SportSG’s 15 updates on Vision 2030 masterplan

A framework designed to enhance the participation of children and youth in sports, and improve the quality of coaching - these were some of the 15 new recommendations announced yesterday by Sport Singapore, the national governing body for sports in the country.

The 15 recommendations are spread across eight key areas - children, youth and families; athletes, coaches and national sports associations; vulnerable persons with disabilities; working adults; seniors; sports industry; technology and sports infrastructure (See right for more).

They came about after a year-long review of Vision 2030, which was first announced seven years ago. The updates will be put in place to ensure that the masterplan is relevant in the face of changing needs and demands of Singaporeans.

Sport Singapore chief executive officer Lim Teck Yin revealed that at a time when "participation is at its highest ever", an update on Vision 2030 was necessary to push the envelope even further.

Speaking at the announcement of the recommendations at the Singapore Sports Hub's Black Box auditorium, Lim said: "The big breakthrough that we need to work on really hard is with our children and youth.

"Strangely enough, countries that have long been known as great sporting cities, whether they are cities in Australia, United States or Europe, they are most concerned because they see the participation in children and youth declining.

"And that's where we need to be able to make the real difference.

"We need to get the pre-schoolers and our young children to be physically literate.

"We have to make sure that we can partner MOE (Ministry of Education) and our schools, so that the schools have enough capacity to offer multiple sports to the students and so that we can provide support for in-school and out-of-school programmes."

One way that Sport Singapore is looking to boost participation, is through the School Sports Partnership which is aimed at enabling children to play as many sports as possible when in school.

Sport Singapore will co-create a curriculum with schools building on their existing range of programmes, games and competitions to expose students to different sports.

Lim revealed that up to 50 per cent of secondary schools did not offer athletics as a co-curricular activity (CCA).

To deal with this, Sport Singapore has come up with the Strategic Partnership CCA (SP-CCA) which will allow secondary students to pursue CCAs that are not offered by their schools due to low take-up rates.

NEW ACADEMY

These students will be able to participate in the programme, which will be co-designed by MOE and ActiveSG and conducted in centralised venues. Such students can attain CCA recognition like any other student in school-based CCAs.

Yesterday's launch of the ActiveSG Gymnastics Academy, the 18th such addition to Sport Singapore's suite of offerings under the academies and clubs portfolio, is also aimed at creating more opportunities for children to learn, build confidence and participate in sport.

Senior Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth Sim Ann, who was guest-of-honour at the launch, attended by some 4,000 pre-schoolers, said: "By starting young and making physical activity a way of life, I believe we will see more Singaporeans adopt healthy living and being motivated to be lifelong active citizens."

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RECOMMENDATIONS

• Children + youths + families

* Children & youth sport framework

* Associate partner scheme

* Support for parents and teachers

• Athletes + coaches + NSAs

* Optimise high performance sport

* Better governance and integrity

• Technology

* Smart sport centres

* Harness data intelligence

* Network coordination and business data partnership

• Vulnerable + persons with disabilities

* Communities of care

• Sports infrastructure

* Kallang Alive

* Network of play spaces

• Working adults

* Playbook for corporates

• Sports industry

* Ecosystem that enables sport business development

* A marketplace for idea/ innovation

• Seniors

* Partnerships with stakeholders