports events with naming rights sponsors, e.g. the Standard
Chartered Singapore Marathon, Aviva Badminton Open, Barclays Singapore Open and OSIM
Singapore Triathlon. We have also hosted major sporting events like the 117th International
Olympic Committee (IOC) Session that drew international recognition.

For our National Sports Associations (NSAs), the SSC has conducted regular NSA
networking sessions to support the NSAs as strategic sporting partners. Over the recent years,
the success of NSAs such as SingaporeSailing has proven that they can become true
champions for their sports, attaining organisational excellence and achieving world-class
outcomes.

Across all age groups, Singaporeans have become more active. As seen in the chart below,
the participation rates in sports in almost all age groups have increased between 2001 and
2005. Through the combined efforts of the SSC, Ministry of Education (MOE), Health
Promotion Board (HPB) and other agencies and partners, Singapore achieved a 48% sports
participation rate by 2005, a 10-percentage point jump from the 38% participation rate in
2001. The People’s Association (PA) as well as its Grassroots Organisations have also
organised numerous sports events that have contributed to the overall increase in sports
participation. Of notable mention is the SSC’s Sports Partnership Promotion Programme
(SPPP) that supports organising regular sports programmes and events for everyone. The
infrastructural front has also broken new ground with the innovative Dual Use School Fields
Scheme (DUS). This landmark collaboration between the MOE and SSC sees school fields
being opened to the public. As public schools are progressively being outfitted with indoor
sports halls, they will be made available for community use to facilitate and encourage
regular sports participation.

2
Based on data from the Economic Development Board.

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Chart: Regular Sports Participation by Age Group and Year (2001 vs. 2005)

The Sporting Singapore blueprint drawn up by the CoSS has focused on setting up
infrastructure, systems and processes for our three strategic pillars of Sports for All, Sporting
Excellence, and developing the Sports Industry. While these ground-breaking strategies have
yielded great strides and monumental results, we need to think ahead to sprint the next lap.

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The Next Lap: Sporting Culture Committee

Formed in September 2006, the Sporting Culture Committee (the Committee) is chaired by
Mr Teo Ser Luck, Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development, Youth and Sports.
The Committee comprises representatives from the public, private and people sectors, from
within and outside the sporting fraternity. The full list of committee members is found in
Annex A.

The Committee has set itself two key tasks:

• Review the Sporting Singapore vision, desired outcomes and development strategies
to strengthen and transform Singapore’s sporting culture;

• Propose recommendations to serve as a high-level blueprint to guide Singapore’s


sports development efforts.

Sub-Committees

The starting point was to identify key areas that contribute to a vibrant and self-sustaining
sporting culture. Five sub-committees were formed to examine these areas:

• Demand and software – Developing a sporting lifestyle;


• Glory for the nation – Producing sports heroes and champions;
• Building the sector – Creating a sports ecosystem and developing the sporting
industry;
• Supply and hardware – Catalysing sporting opportunities in the community;
• Increasing mindshare – Enhancing public education and awareness.

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DEMAND AND SOFTWARE

Sub-committee 1:
Developing a Sporting Lifestyle

INCREASING MINDSHARE GLORY FOR THE NATION


Sub-committee 5: Sub-committee 2:
Enhancing Public Education Producing World Champions
and Awareness and Sports Heroes

SPORTING
CULTURE

SUPPLY AND HARDWARE


BUILDING THE SECTOR
Sub-committee 4:
Catalysing Sporting Opportunities Sub-committee 3:
in the Community Creating a Sports Ecosystem and
Developing the Sporting Industry

The Committee acknowledges that sports must compete with the multiple commitments,
pressures and alternative leisure options that Singaporeans face. Each sub-committee sought
opinions from invited international experts, general public and key stakeholders – within and
outside the sporting fraternity – to investigate the issues and lend a reality check to our
recommendations. Besides applying insights from previous visits to Australia, China and the
United Kingdom, the Committee made a study trip in May 2007 to Finland to observe the
Finnish experience in building their sporting culture, particularly their vibrant sports clubs
scene (see Annex B for details).

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Looking Ahead

The Committee sees sports as being instrumental to building healthy, strong-minded


Singaporeans with a resilient, “dare to try, never give up” spirit. A vibrant sports scene will
make our nation a pulsating 24-hour hub of activity for work and play. For a true sporting
culture to emerge, the Committee is proposing a strategy for the next 10 years and beyond, to
improve sports programming and services, enrich culture, gain mindshare and bring people
together.

The 2005 National Sports Participation Survey (NSPS) shows that while considerably more
Singaporeans (aged 15 and above) are participating in sports, most take to individual-based
activities like jogging, walking, and swimming (please refer to chart below).

Chart: Top 20 Most Popular Sports by Participants (2005)

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The Committee hopes to see more Singaporeans taking part in team-sports like soccer,
netball, etc. Team-sports will promote bonding across different ethnic and social groups, as
well as nurture social values in our young.

With a vibrant sports scene, Singapore will have international renown as both a business hub
and a city of recreation. A city that provides its people with an experience full of “oomph”,
Singapore can then attract more creative and mobile global talents to play, work and sink
roots in Singapore. Singapore will see the arrival of the Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2008, a
high-octane event that will be watched by millions all around the world, and one that
promises much buzz to electrify our island country like never before. Numerous other

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marquee events will also be held, e.g. the FINA3 World Cup which Singapore will host from
2007 to 2009.

Culture cannot take root overnight. The Committee hopes that its recommendations will
catalyse a mass movement in Singapore. We hope to sow the seeds for a future whereby our
people will grow to embrace all facets of sports, from participation to spectatorship, from
community volunteering to corporate involvement and so on, such that sports can impact
each citizen in a positive and meaningful way.

3
Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) – International Swimming Federation – is the International
Federation (IF) recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that oversees swimming and other
aquatic sports globally.

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O N UR ATIONAL

S
PORTS V ISION

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Our Vision
The Committee would like to build upon the current Sporting Singapore Vision – which
captures the key themes of resilience, bonding, national pride, economic well-being and
strengthening international friendships – and include the notion that sports is experiential and
a celebration of life.

Live Life. Breathe Sports.


Vision: Sports is a celebration of a healthy and spirited lifestyle. It ignites passion, builds character
and bonds Singaporeans. Together, all of us in Singapore will strive to be active in sports for health,
for vigour and for life.

Desired outcomes:
A strong sporting culture characterised by:

• Resilient people who embody the sporting ideals of perseverance, discipline,


teamwork, and competitive spirit;

• A sporting community without barriers, where all can enjoy and bond – young and old,
able and disabled, seasoned enthusiasts and beginners;

• World-class sporting heroes who bring home international glory and inspire pride in
Singaporeans;

• A vibrant and professional sports industry that generates sporting and economic
opportunities in Singapore and for the region;

• Local and global audiences experience top-notch facilities, events and programmes that
energise and entertain;

• Strengthening cross-border friendships between Singapore and other nations, as well as


celebrating values such as friendship, solidarity and fair play.

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National Sports Strategy Committee and its Guiding
Principles

At the macro level, our national sports policies serve to infuse sports into every aspect of our
daily lives. Our strategies and programmes aim to achieve this fundamental purpose, which
requires long-term dedication from multiple stakeholders to own, drive and evolve the
National Sports Vision.

I. Putting words into action

Recommendation 1: Convene a National Sports Strategy Committee

The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and SSC should
champion the alignment of all key stakeholders in the government, private and people
sectors. Not only can this commitment be strengthened through existing multi-stakeholder
discussion and approval platforms, it is proposed that a new National Sports Strategy
Committee be created and be led by MCYS and SSC. This proposed committee would take
ownership of the recommendations proposed by the Sporting Culture Committee and oversee
their implementation, as well as review and advise on national sports policies. This will
ensure continuity in both planning and execution of the recommendations and keep sports on
the national agenda.

We also propose the following guiding principles to establish shared values and nurture
strong multi-stakeholder commitment:

(i) Sporting opportunities for all – Sports is inclusive and encompassing.


Collaboration between the public, private and people sectors is essential to create
sporting opportunities for all Singaporeans;

(ii) Think heartware, software and hardware – Sports is a total experience. When
we undertake sports development in big and small ways, we must be cognisant that a
combination of well-planned infrastructure, attractive programmes and passionate
people is critical to ensure success in galvanising all Singaporeans;

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(iii) Sports as an investment – Sports yields returns at multiple levels. While it will
take time to build up our sports ecosystem to be economically self-sufficient, we
should adopt an investment-centric attitude, recognising that sports can bring
numerous tangible and intangible returns to the country;

(iv) Synergise and maximise our resources – Sports is a platform for stakeholders to
work together for the greater good. Recognising that sports must compete for funding,
sponsorships, people’s time and so on, a win-win attitude must be adopted to devise
policies and solutions to enhance the popularity of sports;

(v) Create a compelling value proposition for sports – Individuals, communities


and organisations must play a role in defining and championing the value and benefits
of sports, so that together, we can create a groundswell to positively influence the
society’s attitudes towards sports.

Key Strategies and Targets

The Committee’s assessment is that we should stay the course with our existing strategy to
develop the key thrusts of Sports for All, Sports Excellence and Sports Industry. These three
areas are mutually reinforcing – Sports for All builds the base to funnel talent for Sports
Excellence, which in turn can inspire even more budding athletes to take up sports seriously.
A vibrant Sports Industry would provide the goods and services to support the virtuous cycle
between Sports for All and Sports Excellence, and in turn generate the economic value-add
and jobs to drive the entire sporting ecosystem.

The challenges ahead are twofold: first, to bridge areas of synergy across the three sporting
pillars; and second, to adopt a “many helping hands” approach to sports development. Areas
of synergy could include greater community involvement from our elite athletes to build up
sports participation at the local levels. A “many helping hands” approach would encompass
rallying key stakeholders in the government and non-government sectors – such as NSAs,
grassroots groups and sports clubs – to help drive sports.

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The Committee proposes to enhance the targets for the three sporting thrusts as follows:

Sports for All


From 50% sports participation by 2005 (which has been achieved) to a more
encompassing set of sports culture measures that include (i) attaining 66% sports
participation4 by 2015, (ii) building up spectatorship at live sporting events from the
current 5% to 10% of the population5 and (iii) attracting more volunteers into sports
from the current 4.5% to 10% of the population6. While the 4.5% indicator includes
primarily volunteering in sports events, the tracking of sports volunteerism should be
broadened to include other activities, e.g. helping with the NSAs in a pro-bono capacity,
volunteering to run regular sporting programmes and so on.

Sports Excellence
From Top 10 in Asia by 2010 to a broadened focus of (i) attaining medal glory in the
2012 Olympics and sustaining the success in subsequent Olympics as our pinnacle goal,
(ii) maintaining our position among the top 10 sporting nations in Asia beyond 2010,
and (iii) nurturing a steady stream of Singaporean athletes winning world
championships and achieving global rankings across a broad spectrum of sports.

Sports Industry
From a target of S$1.4 billion Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contribution in 2010 to
S$2 billion7 GDP contribution in 2015. To achieve this target, Singapore must develop a
clear and unique value proposition in the global market, so that our sports industry would be
fuelled by local demand for sustenance and international demand for growth. In particular,
we have to identify areas of high value-add, e.g. regional sporting academies and institutions,

4
This translates to 2 in 3 Singaporeans taking part in sporting activities at least once a week.
5
According to the 2005 National Sports Participation Survey, 4.7% of the population aged 15 and above would
watch sports either at the event venues or both on TV and the event venues.
6
According to the Sports Index Study conducted by the SSC in December 2006, 4.5% of the 2,000 respondents
aged 13 and above said that they had volunteered to help at a sports event in the last 12 months. This includes
events at the community, schools, national or international levels.
7
The S$2b target for 2015 is an economic projection based on EDB and SSC’s joint plans to develop the sports
industry, e.g. boosting sports and leisure-related exportable services and products, particularly in the sub-
segments of retail/merchandising, media and broadcasting, professional services, education, and sports medicine
and sports science (SMSS).

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world-class sports science and sports medicine centres (SMSS), event management and event
rights, and developing Singapore into a regional hub for sports-related companies and
organisations. The economic agencies must take the lead to chart the growth strategies and
lend their expertise, tools and networks for the industry to take off.

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O verview of the Four Strategies

The lack of time and a lack of interest8 are commonly cited as Singapore’s main challenges
to participating in sports. The Committee believes that with a stronger sporting culture and a
mindset that sports is inseparable from our lives, Singaporeans will make both effort and time
to participate in sports. After careful deliberation, the Committee recommends four key
strategies to catalyse the development of Singapore’s sporting culture.

Strategy 1 – Inspiring the Nation


The Committee aims to champion the many benefits of sports to individuals, communities,
corporations, and to society. The Committee has proposed several initiatives to raise public
awareness and interest towards sports, particularly local sports. Our athletes must be good
role models, particularly for the young.

I. Creating the buzz

Recommendation 2: Develop entertaining sports-centric media channels

Recommendation 3: Support creation of compelling sports content

II. Leading the way for the young

Recommendation 4: Promote our sporting champions

8
Based on data from the 2005 National Sports Participation Survey (NSPS) – 40% of non-sports participants
cited a lack of time due to family commitments as a major impediment to sports participation, with a lack of
interest being the second most cited impediment (34% of non-sports participants).

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Strategy 2 –
Generating Sporting Opportunities for All
Our vision is to advocate sports as a choice lifestyle and leisure activity for Singaporeans
throughout all stages in life. In our holistic life-cycle approach, we are committed to boost
opportunities for all Singaporeans to be involved in sports at all levels – from recreational
athletes to elite competitors, from players to coaches, from spectators to volunteers, from
amateurs to professionals.

I. Making more sporting facilities available, accessible and enjoyable

Recommendation 5: Maximise usage of publicly-funded sports facilities

Recommendation 6: Create more playing spaces

Recommendation 7: Create 360° sporting environments

II. Promoting sporting opportunities to the youth

Recommendation 8: Teach every child at least four sports

Recommendation 9: Create more play opportunities for every child

III. Bringing sports to the doorsteps of all Singaporeans

Recommendation 10: Initiate the Singapore Games

Recommendation 11: Host one marquee sports event every month

21
Strategy 3 –
Building a Flourishing Sports Ecosystem
To sustain a vibrant sporting culture in the long term, high levels of community involvement
and market participation are required. The Committee suggests that the government can play
an enabling and coordinating role to nurture more bottom-up and market-driven initiatives to
support groups, programmes and infrastructure.

I. Catalysing community involvement in sports

Recommendation 12: Grow vibrant sports clubs

II. Developing our NSAs’ capabilities

Recommendation 13: Set up an NSA Advisory Council

Recommendation 14: Fortify NSAs’ sports management capabilities

III. Expanding coaching services

Recommendation 15: Train ‘Learn to Play’ instructors

Recommendation 16: Raise standards of the coaching industry

IV. Establishing sports as a robust economic engine

Recommendation 17: Create the market to grow sports enterprises

Recommendation 18: Make Singapore an international sports medicine and sports


science (SMSS) centre of excellence

Recommendation 19: Encourage the private sector to manage sports facilities and
programming

V. Building a strong legal foundation

Recommendation 20: Enhance the legal framework to support sports

22
Strategy 4 – Developing Champions
The Committee recognises that our national athletes are an extremely powerful source of
inspiration and rallying point for Singaporeans. Sporting heroes not only help to promote
positive character values, they also inspire us to take up sports and lead active lifestyles.
Therefore, we ought to capitalise on our athletes’ performances on the international stage to
generate interest in sports and build national pride.

Recommendation 21: Form a multi-agency ‘Glory for the Nation’ committee

Recommendation 22: Start a world-class Sports Institute at the Sports Hub

Recommendation 23: Ramp up youth talent development

Coming Together
Together, the four strategies mutually reinforce one another to grow the sporting culture from
different angles. The following illustration shows how they converge in a synergistic manner.

23
Holistic View of Various Strategies/Pathways to Develop a Sporting Culture

LOVE FOR SPORTS STARTS WITH THE INDIVIDUAL FROM YOUNG

SUPPORTING • Proper mindset to make time for sports


ENVIRONMENT
• Media to cover sports, especially local sports

• Good sports service providers, e.g. coaches, trainers, sports physiotherapists

OUTCOMES • Child is introduced to sports by parents. Also a good opportunity for family bonding

• Child learns to play more sports in school, clubs and with friends

• Child develops a love for sports and enjoys having a healthy and active lifestyle

CHILD CONTINUES PURSUIT OF SPORTS IN 3 DIFFERENT PATHWAYS

OUTCOMES SPORTS PARTICIPATION SPORTS INDUSTRY SPORTS EXCELLENCE

• A vibrant sports scene. People • Demand for sports service • Our sporting champions
participate either directly or as providers and sports events become “sporting heroes” who
spectators at events inspire more people to be
• Skilled and trained coaches, interested in sports
• Healthy individuals, and sports administrators, sports
provides opportunities for medicine and sports science • Singapore’s next generation of
family and community bonding researchers, etc. sporting champions

• People not interested in sports


become interested due to buzz
by the media, friends, family,
etc.

SUPPORTING • Private & public sports facilities • Proper mindset that sports • Proper mindset that sports can
ENVIRONMENT that are affordable, accessible, provides a viable career be a viable career
and attractive
• Academic courses to provide • Sports schools to nurture top
• Skilled officials, coaches, trained skilled workforce, e.g. young sporting talent
organisers, promoters and coaches, sports administrators,
professionals in the sports etc. • Comprehensive support for our
industry top athletes (e.g. through a
Sports Institute model)
• Events for participation, create
the buzz to get people excited • Media coverage and media-
to participate savvy local athletes

Sports become part and parcel of our lives and feed into
the emerging sporting culture of the next generation

24
Strategy 1: Inspiring the Nation

I. Creating the buzz

Recommendation 2:

Develop entertaining sports-centric media channels

Current Status
Feedback from stakeholders and the public indicates that the media in Singapore gives good
coverage of the international sports scene, particularly for soccer and the English Premier
League. However, the feedback also suggests that more can be done to report local sports and
home-grown sporting heroes and personalities.

The Committee recommends


Raising the interest and profile of local sports through media channels e.g. television, print
and internet.

a. Regular sports television programming


Television is a pervasive medium that reaches a large proportion of Singaporeans and acts as
a powerful vehicle to shape our perceptions. The Committee recommends developing regular
television programming to feature the local sports scene, including our national athletes,
sports facilities and marquee sporting events. Targeting both sporting and non-sporting
audiences, this programming could be in the form of a weekly digest or even regular
interstitials, containing sporting and lifestyle segments in an entertaining magazine format.
The critical success factor is to produce engaging content to attract strong viewership, e.g.
taking advantage of the excitement building up towards the 2008 Formula 1 Singapore Grand

25
Prix and our Singaporean athletes’ preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The relevant
government agencies should work with the media industry to produce and air these
programmes. As this is a new initiative, the government would need to provide a seed grant,
but as viewership builds up, private sponsorship can come in to offset the cost partially or
wholly.

b. Sports print supplement


Print is an evergreen and popular medium, particularly for adults. The Committee
recommends rolling out a regular sports print supplement to profile local sports and promote
sports participation as essential to life. The world of sports is full of inspiring human interest
stories e.g. turning someone's life around, strengthening character development etc. This
would move sports coverage beyond the sports and health pages in the newspapers, and
appeal to a wider audience. The supplement could be in the form of a newspaper insert or a
“freezine” to be distributed in public and private sports facilities, cafes, community clubs, etc.
This could be initiated as a partnership between the government and the media companies.
While government funding would be required to kick-start this initiative, as readership picks
up, private sector sponsorship would progressively sustain the supplement in the long term.

c. New media channels


The use of new media technologies for entertainment is becoming more prevalent in
Singapore. Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is an emerging technology capable of
delivering content into homes, mobile phones and other wireless devices. The Committee
suggests the development and distribution of more media-rich sports content. Imagine video
clips, streaming video or audio through the Internet that could bring local sports to a global
audience, e.g. through global video-sharing websites like YouTube. From news stories to
video clips of local school sports competitions and marquee events, good content would raise
the interest of our local sporting scene and encourage more Singaporeans to attend the events
to savour the experience personally.

d. Online community-centric sports portal


The Committee suggests that the sporting fraternity should take the lead to create a
community-centric online sports portal. This portal would be an online gathering place for
sports enthusiasts to share their sporting interests and knowledge. A number of bottom-up
local sports websites currently exist, e.g. www.redsports.sg, www.sgrunners.com,

26
www.triathlonfamily.com and so on. The proposed social networking portal would
complement these sport-specific websites and serve as a first-stop shop for users to discover
and chat about the latest developments across all sports in Singapore, look for playing
partners, source for links to other sports-related websites, and even link up to other sports-
related social networking portals from other parts of the world. The model would be similar
to www.youth.sg, an online portal for youth in Singapore. This portal should integrate media-
rich content (as discussed in the preceding paragraph) to give users a seamless and satisfying
online experience.

Recommendation 3:

Support creation of compelling sports content

Current Status
Sports content in Singapore is generally created by two groups – journalists and media
professionals who write and produce for newspapers, television; and sporting enthusiasts who
create video clips and blog about local sports, usually on a pro bono basis. The Committee
feels that more can be done to support the creation of compelling sports content, both as a
means of building sports mindshare and developing a new industry.

The Committee recommends


A Sports Content Creation Scheme to support the production of high quality and engaging
sports-related media content. This scheme will offer a matching grant up to an appropriate
cap to small and medium-sized enterprises, community and sports organisations, and even
individual enthusiasts. The content should be a quality feature on local sports and contain a
public messaging component. The scheme can be co-funded by the MCYS, SSC and the
Media Development Authority (MDA). One possibility is to adapt from existing funding
schemes like MDA’s Digital Content Development Scheme or the INVIGORATE Scheme
for PC Casual Games. Another possible source of grant is to tap on the fees collected from
the radio and television licence tax.

27
a. Reaching out to schools and a broader audience
Imagine downloadable video clips, short films, e-brochures, audio streaming and comic strips
that cover the rich history of different sports in Singapore and our distinguished sporting
heroes. The Sports Content Creation Scheme can support development of such projects to be
distributed through various channels to youth and other demographic groups. The stories
could even be used for National Education purposes in schools, or for lessons on moral
values, discipline, resilience, and sportsmanship, educating our new citizens, etc.

b. Developing interactive sports video games


Video gaming development is a fast-growing industry with export potential. On one level,
video gaming is sports’ formidable competitor for leisure time. On another level, there is
scope to use video gaming to interest people, particularly the youth, in sports. Nintendo’s Wii
video gaming console is an example of using motion sensing technology for interactive
gaming that can be physically demanding too! The Committee recommends that the SSC,
MDA and other relevant government agencies collaborate with industry partners to tap on the
Sports Content Creation Scheme and develop sports-centric video games featuring local
sports stars and settings. The games should introduce players to the rules and strategies of
different sports and could even add physical challenges through motion sensing and virtual
reality technologies. The games could also have pro-sports messages e.g. “Game Over – Now
you’re ready to try the real thing!”

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II. Leading the way for the young

Recommendation 4:

Promote our sporting champions

Current Status
Results from the National Sporting Participation Survey as well as feedback from various
sporting stakeholders and the public highlight the need for a concerted effort to promote our
sporting champions to inspire our people, particularly the youth, to gain their mindshare and
promote the positive values of sports.

The Committee recommends


The government, National Sports Associations (NSAs) and the media place greater emphasis
on promoting our past, current and upcoming national athletes to Singaporeans. The focus
should be to profile these athletes as role models who embody positive traits like
sportsmanship, discipline, resilience, determination and courage. Athletes who have done
well in their professional and sporting fields, e.g. Dr Benedict Tan9, Mr Thum Ping Tjin10, Dr
Kua Harn Wei11 and Dr William Tan12 would serve as good role models for the young. This
would reassure parents that there need not be a trade-off between sports and studies. On the
contrary, for many of our illustrious champions, sports has helped them to succeed in life
beyond the competitive field. The SSC needs to take the lead for this recommendation and
work closely with NSAs and national athletes.

9
Dr Tan is the Head & Consultant, Changi Sports Medicine Centre. Dr Tan is a former three-time Sportsman of
the Year (’91, ’94, ’95) and was awarded the Public Service Medal in 1993 and the Public Service Star in 1995.
10
Mr Thum is a Harvard graduate and Rhodes Scholar and represented Singapore at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
He was the first Singaporean to swim across the English Channel.
11
Dr Kua, a lecturer at the National University of Singapore, completed 10 Ironman triathlons in 10 days in
2006, and is a regular competitor at international triathlon competitions.
12
Dr Tan is a Harvard University’s Fulbright Scholar and Oxford University’s Chevening Scholar. He raises
funds for charitable causes through his participation in wheelchair ultra-marathons.

29
a. Increased Community Outreach by National Athletes
To increase the public’s identification with our local sports champions, there should be a
concerted effort to profile and market our athletes, particularly in the outreach to the youth,
e.g. having our athletes conduct regular talks and coaching clinics in schools and public
sports facilities. Some national athletes can even go back to their former schools to inspire the
new generation ‘schoolmates’. The SSC should strongly encourage all funded national
athletes, scholarship and award recipients to volunteer in the community and assist in
outreach programmes. At the same time, the SSC and NSAs need to persuade the athletes to
see the value in these community outreach efforts – ultimately, a more sporting nation would
generate positive economic and other spin-offs for all, including better endorsement
opportunities for the national athletes!

b. Fostering stronger relationships with the media


A strong working relationship between the media, SSC and NSAs is critical to ensure
continued media coverage of local athletes and consistent messaging to the public. The
Committee suggests that the SSC have regular dialogues with major media partners – e.g.
editors, reporters, brand communications agencies, broadcasters and producers – to
brainstorm ideas to promote sports, including what stories to pitch. These sessions should be
held throughout the year. We would also like to emphasise the need for our sports heroes to
be profiled outside of the sports pages, as their stories of triumphs, trials and tribulations
would be relevant to all Singaporeans.

c. Media training for athletes


The SSC and NSAs should provide media training for all national athletes, coaches and other
supporting sports professionals. Our athletes can then become media savvy sports
ambassadors able to build good rapport with reporters and audiences. In addition, selected
athletes could also attend a variety of additional lessons, e.g. grooming, singing, public
speaking etc., so as to bolster their confidence and abilities when they have opportunities to
perform or speak in public engagements, advertisements and endorsements. A statistic worth
tracking may be the number of media interviews and engagements each NSA and its athletes
participate in. Besides enhancing overall media relations, the media training could prepare
our national athletes for post-competition careers in the media industry, which is a very
common next step for many professional athletes in other markets, e.g. Australia and the
United States.

30
d. Showcase at the Sports Hub’s Sports Museum
The new Sports Hub will include a Sports Museum to feature the heritage of local and
international sports. The Committee recommends that the Museum have a spotlight on the
achievements of our elite athletes. One possibility is to integrate a sports-themed café with
the Museum, similar to how the Hard Rock Café franchise has rock and roll memorabilia in
all its outlets. The sports-themed café will enable more Singaporeans to connect with our
sporting history in a casual setting and be exposed to the positive ideals associated with
sports excellence. A second possibility is to have an entire park dedicated to honouring our
past and present local sporting heroes. The park would benefit from being placed in an area
with high foot traffic, where people could be reminded of our sporting glories and be inspired
to emulate our sports champions. We would also recommend setting up a Mobile Museum to
bring our sporting heritage to the schools and community. Corporate sponsorship, e.g. from
the bus companies, should be sought to defray the long-term cost of this mobile heritage.

e. Remembering the legacy of our sports heroes


Once our national athletes retire, they often step out of the limelight and the public may
forget their achievements and inspirational moments. To ensure a long lasting legacy of our
sports heroes in the hearts and minds of Singaporeans, we could name community or
national-level competitions after our illustrious athletes, both retired and current. The
honoured athlete could be invited to grace the competition finals as Guest-of-Honour.
Another way to celebrate the sporting legacy is to name roads, buildings, sports facilities and
other public infrastructure after our greatest sports heroes.

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Strategy 2: Activating Sporting
Opportunities for All

I. Making more sporting facilities available, accessible


and enjoyable
As sports participation continues on its uptrend, there is a need to ensure that more sports
facilities are made available, so that everyone can easily take part in sports anytime and
anywhere.

Recommendation 5:

Maximise usage of publicly-funded sports facilities

Current Status
From the 2006 Sports Facilities Census, it is estimated that the SSC sports facilities comprise
less than 5% of the total sports facilities in Singapore. The owners of the other public sports
facilities are mainly schools, housing estates and parks. The Committee’s assessment is that
we can do better to maximise publicly-funded sports facilities for community use,
particularly since land is scarce in Singapore.

The Committee recommends


That as the default rule, all publicly-funded sports facilities be made available for community
use.

All government agencies should first study the option to use, co-share and co-locate with
existing sports facilities as a matter of due diligence before they can proceed to plan and build

32
new facilities. For instance, the Committee notes that every school has its own standalone
sports facilities, and this includes the to-be-introduced Indoor Sports Halls for all schools.
Bearing in mind that some schools are located within close proximity, it would be
advantageous for schools to pool resources to build shared and better-equipped facilities
which can be multi-storey in design to save on land take. The Committee notes that URA
currently requires all new schools and schools undergoing PRIME to allow the public access
to the playfield during non-school hours by ensuring that the direct access from the playfields
to the surrounding neighbourhood, with separate gates and fencing from the school. The
Committee is pleased to note that MOE is doing so for all its new sports facilities, wherever it
is technically possible to do so.

In addition, as new towns are built and existing towns rejuvenated, integrating sports and
recreational facilities into each estate’s town centre will add vibrancy and character. Why not
have a public gym located next to a town central’s hawker centre and bus or MRT
interchange? The availability of portable infrastructure opens up limitless opportunities for
events in the heartlands or in areas with high foot traffic. For example, climbing walls and
skateboard ramps can be built indoors. Having fun and novel events and facilities will help to
increase mindshare and ensure greater visibility and convenience for the public, thus
increasing traffic flow and the number of people to take part in sports regularly.

One concern could be the potential loss of government revenue if prime land in town centres
is used for sports, recreational or community facilities instead of commercial purposes. The
Committee’s view is that this need not be a zero sum game. A rich diversity of activities in
the town centre would attract more people to spend more time there, benefiting the
commercial establishments.

The Committee acknowledges that some incentives are necessary to encourage private
developers to include sports facilities and activities within their developments. Hence, SSC as
the national sports promotion agency could bring the National Sports Associations (NSA) on
board, and engage in dialogue with developers to explore areas of collaboration and achieve a
win-win scenario. URA has reviewed the guidelines for private commercial developments
that will allow a certain amount of additional floor space (GFA) to be used for sports if SSC
takes over the lease of the premises for the NSA to operate on a non-profit basis.

33
Recommendation 6:

Create more playing spaces

Current Status
The Committee supports the various initiatives to provide more playing spaces for the public,
such as the Dual-Use Scheme to co-share playing fields in schools, opening up of State Land
for casual play, and so on. The Committee suggests that more can be done, so that all
Singaporeans will have easy access to play areas.

The Committee recommends


Creating more open playable spaces in the heartlands to allow for casual and spontaneous
play. Whether designing new housing estates or redeveloping existing ones, the Committee
recommends that the HDB need not restrict playing spaces to grass patches on the ground
floor, but include multi-purpose halls, rooftop spaces and even larger lift lobbies, e.g. with
hopscotch markings on the floor, to encourage children and families to play and bond.

Besides adding more space, the facilities should be designed to cater to sportsmen of different
skill levels. For example, building smaller indoor soccer pitches instead of a full-sized field,
mini-putting greens within the housing estates, etc – these can be simple, low maintenance
and cost-effective facilities.

To encourage families to play together, there can be children’s playgrounds with exercise or
sporting equipment for adults living in the vicinity. This was something that members of the
Committee have observed in Beijing, as shown below:

34
The Committee notes that the signboards on state land play fields managed by the Singapore
Land Authority (SLA) have been very positive of late, advising “Casual play is allowed but
please do so responsibly”, instead of the less encouraging “Play at your own risk”. This
positive shift in messaging should be adopted for all state lands where appropriate.

Another idea would be for the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to help identify lanes and/or
roads that could be closed at night or for a few hours on weekends exclusively for cyclists,
and in-line skaters. This would make it safer for these sportsmen and sportswomen on
“human wheels” to be active in their sports and go a long way to promote these sports.

Finally, beyond the prescribed or sanctioned forms of sports, we encourage Singaporeans to


pursue niche sports, or even invent new types. The sporting public can adapt sports in
innovative ways to play in Singapore’s urban environment. For instance, running through the
heartlands or even up and down HDB blocks are activities that can be promoted. The key is
to allow for freedom in spontaneous and imaginative play, while at the same time educating
members of the public to take responsibility for their own safety.

35
Recommendation 7:

Create 360° sporting environments

Current Status
Although there are sufficient public sports facilities in many parts of Singapore, one common
issue is the lack of supporting amenities like toilets, showers, water coolers, etc. Architects,
landscape architects and sports facilities planners need to be mindful that while the main
action takes place on the sports fields, courts, halls, etc., the entire sporting experience for
users and spectators extends to the viewing gallery, shower and toilet facilities, car parks, etc.

The Committee recommends


Adopting a strong ‘complete customer experience’ focus when designing, developing and
operating all public sports and recreational facilities. Adequate provisions for supporting
amenities like showers, shelter, food and rest areas should be planned into all future sporting
and recreational facilities to provide an environment conducive for players and enjoyable for
spectators. Planning should take an all-inclusive approach to cater provisions for the young,
elderly and disabled. In doing so, this would encourage more people to use the facilities and
increase opportunities for community bonding.

To strengthen the customer experience and extend it to television viewers, sports facilities
must be designed and fitted as great sports entertainment venues as well. For example,
selected public stadiums, as part of their cyclical maintenance and periodic upgrading, should
be equipped with input feed junction boxes and other media-friendly fittings for ease of
media production. These venues should have large LCD screens and excellent sound systems
to package the action into a complete and exhilarating sporting-entertainment extravaganza.

To bolster industry support and corporate buy-in at sporting events, organisers should
promote attractive packages for businesses to use sporting events and venues as platforms for

36
corporate hospitality and business networking. This will grow interest for naming rights and
other sponsorship opportunities, thus triggering a virtuous growth cycle for service providers,
sports media, sports event companies and industry players.

The Committee proposes the SSC work closely with agencies such as the National Parks
Board (NParks), Public Utilities Board (PUB), URA, HDB, and even private developers to
share best practices and pool resources to make Singapore a ‘City within a Playground’.

II. Promoting sporting opportunities to the youth


The youth are one of the most important target groups in the Committee’s vision of
promoting a life-long sporting culture in Singapore. People who cultivate a love for sports
from young are more likely to maintain their passion for sports throughout their lives. We
believe that this passion will translate to adults who adopt more active and healthy lifestyles,
and raise their children to develop similar habits, which is essential to maintaining a sporting
culture in future generations of Singaporeans.

Recommendation 8:

Teach every child at least four sports

Current Status
The school environment provides an important social setting for youth sports participation.
The Committee believes that every child should have the opportunity to play sports everyday
and that inculcating a love for sports through our education system is a crucial foundational
step to develop Singapore’s sporting culture. Furthermore, sports helps our children develop
confidence, positive self-esteem and resilience – these are all values which are synergistic
with Singapore’s educational philosophy of nurturing the whole child.

The Committee recommends

37
As a long term goal, every child should learn and be competent in at least four sports by the
time he or she finishes primary school. However, recognising that a number of primary
schools would face resource and logistical constraints, the Committee suggests that this target
could be phased in gradually say in the next 10 years. Alternatively, for youth who do not
have an opportunity to pick up the four sports during their primary school education, they
could be offered opportunities to learn when they are in secondary school.

It is important for physical activities to be engaging and enjoyable to give children


opportunities to play and bond, instead of being a series of drills to learn the sport. The
channels to achieve this goal could be through the Physical Education (PE) curriculum and
Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) Sports and Games. The Committee recommends that MOE
review the duration for PE and other sports activities in schools, to increase the exposure of
our students to sports activities. Schools would need to be supported with more qualified PE
teachers to ensure the quality delivery of the PE curriculum.

The Committee strongly suggests that the primary schools work towards the long term goal to
provide opportunities for all non-swimmers to learn basic swimming skills. Swimming has
undeniable benefits to train up our children’s stamina and body strength, preparing them for
other aquatic and even non-aquatic sports. We support the National Water Safety Council’s
drive for more children to learn swimming as a life skill to develop water confidence and
reduce the risk of drowning. As for the other three (and hopefully more) sports, we suggest
that all schools have the flexibility to pick their sports. For instance, schools could pick sports
that are in line with their traditional niche specialities. Another possible approach is to choose
sports that fit a holistic physical developmental framework, e.g.
(i) Teamwork – Sports such as soccer, basketball, netball, volleyball, etc.;
(ii) Coordination and body movement – Sports such as gymnastics, swimming,
athletics, racquet sports, etc.;
(iii) Strength and stamina – Sports like athletics, swimming, canoeing, etc.;
(iv) Ruggedness and resilience – Sports like soccer, basketball, rugby, martial arts, etc.

Another suggested menu for the four foundational sports could be swimming, athletics,
gymnastics and soccer. Competed in all the Major Games including the Olympics, these
sports would provide a well-rounded foundation in water confidence, stamina, speed,
strength, body movement and teamwork for our children to learn other sports in future. These

38
sports could also provide a lively platform to teach children about Olympic history and
ideals. This would set the cornerstone for a more holistic sports development approach and
support Singapore’s aspirations to achieve Olympic glory.

Recommendation 9:

Create more play opportunities for every child

Current Status
Most schools offer sports Co-curricular Activities (CCAs) to their students, which take place
before and after school hours, and even on Saturdays. Based on public feedback, many feel
that sports CCAs in many schools are limited to a handful of youth athletes representing their
schools in inter-school competitions. The Committee believes there is an opportunity to
broaden the scope of play opportunities for more students to learn and enjoy sports.

The Committee recommends


That schools tap on the community e.g. NSAs, sports clubs and grassroots organisations
(GROs) to provide quality sports activities before and after school hours, while schools
supply the space and facilities. The additional resources and flexible timing could be
integrated with our earlier recommendation of having every child learn at least four sports
before he or she finishes secondary school. These before and after school sports programmes
could introduce modified rules and structured levels of advancement to encourage an interest
in sports among youth.

A good model to follow is the Active after School Communities (AASC) Programme in
Australia, a national programme launched in 2005 and run by the Australian Sports
Commission. This programme provides all Australian primary school children free,
structured physical activities after school, and is designed especially for children who lead
sedentary lifestyles. All programmes are run after school from 3.00pm to 5.30pm within the
children’s schools or in approved out-of-school ‘care service environments’, which help to

39
address parents’ concerns for their children’s safety. Furthermore, all service providers under
the programme must be accredited by the Australian Sports Commission.

a. Structured and well-resourced programmes


These before and after school sports programmes should be well structured. For instance,
students who come to school half an hour earlier (or stay half an hour later) could be guided
by senior students, volunteers or paid coaches in a modular, year-long format so that the
children can learn and play the sports meaningfully and safely. In the present Volunteer Adult
Leaders (VAL) system whereby parent volunteers, alumni, senior students in affiliated
schools, etc. run the programme, schools can set aside adequate resources to develop training
packages and train-the-trainers programmes to upgrade their knowledge and further develop
their expertise.

b. ‘Mini-league competitions’ for youth to compete at their own levels


To complement the before and after school sports programmes, the Committee has identified
the need to provide ‘mini-league competitions’ for our young to compete at their own levels.
Each year from January to end August, the National Schools Sports Competitions involve
57,000 students13 in the school, zone and national levels. We hope that creating mini-league
competitions would give sporting opportunities for the rest of some 400,000 students in
primary and secondary schools. The Children’s League is a good example of one such after-
school programme. Launched by the People’s Association and its grassroots organisations,
approximately 800 children and parents in more than 30 centres throughout Singapore are
participating. Programmes such as these can be further expanded as they not only generate
more sporting opportunities for our young, they are also a good platform to promote family
togetherness and community bonding.

One idea is for the key stakeholders – such as schools, NSAs, SSC and People’s Association
(PA) and service providers – to organise year-round recreational leagues. The games could be
played in schools or community facilities, involving the schools or clusters of schools to
encourage student participation and even awarding the students Co-Curricular Activity
(CCA) points. Parents can be involved to plan, run and volunteer in these year-round leagues,
thus promoting family and community bonding.

13
According to the MOE, 24,000 students from primary and 33,000 from secondary and junior colleges take
part in the National Schools Sports Competitions annually.

40
c. Recognising students who promote participation in sports
The Committee suggests giving more recognition to schools that promote mass sports
participation. Although this is already a key performance indicator (KPI) for all schools under
the MOE’s Masterplan of Awards, we suggest that the MOE, SSC and PA should continually
collaborate to raise mass sports participation in and around schools, and pay particular
attention to set up targets, incentives and recognition schemes so that all schools would be
motivated to push for sports in a bigger way. There should be additional funding provisions
for community sports to allow more children the opportunity to participate.

One possibility is to involve and recognise students from secondary schools and junior
colleges as volunteers to teach sports to primary school students in the before and after school
sports programmes. Both groups of students stand to benefit – student volunteers would gain
important lessons in volunteerism, teaching and leadership skills; younger students would
have supervised lessons from passionate sports volunteers and have positive role models to
look up to. This can be introduced progressively to schools over the next 5 years.

To ensure good standards, all student volunteers must first undergo training and certification,
and lessons will be supervised by school teachers. The SSC and NSAs can help in the
training and certification of these student volunteers. Once approved, the student volunteers
should also be duly recognised in the form of credits for community service or sports
participation under their schools’ CCA scheme. Having student volunteers could help to
address any shortage of trained coaches or limited funds that schools might face. What’s
more, if the programme is met with enthusiasm, this will accelerate mass sports participation
in primary schools.

III. Bringing sports to the doorsteps of all


Singaporeans

The Committee recognises that in order to sustain sports participation, it is necessary to allow
everyone to play at their own level, especially with regard to young children (e.g. little

41
leagues), the elderly and the disabled. These groups may require modified rules and
equipment so that they can experience sports in an enjoyable and fulfilling way.

The provision of inclusive sports leagues and sports events is a key factor in triggering broad-
base participation. After leaving school, adults have few opportunities to continue regular
participation in team sports. While some sports have formal leagues provided by service
providers such as BBAxn for basketball and ESPZen for soccer, many other sports do not.
This is an important issue to be addressed.

Recommendation 10:

Initiate the Singapore Games

Current Status
The participation trend in sports climbs significantly when individuals are in school, and
steadily decreases as they enter adulthood. While there are national ‘Open’ category
competitions in almost every sport, there lacks a national multi-sports competition to generate
buzz and get Singaporeans, particularly post-school generations, excited about local sports.

The Committee recommends


Starting a multi-sports competition targeting Singapore’s late teens to adults (i.e. from age 18
onwards). Just as the National Schools Sports Competitions serve as the pinnacle event for
school athletes, the Singapore Games would serve the same purpose for adults, providing the
motivation and platform for adults to stay active and connected to sports.

The Singapore Games would be the apex domestic competition to draw from various
competitions at the community or constituency level, such as the PA’s Inter-Constituency
Games. The SSC should work with various other stakeholders such as the PA, NSAs and
Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC) to kick start the games in 2009, and
subsequently hold it annually at the Sports Hub once it is ready in 2011. This would dovetail

42
into the plans of the successful Sports Hub bidder – the Singapore Sports Hub Consortium –
to start its ‘Singapore National Games’ as part of the Sports Hub’s annual events calendar.

The Committee envisions the Singapore Games as a weekend-long schedule of finals in about
10 popular sports. The Games would be both competitive and inclusive in nature, and should
include modified sports for the disabled and seniors. For each sport, there can be separate
categories for the competitive and recreational athletes.

With emphasis on participation and fun, the Singapore Games can be organised in a festival
or carnival style to create an enjoyable and stimulating atmosphere for spectators. Other than
generating more sporting opportunities for all, these games would help Singapore develop
capabilities in running multi-sports events, which would be useful in bidding for and hosting
international sporting competitions. The long-term goal for the Singapore Games is to grow
in stature and popularity, with a steady state outcome of strong corporate sponsorships as
well as widespread public support.

Recommendation 11:

Host one marquee sports event every month

Current Status
The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, the OSIM Triathlon, the WaterFest Singapore –
these are events familiar to many Singaporeans. We now have a regular calendar of home-
grown marquee events capable of drawing top international athletes as well as attracting
thousands of local competitors and spectators.

The Committee recommends


Accelerating our momentum to build up a vibrant marquee events calendar that features at
least one marquee event a month. Our home-grown intellectual property like the Singapore
Marathon and WaterFest Singapore can be strengthened into events highly sought after by

43
global athletes and spectators. At the same time, we should position Singapore to host more
major international tournament circuits and multi-sports competitions, so that Singaporeans
can experience the buzz of major sporting competitions as a regular and island-wide affair.

Hosting major sports events will leave long-lasting impacts at many levels. From the
economic aspect, tourism dollars will be generated from foreign participants and spectators.
In addition, it paves the way for various collaborations between our local sports enterprises
and organisations and their international sporting counterparts, e.g. sharing of best practices
and allowing our athletes to chance to spar against the world’s best on home soil.

On the social front, Singapore as a young, dynamic city can play its role to promote
international understanding and harmony through sports. Hosting major competitions
presents a golden opportunity to galvanise and unite our people around a common passion.
The upgraded sports facilities and equipment can be enjoyed by the community after the
event. Major multi-sports events in particular will require stadiums and venues all over
Singapore to play host to different sports, thus ensuring that a large percentage of our
population will get to experience the passion and excitement of sports first-hand, and fuel the
dreams of future generations of potential sportsmen, sportswomen and ‘weekend warriors’.
There can be various innovative programmes to allow the broader community to get involved
as spectators, volunteers and officials. We could encourage grassroots groups or families to
play host to visiting athletes and build people-to-people ties as well.

44
Strategy 3 – Building a Flourishing Sports
Ecosystem

I. Catalysing community involvement in sports

Recommendation 12:

Grow vibrant sports clubs

Current Status
The SSC estimates that there are 1,600 sports clubs14 in Singapore, from established ones like
the Singapore Cricket Club to constituency-based ones such as the Constituency Sports Clubs
(CSCs), which organise various sporting events and programmes at the grassroots level. The
CSCs serve an integral role in attracting the young and old to regularly participate in a myriad
of sports, from Children's Leagues in football and basketball to brisk walking and pentanque
games for the elderly. Beyond these clubs, there are also informal groups, many of which
interact as online communities.

The Committee has observed that in Finland15, a vibrant and active community of sports
clubs is a necessary ingredient for a robust sporting culture. Unlike school sports, sports clubs
have the advantage of not being limited to any school or age group, and are open to players of
all skill levels. A Singaporean belonging to a sports club is linked to a sporting community
beyond the schooling years, National Service (NS) and tertiary education. Besides
encouraging adults to remain active, sports clubs also provide essential sporting opportunities
for the entire family and build sustainable communities with a rich sporting heritage.

14
This figure includes, but is not confined to, NSA-affiliated clubs and Constituency Sports Clubs.
15
Finland has some 8,000 sports clubs and 300,000 volunteers.

45
The Committee recommends
A comprehensive plan to help sports clubs start up, build up their membership, and offer a
wide range of sporting activities for the community. Over time, we hope to see more sports
clubs established as a key pillar of our sporting fraternity. The Committee recommends that
the SSC should set up a dedicated team to spearhead this critical initiative. Specifically, the
developmental plan can include the following:

a. Seed funding and facilitation to help clubs start up


Sporting enthusiasts who are interested to form a non-profit formal or informal sports club for
the community could be given seed funding to defray start up expenses like registration fees,
setting up a website, preparing collaterals and other incidentals. Besides funding, new clubs
would need office space for meetings and administration, as well as playing facilities. One
possibility is for the SSC to lease disused state premises e.g. unoccupied schools, and then
sub-lease to the non-profit clubs at a nominal rate. Sports clubs could also be given priority
booking for public sports facilities.

b. Information tool kit


To help fledgling sports clubs, especially those started by the youth and young adults, the
SSC could compile an information tool kit with vital information and advice on starting the
club, best practices, marketing and sponsorship strategies etc. The materials could be made
available on the Internet for widespread access and downloading, and could even be
integrated with the earlier recommendation to start a community sports portal. The SSC could
help clubs, including the CSCs, to raise their capabilities, e.g. in enhancing professionalism,
running their programmes better, and being more aware of coaching/sports safety issues etc.

c. Building the community


The SSC can help sports clubs to establish links and partnerships with NSAs, schools,
grassroots organisations and businesses. Currently, NSAs are the SSC’s primary partners to
develop and deliver programmes to support the three sporting pillars of Sports for All, Sports
Excellence and Sports Industry. The Committee feels that it is instrumental for NSAs to take
an active interest to develop the sports club scene, e.g. to spur the formation of clubs, provide
consultancy services and collaborate with the clubs and so on. Funding should be set aside for

46
NSAs as part of the SSC’s annual funding exercise for the NSAs to help build a community
of vibrant sports clubs.

d. Attracting volunteers
As demonstrated by Finland’s experience, vibrant sports clubs would require a steady stream
of committed volunteers who are willing to set aside time on a regular basis to manage the
club, organise activities, run programmes and so on. There has to be a concerted effort to
attract volunteers from various age groups – from students to working adults to seniors – so
that the clubs can have the manpower to sustain their activities and build the community.

II. Developing our NSAs’ capabilities


NSAs are the de facto experts in their respective sports and will continue to play a pivotal
role to fulfil our aspiration for a strong and self-sustaining sporting culture. To propel sports
in Singapore to the next level, we will need to work towards a time when every NSA is
sufficiently capable to meet its sporting mandate professionally and effectively. While some
NSAs will continue to be more established by virtue of the popularity of their sports or the
scale of their operations, smaller NSAs must be assisted to grow and establish as experts in
niche sports. The Committee supports the SSC’s ongoing efforts to tie its NSA funding to
specific outcomes. NSAs should also aim to become more entrepreneurial and operate as
social enterprises, so as to generate income to augment public funding and hence be able to
do more for the sports that they champion.

Recommendation 13:

Set up an NSA Advisory Council

Current Status
While the SSC organises regular networking sessions for NSAs, feedback from some NSAs
indicates the need for a formal platform for the NSAs to come together, discuss areas of
common interest, and strategise ways of enhancing their capabilities.

47
The Committee recommends
The formation of an NSA Advisory Council, which will be a multi-stakeholder platform for
NSAs to raise their capabilities by accessing external expertise, sharing best practices and
devising collaboration plans. This initiative should be primarily driven by NSAs. The Council
would promote teamwork, cooperation and collaboration between NSAs to pool resources
and knowledge, specifically in areas such as:

(i) Sharing of knowledge in corporate and organisational development, coaching


best practices, managing of athletes, organising events, ways to brand and promote
the sports, etc.;

(ii) Collaborating on marketing and outreach programmes, as well as organising


joint events or festivals;

(iii) Networking within the NSA community and with corporate organisations,
particularly on sponsorship opportunities and programmes; and

(iv) Professionalising fund raising, e.g. to develop a common branding or platform


to canvass for public and corporate financial support.

The Council could include key NSA representatives, CEOs of major corporations and
professionals from specialisations that are related to the issues which NSAs face. These
experts should be able to lend pro bono advice to the NSAs.

Recommendation 14:
Fortify NSAs’ sports management capabilities

Current Status

48
The Committee’s assessment is that NSAs’ capabilities and competencies vary widely. Some
have full-time and professionally trained staff, while others depend largely on volunteers to
manage day-to-day operations. Having a dedicated and capable executive committee, and
good full-time and part-time staff, would be mission critical to each NSA’s success.

The Committee recommends


The SSC should work with NSAs (and the proposed NSA Advisory Council) to introduce
schemes to raise their management capabilities. These are:

a. Structured career development pathway for NSAs’ staff


A single NSA, because of its size, may not offer a compelling proposition to prospective
employees. It is imperative for the NSAs to create a structured career development pathway
to attract, motivate and retain high calibre candidates to embark on a sports management
career. This programme could include scheduled rotations across the different NSAs as well
as with SSC, so that candidates could possess a good overview of operational, promotional
and regulatory issues in sports. Creating a flow of talent, experience and ideas between the
NSAs and SSC, this programme will build up a strong leadership pipeline for the sports
sector.

b. Succession planning for NSAs


NSAs have to beef up efforts to attract fresh faces and talent for both the Board (non-
executive) and executive levels. To ensure business continuity, incumbent NSA leaders
should be made aware of the need for long-term succession planning. The Committee
suggests that the SSC should work with human resource and organisational development
specialists to equip NSAs with knowledge and tools on succession planning.

c. Scholarships to attract talented individuals


The SSC and NSAs should consider the feasibility of offering sports management
scholarships to attract and groom high potential individuals to work in NSAs and in the
broader sports sector. These scholarships could be open to elite and non-elite athletes who are
interested in a sports career. At a strategic level, the scholarships would raise the prestige of
jobs in the sports sector, thereby positioning a sports career as a preferred choice.

49
d. Enhancing the NSA-SSC communication interface
The NSAs and SSC share a symbiotic relationship – NSAs are the agents of action and
change on the ground, while SSC plays a funding and facilitator role. As such, a strong
relationship of trust and regular dialogue is essential. To improve the current communication
interface, NSA Relationship Managers in SSC should be empowered to make more effective
decisions that cut across all the functional Divisions within SSC. Adopting a similar structure
to the personal banker model used by many banks will enable faster decisions and facilitate a
closer working relationship. For larger NSAs, the SSC’s senior management team should take
the lead in the account management function.

e. More public recognition for the volunteers in the NSAs


The level of public recognition for NSA volunteers is another area that merits enhancement.
Currently, NSA officials are eligible for awards such as the Sporting Singapore Inspiration
Awards and National Day Awards. However, these are largely pinnacle awards for a select
few. The Committee feels that more acknowledgement is due for the hundreds of unsung
heroes who contribute to sports in a regular and sustained capacity, be it the parent who
coaches the school team, or the volunteer official who ensures the smooth running of the
competition. One idea is to set up a ‘Friends of Sports’ network to recognise the volunteers
and serve as a platform for them to share experiences and learn about new volunteer
opportunities for events, needs in other NSAs, etc.

f. Assisting NSAs to work towards self-reliance


Currently, government funding – via grants from the SSC – covers at least 50% of NSAs’
operating budgets. The future funding needs of NSAs are expected to increase as they do
more to support Singapore’s growing sporting needs. It would not be possible to
exponentially increase public funding for NSAs16.

Hence, NSAs should develop capabilities to grow multiple revenue streams, e.g. sourcing for
sponsorships, encouraging greater contribution from the community, developing expertise in
running commercially viable events, etc. In particular, NSAs possess assets that can be
monetised in a variety of ways e.g. marketing their athletes, licensing their course content,
certification and other intellectual property. By developing secondary sources of income to

16
For financial year 2007-2008, NSAs had requested for funds amounting to S$86.3m while SSC allocated
S$38.4m

50
complement government funding, NSAs would be well-positioned to build up their financial
resources and attract more people into their respective sports. The Committee would also
suggest that the SSC could tweak their annual funding to NSAs to encourage the NSAs to
source for independent funding, e.g. by setting up a matching grant for each sponsorship or
donation dollar solicited by the NSA.

III. Expanding coaching services

Having good coaches from recreational to competitive levels is necessary to encourage more
people to play sports more proficiently and safely.

Recommendation 15:

Train ‘Learn to Play’ instructors

Current Status
The SSC manages the National Coaching Accreditation Programme (NCAP) to train local
coaches. There are three levels of NCAP accreditation, of which the highest level (L3) would
prepare a coach to train an elite athlete. The coach must show competence in theory and
technical components before he or she is certified at each of the three levels. NCAP-certified
coaches are listed on SSC’s National Registry of Coaches (NROC) for the public to find
qualified coaches in various sports.

The Committee’s assessment is that there is a shortage of trained coaches and instructors to
conduct sports lessons for children and beginners. The NROC database – particularly for
Level 1 coaches – is quite small. This could indicate that many “learn to play” instructors
find it too onerous or costly to be NCAP-certified. Under the present system17, the NCAP-
Theory Level 1 certification course requires a commitment of 10 lessons (total of 22.5 hours)

17
Based on SSC’s current NCAP coaching technical development guidelines.

51
over a period of one month and costs about S$200. Depending on the sport, coaches may
need to undergo further practical training and costs will differ.

The Committee recommends


Starting a pre-NCAP short course. This will introduce basic coaching skills for volunteers or
‘weekend coaches’ who work with children. For instance, the Australian Sports Commission
has introduced an online Beginning Coaching General Principles course, which contains five
modules covering a range of general coaching topics e.g. roles and responsibilities expected
of a coach, planning, safety, working with parents, communication, group management and
inclusive coaching practices when working with people with disabilities. This online course
spans about six hours.

The NSAs and SSC should look into offering this pre-NCAP course via online or classroom
settings, with SSC playing a facilitating and aggregation role to expedite widespread
deployment across different sports and joint marketing. The Committee recommends that the
pre-NCAP course be offered free of charge or at a nominal cost for at least one to two years
to encourage beginner instructors to undergo training. More importantly, this pre-NCAP
course must be recognised by key stakeholders such as the MOE, schools and PA in order to
ensure widespread adoption. The course must also incorporate a hands-on module in sports
safety, e.g. educating trainers on first aid, performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR),
using the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and so on. With more people equipped
with basic sports safety training, we can then raise the overall awareness of safety issues and
develop broad-based capabilities to deal with minor accidents and contingencies in sports
events and activities.

Once a database of pre-NCAP instructors is formed, the SSC should encourage these
interested and committed individuals to pursue certification in NCAP, thus building up the
pipeline of trained coaches in Singapore.

52
Recommendation 16:

Raise standards of the coaching industry

Current Status
Estimated figures from SSC’s NROC show that only a small percentage of coaches who
provide sports coaching or training in Singapore are NCAP-certified.

The Committee recommends


The SSC to lead a concerted push to encourage more coaches to be NCAP-certified and
promote market awareness of the certification’s benefits. The SSC must work with key
partners like the PA and MOE to increase incentives for coaches to be NCAP-certified, e.g.
only NCAP-certified coaches can participate in programmes supported by the various
agencies and/or coach in public sports premises. The SSC should also seek feedback from
non NCAP-certified coaches on why they do not go for the certification, and these inputs can
then be used to improve the NCAP system.

As the coaching industry matures in the long term, the Committee would recommend that
NCAP certification be made a compulsory requirement before any person can coach in
Singapore. This would be similar to the life insurance industry in Singapore where the
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) requires all sellers of insurance products to pass the
Certificate in Personal General Insurance and/or the Certificate in Commercial General
Insurance, depending on the products sold or advised.

We would like to emphasise the need to promote public awareness of the NCAP system and
accept it as the definitive quality assurance or trust mark. This could be done through a
sustained public education campaign through media channels and prominent advisory
signages at sports facilities. This campaign should specially target schools, clubs and parents
who employ coaches to teach beginner to intermediate levels, as they may be unaware of the
specific advantages of hiring a properly trained and certified coach.

53
The long term goal is to raise the level of coaching professionalism so that trainees can look
forward to more effective and safer sports education, coaches enjoy better rewards and
recognition, and the sports industry as a whole raises its capabilities and value-add.

IV. Promoting sports as a robust economic engine

Recommendation 17:

Create the market to grow sports enterprises

Current Status
The SSC is working with the economic agencies such as the Economic Development Board
(EDB) and Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to develop our sports industry as a growth sector
to anchor value-added and export-oriented sporting activities. This includes providing sports-
related products and services to meet local and foreign demand, as well as attracting visitors
to Singapore for sports-related conferences and events, sports medicine and sports science
services, etc.

The Committee recommends


A coordinated effort amongst the key agencies to create an active marketplace in Singapore
for sporting goods and services, so that commercial enterprises of local and foreign origins
can establish their operational hubs here to expand into the region. In particular, the
Committee suggests the following:

a. Setting up a sports entrepreneurship clearinghouse


This service – which can take the form of a physical drop-in centre, a call-centre or even a
virtual portal – would provide a one-stop shop for current and prospective sports-related
enterprises to obtain information on assistance schemes, market information, etc. Regular

54
events can be organised for companies to discuss sports-related business opportunities in
Singapore and the region. The Committee suggests that SSC should tap on SPRING’s and the
Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE)’s institutional knowledge and resources to
implement this idea, bearing in mind that SPRING and ACE promote entrepreneurship and
assist the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across various industry sectors.

b. Capitalising on the Sports Hub and other Marina Bay developments


The Sports Hub and other developments in the Marina Bay area, e.g. the Sands Integrated
Resort and Gardens by the Bay, would generate tremendous business opportunities for sports-
related services and products, especially in organising top-notch sporting events and
conferences. The SSC and EDB should share these exciting developments with local and
foreign sports enterprises and help them capitalise on the new opportunities. In the longer
term, the Committee suggests that SSC, EDB and other key agencies should consider
developing the broader Kallang area around the Sports Hub into a sports-centric business
park, which would anchor top-notch sporting companies undertaking a wide range of
business-to-consumer and business-to-business economic activities such as developing new
sports materials, providing sports education services, and so on.

c. Outsourcing functions
The SSC and even other government agencies should also look progressively towards
outsourcing its non-core sports-related functions to the private sector, such as operating and
marketing sports facilities, managing sports events and award ceremonies, and marketing
sports programmes, etc. This will not only create greater cost efficiency, but also enable the
private sector to build up their sports-related competencies and services, which can then be
offered internationally.

Recommendation 18:

Make Singapore an international sports medicine and sports science


(SMSS) centre of excellence

55
Current Status
The growth of the global sports markets18 is an opportunity that Singapore should ride on.
Similar to the way that Singapore is a world-recognised air and sea regional hub, we can be
an international sports medicine and sports science (SMSS) centre of excellence. The SSC is
currently collaborating with the local hospitals in the area of sports medicine and related
services for athletes. There is further scope to transform this into a viable industry to serve
domestic and international demand.

The Committee recommends


Developing Singapore into a leading international centre for SMSS services, research and
product development. Building on the services and products developed to support elite athlete
performance, we should capitalise on the growing opportunities in the healthcare sector and
cater to a broader market, e.g. better treatment of injuries, commercialising SMSS research,
and so on. The SSC and relevant agencies – including EDB, hospitals, schools and research
institutions – should map out an industry development strategy, which would tap on as well
as complement ongoing efforts to develop the biomedical industry in Singapore. The strategy
would need to define specific activities to target, identify best ways to tap on our existing
expertise and initiatives (including development of the Sports Hub); map out the critical
success factors such as expertise, manpower and technology; propose incentive and support
schemes including existing life sciences research funds; and develop an overall timeline.

Recommendation 19:

Encourage the private sector to manage sports facilities and


programming

Current Status
18
PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that the global sports market will increase from US$96 billion in 2006, to
US$124 billion in 2011. The Asia-Pacific sports market alone is expected to expand at a rate of 5.3% annually
from US$13.7 billion in 2006, to US$17.7 billion in 2011. [Source: PwC report on ‘Global Entertainment and
Media Outlook: 2007-2011’]

56
The government’s policy – as implemented by SSC – has been to build and operate
accessible and affordable sports facilities at all major population centres in Singapore. The
Committee’s assessment is that it is timely to have greater private sector involvement to build
and manage the community sports facilities and programming, including the integration of
such facilities in commercial developments.

The Committee recommends


That the government should adopt a principle of widening market participation in the
management and programming of community sports facilities. This not only helps to build a
marketplace and grow the industry as discussed earlier, we can tap on the private sector’s
expertise and creativity in events and programming management, thus enhancing the overall
viability and vibrancy of the sports facilities. Specifically, the Committee would recommend
the following:

a. Private sector management of regional sports facilities


The Sports Hub, slated for completion in 2011, is being developed through a Private Public
Partnership model whereby the Sports Hub operator designs, develops and operates the entire
facility. This would ensure that the operator takes a holistic and long-term approach to
manage the Sports Hub and has an incentive to keep the place well-utilised and vibrant.

The Committee believes that a similar model can be extended to the community sports
facilities currently managed by SSC or other government agencies. For instance, a number of
existing sporting facilities can be aggregated together for a market sounding exercise
whereby interested parties are invited to bid to operate the sports facilities. To ensure that the
facilities remain affordable to the public, the bidders can ask for a government operating
subsidy in their proposals. The model could lead to a win-win situation whereby the
government maximises value for money in running the sports facilities (i.e. the subsidy given
to the successful bidder could be comparable to or even less than the government’s costs in
running the facilities directly), while the successful bidder would enjoy the upside in running
a wide range of sports, leisure and commercial events, activities and programmes.

57
The Committee recommends that the SSC undertake a pilot market sounding exercise. This
would be a good learning experience and stepping stone towards additional private sector
involvement exercises and approaches in the future.

b. Providing more sports facilities in commercial buildings


Why not let mum shop while dad hits the gym and the kids take swimming lessons in the
same location? All of this can take place in the family’s favourite shopping mall.

Currently, sports facilities can be provided as part of a commercial establishment’s allowable


Gross Floor Area (GFA). Developers would commonly include only commercially viable
sports facilities such as gyms, bowling alleys, snooker halls, etc. In recent years, the URA has
introduced the Civic and Community Institution (C&CI) Scheme which allows the private
sector to integrate C&CI uses in private commercial developments by allowing additional
C&CI GFA, over and above the approved GFA19.

The Committee understands that the URA has recently extended the C&CI scheme to include
sports uses to facilitate the integration of additional sporting space within existing and new
commercial developments. This is a very positive development, and the Committee hopes
that with this policy change, more developers will come forward to include sporting facilities
in their commercial properties. This way, consumers will be able to play sports and do
shopping under one roof, while mall operators would see increased foot traffic. The
Committee would recommend that the SSC and URA should inform all the commercial
developers about this policy change, and link the interested developers with suitable NSAs
and other sports organisations.

V. Building a strong legal foundation

19
This is subject to a GFA cap of 4,000 sqm or 10% of the overall GFA, whichever is the lower.

58
Recommendation 20:

Enhance the legal framework to support sports

Current Status
Sports, not unlike other social or economic sectors, has its share of disagreements and
disputes between different stakeholders, particularly sports excellence issues like athlete
selection by NSAs for the Major Games. Currently, these disputes would either have to be
resolved internally within the NSA or proceed to the civil courts, which could result in a
long-drawn and expensive process. Compared to the more matured sports sectors in other
countries, our local sports fraternity is generally unfamiliar with the legal aspects of rights
management, content distribution, professional athlete management, etc.

The Committee recommends


Enhancing the legal framework to support the growing sports industry, in particular to have
sound dispute resolution mechanisms so that sports-specific issues can be managed with
greater transparency and speed. Specifically, the Committee would recommend the
following:

a. A mediation and arbitration framework


The Committee is pleased to note that the SSC, together with agencies like the Singapore
National Olympic Council (SNOC), Singapore International Arbitration Centre, the
Singapore Mediation Centre and the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators have launched the
Alternate Dispute Resolution Framework on 7 January 2008. The Committee would
recommend that all stakeholders in the sports sector – from NSAs to athletes to service
providers – be encouraged to adopt this sports-specific and comprehensive mediation and
arbitration framework tailored for sports.

With this system in place, the Committee hopes to see greater professionalism and speed in
the way disputes are managed and resolved. This framework is applicable for various facets

59
of sports, not just sports excellence. In the long term, this framework would be a critical
component of developing the sports industry in Singapore.

b. Educating and enhancing sports law


In Singapore’s context, ‘sports law’ is primarily the application of various laws and
disciplines to issues unique to sport and the only piece of legislation that is specific to sport is
the Singapore Sports Council Act introduced in 1973. The Committee feels that it would be
useful to raise the awareness of legal issues and implications in all matters relating to sports
policy, programmes and processes. For example, a private service provider would need to
understand liability issues, NSAs would need to know how to better exploit naming rights for
their various assets, and event organisers should understand intellectual rights management
and how to protect themselves against ambush marketing.

The Committee suggests that a working committee comprising legal experts and sports
management practitioners could be set up to study existing practices and the legal
frameworks that govern sports in other countries – particularly those with established sports
industries – so as to develop ways to educate the sports fraternity and even the wider public
about sports legal issues, as well as propose whether there needs to be new or revised
legislation to support Singapore’s growing sports industry.

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Strategy 4 – Developing Champions
Sports excellence is a powerful medium to generate more interest in sports and build national
pride. Singaporean athletes have steadily improved over time at international competitions.
Combined with the right training programmes and facilities, and proper support from various
stakeholders, government agencies and the public, our national athletes have the potential to
achieve sustained medal success at the Major Games, including the Olympics and
Paralympics.

Recommendation 21:

Form a multi-agency ‘Glory for the Nation’ committee

Current Status
Supporting our elite athletes demands nothing less than the full alignment and cooperation
across multiple agencies. This ensures that our athletes can enjoy the best level of coaching
and infrastructural support, take leave of absence from school or work without worry, etc.
The Committee’s assessment is that there is a need to create a multi-agency platform to align
efforts and iron out cross-agency issues, so that our athletes can focus on their training and
preparation for the Major Games, particularly pinnacle competitions like the Olympics and
Paralympics.

The Committee recommends


That a ‘Glory for the Nation’ standing committee be formed to strategise, coordinate and
monitor this national effort to help our national athletes strive towards Olympic and
Paralympic medal glory. This committee should comprise representatives from the major
stakeholders in sports excellence, such as the SSC, SNOC, NSAs, MOE, educational
institutions (including the institutes of higher learning) and Ministry of Defence (MINDEF).

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In particular, the role of MINDEF would be to support the training and scheduling needs of
male elite athletes to balance their sports and national service commitments.

Other than looking after the able-bodied athletes, the ‘Glory for the Nation’ committee is
inclusive and should support our Elite Athletes with Disabilities (EAD) to compete
internationally, e.g. in the ASEAN ParaGames, FESPIC20 Games, Commonwealth Games
and the Paralympics. This committee could also be a useful multi-stakeholder platform to
continue the progress of Project 081221 which has been initiated by the SNOC to push for
Olympic glory in 2008, 2012 and beyond.

The MCYS, SSC and SNOC should take the lead to form this ‘Glory for the Nation’
committee, which would take an athlete-centric approach in identifying the enhanced support
needed to help our most promising elite athletes succeed at the Olympics and Paralympics.
This would represent the ‘turbo boost’ over and above the more systems-centric assistance
that SSC and NSAs are providing to the elite athletes.

Recommendation 22:

Start a world-class Sports Institute at the Sports Hub

Current Status
The Sports Hub, when it is ready in 2011, will be an integrated venue to support all three
sporting pillars of Sports for All, Sports Excellence and Sports Industry. In particular, the
Sports Hub will provide top-notch training and competition facilities for our elite athletes.
Many countries such as Australia, Finland, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, have their
own sports institutes serving as a centralised, state-of-the-art facility for top athletes, coaches
and other sporting professionals to train, interact and share best practices. To a modest extent,
the success of the Singapore Sports School (the Sports School) has shown that a centralised,
‘hot-housing’ and well-managed approach is the way forward to pursue sports excellence.

20
The FESPIC Games will be renamed as Asian Para Games from 2010 onwards.
21
Project 0812 was announced by the SNOC in January 2007 to provide enhanced support for a targeted group
of athletes to win medals at the 2008, 2012 and future Summer Olympics.

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The Committee recommends
A world-class Sports Institute to be started at the Sports Hub. To help our athletes excel at
world levels, this facility would have the best hardware and software, including top sports
medicine and sports science (SMSS) services. The Sports Institute would complement the
Sports School’s youth development focus by providing comprehensive support and
management for Singapore’s top senior athletes.

A successful Sports Institute requires the joint ownership by the SSC and NSAs. Hence we
suggest to set up a multi-stakeholder working committee – comprising representatives from
the SSC, Sports School, NSAs and external experts – to co-develop the working model,
including the sports to be included, management structure, resource and manpower
requirements. The Committee also recommends that this working committee study the Sports
School’s partnership models with NSAs. This is highly relevant because the Sports Institute
would similarly need to establish a close working partnership with NSAs.

While the Sports Hub will only be completed and operational in 2011, we recommend that
the SSC should work with the NSAs to establish a ‘virtual Sports Institute’ whereby the
working relationships, role clarity, respective responsibilities and hiring of key personnel
would be in place at least 2 years before the Sports Hub goes live. This way, the systems and
software can be tested and fine-tuned to world-class standards before moving seamlessly into
the Sports Hub.

Recommendation 23:

Ramp up youth talent development

Current Status
A number of outstanding athletes who perform well at the school-level and may have the
potential to join national squads tend to stop competitive sports once they leave school. This

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is a common occurrence in many developed countries. To ensure that we have a critical mass
of athletes with potential, there must be a broad feeder pipeline at the outset, hence the need
to improve our youth talent identification and management.

The Committee recommends


Enhancing youth talent recruitment and ensuring a structured and comprehensive flow-
through system into the senior squads. The Committee strongly supports the direction taken
by the MOE with the implementation of its new Talent Development Framework from 2008
onwards.

The Committee recommends building upon the MOE’s Talent Development Framework,
which focuses on three key strategies: (i) talent development of Primary school athletes
through the Junior Sports Academies (JSAs), (ii) increasing support for the Singapore
Schools Sports Teams (SSST), and (iii) enhancing the resources of schools to identify athletic
potential, e.g. in-house skills test for sports, and software to help identify students with
athletic potential and/or great interest in sports. In particular, the Committee suggests:

a. Developing a sound and rigorous process to identify and develop young sporting
talent
The Committee recommends that the MOE work closely with the SSC, Singapore Sports
School (SSS) and the NSAs to develop a sound approach towards the identification and
development of our talented youth. To achieve this, the Committee suggests that sport-
specific indicators be developed to allow for a rigorous process in the identification and
management of our young sporting talent, ensuring that they attain their highest potential.

Starting in one or two sports, the stakeholders – the MOE, SSC and SSS – should come
together to formulate a common set of criteria and protocols that reflect athletic ability among
young children. However, the criteria and protocols should strike a balance between
identifying those with potential and not sidelining the ‘late-bloomers’ in sports. These tests
will form the basis of a structured talent management system to nurture and develop the
talents of these youth through regular, high-level training. A major component of the talent
management system would be close and regular monitoring of the athlete’s progress to

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determine how best to improve his or her performance in accordance with the athlete’s goals
and aspirations as well as bodily changes in the adolescent stage. Even if the identified youth
does not make it to the national teams eventually, he or she would have been exposed to
structured and high-level training, and this would at least inculcate a lifelong love of sports.

In future, this set of criteria can be modified and adapted for integration in the schools’
Physical Education curriculum, before and after school sports programmes as well as CCA
structure. This way, all Singaporean youth will have a better understanding of their own
physiological strengths and limits, thus helping them to appreciate sports better.

b. Coordinating multiple pathways to elite performance


There are various stakeholders in the current elite performance landscape. While each of the
stakeholders offers different pathways in the elite performance continuum, there must be
coordination between the various pathways for a more efficient and strategic use of resources.
This could entail, for instance, setting up a central database to track the best talents,
establishing protocols to facilitate youth to transfer from say the SSS to other schools and
vice versa, and so on. The Committee recommends that the SSC take the lead in working
with the NSAs, SSS, MOE and other stakeholders to coordinate the talent identification and
management process and ensure a seamless transition between the various pathways.

Since its opening in January 2004, the SSS has raised the standard for youth sports. Its
students have won many international honours for Singapore at the junior and senior athlete
levels. The Committee recommends that the SSS play an active role in knowledge transfer
and sharing vis-à-vis other schools and stakeholders in the areas of talent identification and
management. This could be done through holding regular workshops, staff exchanges and
even intensive training camps for students of other schools during the holidays.

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The Path Ahead
The Committee hopes that this report will catalyse a broad-based effort to galvanise the
individual, family, community and nation. For these recommendations to take root and build
a great sporting culture, the Committee believes that 3 M’s are required – mandate, money
and manpower.

Mandate
First and foremost, for the Committee’s work to be effective in the long run, the report must
have the full backing of national leadership. In other words, a strong mandate must be given
to the MCYS and SSC so that they can champion the cause of sports, address issues with all
the various stakeholders, and see the Committee’s recommendations through to completion.

Money
The Committee on Sporting Singapore’s (CoSS) work has been effective in helping
Singapore run a major lap in sports development because of the generosity of the MOF and
Singapore Pools in starting up the S$500 million Sporting Singapore Fund (SSF) in 2001.
There has been a subsequent injection in 2005 to support the SSF until 2010. We have
estimated that over and above what is currently available in the SSF − essential to supporting
various ongoing sports programmes managed by the SSC, NSAs, Sports School and other
stakeholders − additional investments of S$39.8 million (for 2008 to 2010) and S$36.6
million (for 2011 to 2015) would be required to implement the Sporting Culture Committee’s
recommendations. The Committee hopes that the MOF would consider this additional
national investment favourably, so that Singapore can sprint the next lap.

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Manpower
The MCYS and SSC, being the sector authorities on sports, must be the primary custodians to
execute the recommendations. Both MCYS and SSC will be the lead agencies must take
ownership of this report, assess the feasibility of the recommendations, and take up those
recommendations that can be implemented through to completion. As the recommendations
cut across multiple agencies’ areas of responsibility, MCYS and SSC need to tap on existing
inter-agency platforms through the proposed National Sports Strategy Committee to push the
sporting culture cause.

Members of this new National Sports Strategy Committee could convene regularly, e.g. in a
conference or workshop environment, to deliberate and review the progress of the
recommendations, think of new ideas and continually push the envelope of sports
development. This way, the Sporting Culture Committee’s legacy would not be a mere report
drafted by a once-off gathering of sports-passionate minds, but instead will evolve into a
something larger – an inter-agency platform to where views can be exchanges, ideas will be
generated and steady progress will be made towards the successful implementation of the
Sporting Culture Committee’s recommendations.

Ultimately, sports is about people. To run the next lap, we must have passionate and
competent individuals – from the volunteer coach who diligently trains his soccer youth
charges every week, to the national athlete who wants to be a world champion and achieve
glory for nation and self, to the sports administrator doing his part to help service providers –
who see themselves having a stake and taking responsibility to educate and encourage others
to live a sporting lifestyle.

Let us continue to work together to build a Singapore Sporting Culture.

Live Life. Breathe Sports.

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Annex A

M embers of the Sporting Culture

Committee

Chairman
Teo Ser Luck Parliamentary Secretary,
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports

Sub-committee Chairman
Demand and Software
Bernard Tan Managing Director (Fixed Income),
Development Bank of Singapore

Glory for the Nation


Ng Ser Miang Executive Board Member,
International Olympic Committee &
Vice President, Singapore National Olympic Council

Building the Sector


Low Teo Ping Vice President, Singapore National Olympic Council,
President, Singapore Sailing Federation &
President, Singapore Rugby Union

Supply and Hardware

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Benson Puah Chief Executive Officer, The Esplanade Co. Ltd

Increasing Mindshare
Alex Chan Chairman, Singapore Sports Council

Members
Ang Peng Siong Managing Director, APS Swim School
Warren Buckley Chief Executive Officer, Suntec Singapore (till 4 June 2007)
Chris Chan Secretary General, Singapore National Olympic Council
Chew Hock Yong Deputy Secretary,
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports
Mike DeNoma Group Executive Director (Consumer Banking),
Standard Chartered Bank
Koh Ching Hong Managing Director, Toyota Borneo Motors
Dr Michael Koh Director (School of Sports, Health and Leisure),
Republic Polytechnic
C. Kunalan Asst. Professor, National Institute of Education
MAJ Lien Choong Luen Asst. Director (Future System Directorate),
Ministry of Defence
Ravi Menon Deputy Secretary (Policy),
Ministry of Finance (until 1 April 2007)
Darrell Metzger Chief Executive Officer,
Sentosa Development Corp. (until 1 April 2007)
MG Neo Kian Hong Chief of Army, Ministry of Defence
Ng Wai Choong Deputy Secretary (Policy), Ministry of Finance
(from 1 April 2007 onwards)
Niam Chiang Meng Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports
Oon Jin Teik Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Sports Council
Ms Seah Jiak Choo Director-General of Education, Ministry of Education
Ms Norma Sit Managing Director, RED ART Liveworks Pte Ltd
Ms Sum Chee Wah Director (Education Programmes Division),

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Ministry of Education
Dr Benedict Tan Head (Changi Sports Medicine Centre),
Changi General Hospital
Tan Boon Huat Chief Executive Director, People’s Association
Tan Ju Seng President, Singapore Disability Sports Council
Ms Naomi Tan Co-curricular Officer (Co-curricular Activities Branch),
Ministry of Education

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Annex B

L earning from Overseas

Introduction

Singapore is still in its infancy in sports development. There is much we can learn from other
countries such as Australia, China and Finland, which already have an established sporting
tradition and culture. As we learn from their best practices, we should also note the different
cultural and historical contexts, so that we can adapt accordingly to suit our purposes.

Common trends and lessons from other countries

From 14 to 18 May 2007, the Committee undertook a study trip to Finland to gain insights
into the strong Finnish sporting culture and the critical success factors behind it. The key
learning points were:

• That a national ideology revolving around sports is an important foundation for a


strong sporting culture;
• How a strong sense of civic participation and volunteerism in sports are key
contributors to a sporting culture;
• A multi-faceted and holistic approach is beneficial when it comes to sports
promotion and development; and
• The importance of capitalising on private-public sector partnerships and developing
manpower and research capabilities when promoting sports.

As we compared the lessons from the trip with our knowledge of other countries with strong
sporting cultures, the Committee observed several key similarities and trends. The following

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lists a broad overview of the lessons we have gleaned from the success of other countries’
sports policies:

Lesson 1: A clear vision for sports is a must-have

It is crucial to have a clear vision for sports before we embark on any sports promotion
programmes. The vision should outline the benefits of sports to the nation, intended goals,
targets and well-tailored strategies. In most countries, the vision is encapsulated in a national
sports policy that expresses the government’s commitment and rationale to promoting sports.

For Australia and Finland − countries with well-established and rich sports traditions − their
national sports development policies22 clearly articulate the government’s aims and strategies
for promoting sports, and the benefits it would bring to their people. In Asia, Japan’s ‘Basic
Plan for the Promotion of Sports’ states the significance of promoting sports and charts the
relevant goals and measures from 2001 to 2010.

Lesson 2: A sporting culture is sustained by bottom-up initiatives and


active participation in sports by the population

A strong sporting culture is very often characterised by active citizenry in sports


participation. In countries with a long-standing history in sports, sports is very much the way
of life for the people and this is evidenced in the community sports scene.

In Finland, the strong tradition of sports clubs is the cornerstone of their sports promotion
strategy. There are some 8,000 sports clubs and 300,000 volunteers involved in the clubs.
Sports club membership and volunteerism are integral to the Finnish lifestyle, and they stay
with the individual throughout his or her life. This strong civic participation is the bedrock of
the Finnish sports policy, and is a large part of the reason why the Finns are the most active in
sports within the EU today.

22
The Australian government has formulated a national sports policy, “Building Australian Communities
through Sport”, to guide its sports development strategies and the work of the Australian Sports Commission.
Finland has the “Sports Act” which articulates the overarching aim of promoting recreational, competitive and
elite sports as well as related civic activity.

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For Australia, sports is a critical part of the Australian psyche and almost one in three
Australians play sports or exercise twice a week or more23. Due to the high regard for sports,
many Australians strive for sports excellence at the highest levels and there is a high demand
for sports events, thereby fuelling a robust sports industry. Together, these factors work in
tandem to create and sustain a strong sports culture.

Lesson 3: Presence of national will

For sports to flourish, the government must be committed to supporting sports development
as a long-term investment. Sports is an indispensable vehicle to achieve social objectives, e.g.
national pride and social bonding, but the benefits are usually only apparent in the mid to
long term. Therefore it is necessary that the national vision for sports be championed by the
government with a long view.

In Australia, there is non-partisan political support for sports across Australia’s three main
political parties and minority parties. Regardless of changes in the ruling party or coalition,
the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) has been receiving stable and increased funding for its
elite programmes over the years. Furthermore, the appointment of the AIS Director by the
Prime Minister signifies the national importance of sports.

National will is even more pronounced in China, where the government has played a large
role to promote and develop sports. Physical fitness has always been an important aspect of
traditional Chinese culture, and since 1995, the Chinese government has embarked on a series
of ‘Sports for All’ programmes and initiatives to involve more people in physical activity.
The government has also placed great emphasis on sports excellence at the highest levels as a
tool for instilling national pride among the people. Since 1979, Chinese athletes have taken
part in five Summer Olympic Games, garnering a total of 80 golds, 79 silvers and 64 bronzes,
thus showcasing their prowess to the rest of the world. With its intention to advance its mark
in the international sporting arena as a showcase for the country’s progress on the global
stage, the Chinese government bid and won the right to host the Summer Olympic Games in
2008.

23
These figures were released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in Feb 2007, as part of the study entitled
“Sports and Physical Recreation, Australia 2005-06”.

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Lesson 4: Adopting a multi-faceted and holistic approach towards
sports

Sports is a social activity that brings many benefits to the participant. Countries have
espoused the multiple benefits of sports, e.g. physical and mental benefits, social benefits
such as building national pride and social cohesion, and economic contributions to the
country. A coordinated inter-agency approach that gives public and private agencies a shared
responsibility in sports promotion and development is bound to yield greater success.

This is the case in Finland which uses a network of established links among the various sports
organisations and interest groups, ensuring that sports is represented at every level, i.e. the
national level (Ministry of Education), regional level (provinces), and local level (municipal
authorities, non-governmental organisations such as sports clubs and organisations). The
Finns also adopt a perspective whereby sports can impact beyond the individual to the family,
community and national levels.

In Japan, sports is regarded as a healthy pastime for all Japanese, young and old. Not only
does sports help build discipline, teamwork and fair play, it helps the elderly keep fit and
healthy. The Japanese government has been encouraging lifelong participation in sports by
setting up at least one comprehensive community sports club in each municipality from 2000
to 2010. These clubs offer a variety of sports for Japanese of all ages and skill levels, with
certified instructors on hand to assist participants at different skill levels. These clubs make it
possible for the local residents to engage in regular sports activities for life.

While a decentralised and networked approach is helpful to bring sports to the masses, it may
not be the ideal method to attain sports excellence at the highest levels. The Finnish Olympic
Committee had mentioned their need to increase professionalism and adopt a more
coordinated approach to enhance their sports excellence outcomes. The learning point for us
is to adopt different approaches for our sports for all and sports excellence plans, e.g. a
networked and ‘many helping hands’ approach would better support a vibrant club culture
and participation, while a more focused and structured approach is better suited to develop
our athletes into champions. These approaches would reinforce each other and ensure the
success of our participation and excellence efforts.

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Lesson 5: Establishing and maximising partnerships between public
and private sectors

Adopting a public-private partnership approach should provide a win-win arrangement for all
parties involved in sports, particularly in the case of managing sports facilities and event
venues.

Australia’s sporting facilities are versatile and designed to be multi-purpose so that they can
host sporting, entertainment and social events. In the case of the Melbourne Sports & Aquatic
Centre (MSAC), the management effectively balances community needs and commercial
interests through creative scheduling and strategic marketing to various groups. For instance,
the MSAC has facilities open for community use and members-only fitness gyms and
wellness centres. Similarly, the Kuortane Sports Institute in Finland caters to the needs of the
elite athletes and the larger community. The Kuortane Sports Institute is jointly funded by
private, public and people sectors – the Ministry of Education funds 37% of the Institute’s
operating costs while the remaining funds are raised through room rentals and commercial
sponsorships.

A mix of revenue sources is common for many sports clubs in Finland, where a large
majority of their revenue comes from membership fees (80-90%), while the rest is made up
of local government subsidies, i.e. municipalities, and commercial sponsorships. It is through
this bottom-up approach that the Finnish sports programmes and schemes are able to flourish
and become self-sustaining in the long run.

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[End of Report]

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