REAL PEOPLE TRUE SPORTS A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF SPORTING SINGAPORE Singapore Sports Council Annual Report 2010/2011 THE VISION: A Sporting Singapore. Our Way of Life THE MISSION: Developing sports champions & creating enjoyable sporting experiences for Singapore contents 04 08 10 12 36 38 41 42 CHAIRMAN’S CEO’S MESSAGE COUNCIL SENIOR SSC BREAKS TEAM SINGAPORE SINGAPORE WINS TEAM SINGAPORE MESSAGE MEMBERS MANAGEMENT ground ON SETS NEW RECORD GOLD IN Sport BRINGS youthful NEW SINGAPORE at Commonwealth CITY awards passion AND Sports HUB GAMES IN DELHI SEASONED COMMITMENT to 16TH ASIAN GAMES 13 14 16 17 45 47 50 51 CORPORATE REAL PEOPLE NATIONAL SCHOOL SSC LAUNCHES BOLD SSC creates NEW SCMS takes ITTF to SET UP ATP CHALLENGER GOVERNANCE TRUE Sports GAMES HIT THE NEW FUNDING, pathway FOR sport 60,000 RUNNERS operations IN BRINGS professional AIRWAVES DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT WITH ON LANDMARK SINGAPORE TENNIS back to MODEL FOR NSAS fundamental marathon SINGAPORE movement SKILLS through historic SINGAPORE 19 20 22 25 52 53 54 56 SSC & RP SIGN SINGAPORE CELEBRATING BASKETBALL SSC NAMES BG LIM SINGAPOREAN plays RIDING THE PEOPLE TEST THEIR NEW PARTNERSHIP WOMEN’S TABLE EVERYMAN WITHOUT BORDERS TECK YIN AS NEW CEO WITH THE pros EXpressway WITH METTLE IN Aviva AT STUDENT TENNIS TEAM WITH EVERYDAY MENTORS YOUNG at HSBC WOMEN’S OCBC CYCLE Ironman 70.3 GRADUATION WINS WORLD CHAMPIONS AWARDS PLAYERS FROM CHAMPIONS 2011 CEREMONY CHAMPIONSHIPS ACROSS ASIA 27 28 34 35 58 60 SSC MAKES BIG SINGAPORE STANDS WE ARE PLAYING NEW BOOK ON SINGAPORE’S FINANCIAL SPLASH IN WATER PROUD HOSTING MORE SPORTS! National Stadium CHEERLEADERS Statements SAFETY WITH INAUGURAL YOUTH GOES ON SALE DEFY gravity at 2010/2011 SWIMSAFER OLYMPIC GAMES 2ND National CHAMPIONSHIPS 4 5 richardSingapore seow Sports Council Singapore Sports Council Annual Report 2010/2011 Annual Report 2010/2011 chairman’s message Sporting Singapore had an extraordinary year in fiscal 2010, a Real People, True Sports within SSC year that saw people play, watch and experience sports in ways From within the ranks of SSC, there are three stories that they never have before. For the 12 months ending 31 March I would like to share. Mahipal Singh is one of the veterans 2011, the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) has a complex and in our coaching department. If you want to understand the colourful story to tell, rich with courage and achievement in impact that a coach or a physical education teacher can have events, programming, investment and champions. on the lives of his players, talk to Mahipal’s young football team. Three years ago, he convinced Meridian Primary A Narrative Created by SSC and Sporting Singapore School in Pasir Ris to launch football as a co-curricular This story does not belong to SSC alone. It is a shared activity. Since then, he has coached some 20 boys, aged nine narrative by people from many different communities: to 12 years, every Monday afternoon in the rules and joys of from the 900-plus employees at SSC to the thousands of playing football. volunteers who enthusiastically turn out for events to officials who ensure fair play, to sponsors who make great things A Coach who Teaches Life Lessons as He Teaches Sport possible, to coaches who spend hours training and mentoring As Mahipal teaches these young boys how to play ball, he our athletes, to corporate Singapore which sees the value in also teaches skills that will serve them throughout their lives: what sport can do for our nation. how to persevere through adversity, how to be responsible team players and how to put in the hard work necessary to Sporting Singapore tells the story of real people—ordinary achieve success. These are big, important lessons for youth people who believe we can live more meaningful lives still defining who they want to be in life. through sports. As you read through the pages of this annual report, you will see how this story is told every Like all great coaches, Mahipal thrives on seeing them month through an extraordinary range of initiatives by an learn and improve. “The joy and smiles I see on their faces extraordinary range of ordinary, real people. whenever they report for training is an enriching experience,” Mahipal says. “To be able to see them grow and develop, A Vision of Singapore where Sports is a Way of Life technically as well as socially as responsible young children, SSC’s vision is to create a Sporting Singapore where sports is is a source of immense satisfaction.” Most recently, he had a way of life. We aim to develop sports champions and create something else to be satisfied about: the team closed their enjoyable sporting experiences for Singapore. We do this second season with a Top 8 finish in the National Primary through the three strategic thrusts of cultivating a sporting Schools Competition and a third place finish in the East culture, achieving sports excellence and creating a vibrant Zone Primary Schools Football Competition. sports industry. Increasingly, people are making sports their way of life, as athletes, coaches, volunteers, investors, officials If you want to experience an affordable, enjoyable and well- and sponsors. managed place to play sports staffed by people who care, visit one of our sports and recreation centres (SRCs). We are Some people may have been front page news but most were proud of all 21 of them, but every year, we comb through the not. You know this from experience—because Real People, feedback from visitors to our SRCs as part of our internal True Sports is your story. Throughout FY10, you cheered awards and recognition programme. from the grandstands. You got up before dawn to train every day. You waited patiently to photograph that perfect A Lifeguard who Cares for His Team and the Public sporting moment. You wrote and broadcast stories. When Throughout FY10, the staff at Jurong East SRC provided you played sports, you played with your heart. You invested guests with a safe, friendly environment to play sports, time and resources because you believed in the power of relax and socialise. The SRC won the award for Best sport. You aimed for sports excellence, and you are the Integrated SRC, and Senior Lifeguard Chua Kok received best reason we have to celebrate sports. You are our true the Outstanding Star Employee Award for his overall believers, our true sports. commitment to service excellence, guest safety and the 6 7 Singapore Sports Council Singapore Sports Council Annual Report 2010/2011 Annual Report 2010/2011 chairman’s message chairman’s message optimum running of the SRC. He also delivers that Even more events were developed from the ground up A Farewell to a Great CEO: Oon Jin Teik A Decade of Progress, a Year of Accomplishment, a commitment to the SRC team. “Chua is a dedicated staff by individuals, clubs, companies, the National Sports Oon Jin Teik, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SSC from Bold Future who cares and guides juniors in times of need,” says Centre Associations (NSAs) and other organisations such as the April 2004, announced his resignation in October 2010. What we have accomplished in the past decade has been Manager Jeremy Neo. “He is an excellent role model of People’s Association or the Health Promotion Board. The Jin Teik defined the strategic direction of SSC. He had the tremendous, but it pales in comparison to what lies before us leadership and cordial teamwork.” Ministry of Education plays a particularly important role sensibilities of an athlete and the savvy of an engineer. He and what we hope to achieve. SSC and Sporting Singapore in fostering the sporting spirit and the fundamental skills in promoted participation, excellence and industry with equal have made great progress in the past decade, and last year A High Performance Manager who Gives Back to our youth. I encourage all of our stakeholders to put your zeal, believing that advancing all three thrusts concurrently was no exception. But the best is yet to be. I am inviting the Elderly experience, skills and talents to work on behalf of Sporting would produce a stronger SSC overall. everyone in Sporting Singapore to join Teck Yin and SSC on If you want to hear about the impact that a true sport can Singapore by becoming a volunteer at one of the many this journey. Whether you have been an elite competitor, a have on a community, talk to Helen Lee from our Sport organisations that would benefit from your help. An Olympian swimmer for Singapore during his parent volunteer, a community coach, a young official or a Development Group. Helen is a dedicated volunteer who competitive peak, Jin Teik implemented new systems and corporate investor, SSC would love to hear from you. works with both children and senior citizens. On Saturday Sporting Singapore Reached More People in 2010 processes to raise the organisational excellence within SSC mornings, Helen is at a void deck in Clementi with a group Together, we had more impact on Singapore than ever and the NSAs. He led the development of the Singapore Sincerely of exuberant senior citizens, ranging in age from their 60s before—from the sweeping optimism of the Singapore 2010 Sports Hub as a public-private partnership. His most into their 80s. The seniors are devotees of a qigong class run Youth Olympic Games, to the community spirit found personal initiative was his tireless campaign to improve by Coach May Tan, Singapore’s first Asian Games medallist among the 60,000 runners of the inaugural Standard sports safety standards. Galvanised by the tragedy with in wu shu.