Singapore to host Global Coach Conference in 2023
Minister Tong: Being awarded rights to 2023 Global Coach Conference a feather in the cap for CoachSG
Singapore will welcome some of the world's top sports coaches after it was yesterday named host of the International Council for Coaching Excellence's Global Coach Conference (GCC) in 2023.
Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong made the announcement in his opening address at the annual CoachSG Conference at the Sports Hub's Sport Singapore Auditorium yesterday.
Calling the biennial GCC "the most prestigious coaching conference in the world", he added: "This is indeed a great honour and privilege, and a significant milestone for CoachSG - an organisation that is only five years young.
"I sincerely thank (the International Council for Coaching Excellence) for selecting Singapore as the host city for the 2023 edition of the GCC.
"This is a rare and very much-cherished opportunity, and the coaching community is assured that we will once again put our best foot forward and demonstrate our value and contributions to the sports and coaching sector."
The GCC is described as an event that brings coaches, coach educators, researchers, sport scientists, technical directors and sport administrators together to address issues in coaching, and where the world's top experts share their experiences. About 500 delegates are expected.
This year's GCC will be held from Nov 17-21 in Lisbon. It was first held in 1997 in Israel, and only two other Asian cities have been hosts - Beijing (2007) and Tokyo (2019).
Mr Tong said being awarded the rights to the GCC was a feather in the cap for CoachSG, which has enjoyed a "rise in global recognition and prominence of (its) work" in recent years, as evidenced by its invitations to present at various international conferences and symposiums.
CoachSG was launched in 2017 as an academy for coaches of all levels, with aims to enhance and support the development of professional capabilities and standards of coaching in Singapore.
Mr Tong also lauded the organisation for embarking on efforts to help the coaching industry adapt to the digitalisation in the sector that has been accelerated because of the pandemic.
One of these is an online resource called the SportSG-ED portal - also unveiled yesterday - which serves as a platform for coaches, athletes and sports administrators to learn any time, anywhere, on the go and on any smart device.
EXCHANGE IDEAS
"Apart from delivering sport-related learning content, the portal doubles up as a digital community of learning, making it easy for the 5,000-over sport professionals to exchange ideas and knowledge on the platform," said Mr Tong.
He also said that CoachSG's efforts have contributed to raising the "number, standards and professionalism of our coaches", noting that there are more than 6,200 coaches registered under the National Registry of Coaches, with the figure more than three times what it was in 2017.
The CoachSG conference ends tomorrow.
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