http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/arch...apore-20140319

Published March 19, 2014

Goodbye SSC, hello Sport Singapore

By jaira koh [email protected]


FROM April 1, the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) will be known as Sport Singapore.

The new name, part of the rebranding of the statutory board, will take it through Vision 2030, under which the Sports Facilities Master Plan will be implemented.

Besides that, ActiveSG, a national movement to encourage Singaporeans to play sport, will be launched; the relationship between Sport Singapore and the national sports associations (NSAs) will also be redefined.

Explaining the rebranding in the context of Vision 2030's tagline "Live better through sports", SSC chief executive officer Lim Teck Yin said: "We looked at our vision, and what's very clear is that everything that we do is through sport, and not for sport, and its focus is on serving a community."

He pointed to this focus on the community in the Sports Facilities Master Plan, which he said was about providing greater access to sport in terms of proximity to venues, affordability, opening hours and lifestyle factors.

The first phase of the plan will cost $1.5 billion. Under this, new venues will be built and existing ones, revamped, to create a four-tiered spectrum of sports facilities.

Pushing the point about serving the community, Mr Lim drew particular attention to Tiers 3 and 4; Tier 3 sports venues comprise town-level sports and recreation centres, and Tier 4, the community playing fields and dual-use scheme school facilities.

Tier 1 facilities comprise the sports hub and national training centres; Tier 2 facilities are the regional sports facilities.

Mr Lim said Tiers 3 and 4 facilities will be where families come out to play; unconventionally shaped running tracks are an example of facilities designed to draw everyone outdoors.

"Active living and sport are intimately intertwined," he added.

ActiveSG, to be launched on April 26, will be another platform through which Sport Singapore hopes to raise participation levels in sport.

Membership in it will be free, and will come with privileges such as priority booking of facilities, complimentary trial classes and invitations to exclusive events in the five zones into which Singapore will be carved up.

ActiveSG will also organise leagues along the zonal lines, to foster affinity to one's particular zone.

"We have to make this ActiveSG national movement something that Singaporeans own, something they feel they can be a part of and enjoy," said Mr Lim.

ActiveSG will reach the community through an app and a Web portal for booking facilities and networking among members, including connecting coaches with athletes.

Sport Singapore will also enhance its support for national athletes not currently under its Sports Excellence Scholarship, which provides enhanced financial and programmatic support for athletes who show promise of success at major competitions such as the Southeast Asian Games.

The relationship between Sport Singapore and the NSAs will be reshaped into one of the national sports body being a partner to - rather than governing - the NSAs.

Other changes include efforts to relieve the NSAs' administrative burden, and a $25 million Innovation Fund for breakthrough ideas in sport.