Singapore Sports

Achieving excellence in sports means that elite athletes, who are competent individuals, can perform at the highest level of consistency to effectively excel in training environments and competitions on the biggest stages. However, Singapore is never consistent in producing world-class athletes that can deliver the required expectations.

Currently, Singapore Sports School is the only specialized school to produce elite sportsman and women, coupled with athletes emerging from all walks of life. With the rise of Joseph Schooling and a few other athletes who have had success on the world stage, this puts Singapore’s sports development system in question.

Singapore Sports Development System

The Singapore Sports School is regarded as the only platform for specialized sports development. They should be celebrated and defined as a symbol of inspiration to aspiring young athletes and the nation. Instead, the school is situated in an inaccessible location, sandwiched between the dense vegetation, expressway and an airbase. This renders the school almost out of sight to Singaporeans and an unhealthy environment with potential noise and air pollution. In the 16 years of operation, the Singapore Sports School has only produced 8 Olympians. Notably, with Colin Chen opening up his journey to success, he emphasized the need for taking risks and sacrifices. These sacrifices include academics and personal life.

Singapore Sports Culture

Singapore is in no shortage of high-quality facilities for the community and its athletes as displayed from ActiveSG and Kallang Alive. Conversations on the current sports culture prove that Singaporeans still care about the nation’s athletes. However, Singaporeans need to be educated on the importance of sports involvement with the media being the first line of positive and constructive influence. Granted, without a performing sports individual or team, there is not much to cheer for. Therefore, elite sports development system should be put into priority.

Proposed Singapore Sports Academy

Focused on the development of world class athletes, the Singapore Sports Academy looks to produce a new generation of sportsmen and sportswomen to earn Singapore a place on the international sporting map. The academy aims to achieve sporting excellence while de-prioritizing academic ambitions. Situated in the heart of Singapore’s sporting nexus, the academy is designed to adopt a conducive environment for both our athletes and the public. This encourages interaction and bonds to be forged amongst them. Unorthodox yet expressive, the construction and spatial arrangements almost literally embodies the notion of stepping out of the box. A symbolic home to athletes and the public alike, capturing the essence of cultivating elite sports; to step out of our comfort zones and strive for greatness.

“We are not here to create champions but an environment where champions are inevitable” – by Forbes Carlile

Singapore Going for Gold

With the current sports development system in place, it might be producing talents that can be competing on the regional level. However, this does not justify the amount of money and effort that the government has put in through the years. Achieving excellence requires sacrifices and commitment to the craft. We need a system that focuses on achieving sporting excellence and sports elitism while engaging the community.

Singapore must approach achieving sporting excellence as a zero sum game where sports should be the only focus instead of trying to balance sports with, for example, academics.

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