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SINGAPORE: The government will build 50 multipurpose courts for badminton and pickleball over the next five years, with the first ones already opened, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo said on Thursday (Mar 5).
Eight dual-use courts have been operational at The Kallang since January, while another eight pickleball courts will open at Little India bus terminal in the coming months.
"Our facilities are well-utilised and see over 20 million visitors annually.
"As more Singaporeans embrace active lifestyles, there is also a rise in demand for public facilities during peak hours, particularly for popular sports like badminton and pickleball," said Mr Neo during the debate on the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth's spending plans for the coming year.
As the authorities build these courts, they will be mindful of managing noise levels at residential estates, he added.
The courts are part of the Sports Facilities Master Plan (SFMP), which aims to provide greater access to quality, affordable sports facilities and enable wider participation in sport.
Under the SFMP, Queenstown, Hougang and Punggol Regional sport centres will be completed within a year, said Mr Neo.
SPORTS FOR ALL
In a fact sheet, MCCY said it will step up its collaboration with Sport Singapore (SportSG) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) to expand opportunities for students to play and compete in sports across schools as well as foster “social mixing” among students of different backgrounds and socio-economic statuses.
"We will provide more platforms where children can play to nurture their love of the game – so that every child has more opportunities to experience what sport can teach them about themselves and about others," said Mr Neo.
As such, the ministry announced the launch of a S$10 million ($7.83 million) grant to encourage the formation of Multi-School Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) teams to train and play sports together beyond traditional school teams.
Each team will receive S$200,000 over four years to be invested among the partner schools, which can be used to partially fund facility, transportation or coaching costs.
"CCAs are where many of us made our closest friends, forged through hours ... spent laughing and crying together in training. This sustained interaction and tight bonds are precisely what we want to nurture," said the minister.
SportSG will also partner MOE schools to organise more School Sports Fiesta events to provide greater opportunities for students across different schools to try out and compete in various sports together.
The initiative was launched in October last year as part of a pilot programme aimed at bringing students from different backgrounds together through sports. Its inaugural edition saw participation from more than 2,000 students across 16 schools.
SportSG aims to bring the School Sports Fiesta to about 32 schools by next year, said MCCY.
At the wider sporting level, MCCY announced the formation of Sport Excellence Singapore (SpexSG), consolidating the High Performance Sport Institute (HPSI), Singapore Sports School (SSP) and Unleash the Roar (UTR).
"While each entity will retain its own branding and identity, the consolidation will transform the end-to-end journey of our national athletes to be more integrated and seamless," said a MCCY spokesperson, in response to queries from CNA.
The move will provide Singapore athletes stronger support to stay longer in competitive sports while deepening partnerships with National Sports Associations (NSAs) to strengthen the broader sporting ecosystem, said the ministry.
In the immediate term, SpexSG will focus on three key things: enhanced athlete-centric support, strengthening and partnering NSAs, and deepening specialist capabilities. It will be launched next month.
This move follows the announcement last year that the Singapore Sport Institute (SSI), National Youth Sports Institute (NYSI) and SSP will be consolidated into a single entity.
SSI, Singapore's premier training centre for national athletes, and NYSI, a sporting organisation that aims to drive youth development, were first integrated last year.
UTR, a national project aimed at raising standards of local football across all levels, was launched in 2021.
With SpexSG, footballers will get more support to make the transition from the youth to senior level, said the spokesperson. Other benefits include higher Sport Science and Sport Medicine standards arising from deployment of larger team of such support within and across clusters of sports.
“By combining the expertise and capabilities across HPSI, SSP and UTR, we are able to optimise resources, enhance the athletes’ daily training environment and strengthen governance of the high-performance sport system," said the ministry.
"With the right support, we believe our athletes can realise their aspirations and their full potential," added Mr Neo.
OBS CONEY CAMPUS COMPLETED
In her speech on Thursday, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth Goh Hanyan announced that the Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) campus at Coney Island will open later this year.
The new campus will include advanced rope challenge courses, integrated climbing systems and other team-based challenges to enhance group-learning experience, the ministry said in a factsheet.
Plans for the campus were announced at Budget 2016, with OBS announcing in 2021 that it had begun construction.
The timelines were revised due to issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to ensure construction methods strive to minimise environmental impact, said an MCCY spokesperson.
With the new campus, OBS will be able to offer the MOE-OBS programme to all Secondary 3 students by 2030. Last year, about 65 per cent of the Secondary 3 cohort from across 90 schools took part in the programme.
Ms Goh recalled how OBS was set up in 1967 by Dr Goh Keng Swee "to develop mentally and physically rugged youths to be active citizens inspired to serve the community".
“The words ‘rugged’ and ‘active citizens’ capture the evergreen spirit of Singapore. Our eternal way of being, so that our nation endures. But the need has clearly changed,” she said.
“In 1967, we needed ruggedness as we struggled for nationhood. Today, we need resilience to navigate an uncertain world and maintain a strong sense of identity and belonging as one people, one nation.”
