Singapore's First Sports School

Singapore may be a little late in the game, but its dream of having its own first sports school to produce future champions came into fruition with its inauguration on Monday, when School Year 2004 began. This construction project started in November 2002. This is only the beginning of a long journey for our young sports talents to realise their dreams of being a champion and they never had it so good!

But the School has already generated a lot of interest with students, parents, the public and members of Parliament (MPs). An unprecedented 1,500 students applied for a place in what was largely considered a 'paper-chase' society. MPs questioned the high academic requirements for the School, which some members of the public think sporting talent should take precedence over academic results. But it is always difficult to draw the line as brains are also required in sports. Anyway, the School has exercised some flexibility when it accepted some students who have failed to make the academic entry requirements.

The S$75 million school complex occupies 7ha of land at Woodlands Drive 15, which is equivalent to seven football (soccer) fields, and comprises state-of-the-art facilities like two all-weather (indoor) Olympic-size swimming pools, a 700-seat indoor auditorium (housing a 10-court badminton training centre), a double-storey gym, a synthetic football pitch and an eight-lane 400m synthetic track.

Boarding facilities for students and staff are housed in three separate eight-storey blocks (two for boys and one for girls) that can accommodate a total of 600 students and a 29-apartment block for staff.

The first intake of 140 students, 109 Secondary 1 (12 year-olds) and 31 Secondary 2 (13-14 years) were specially selected and will be trained by experts in eight sports including athletics, badminton, bowling, football, netball, sailing, swimming and table tennis - sports which are popular here and which our officials feel we have a chance to excel.

Actually, as emphasized by the Minister for Community Development and Sports, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, "the whole purpose of setting up the Sports School (is) to find a balance between academics and sports." Students must take five academic subjects including English and must complete eight modules per year and 32 at the end of four years. This flexible modular syllabus, specially structured training time and conducive environment allow the student to achieve his twin objective of excelling in both studies and sports, something the regular school system failed to deliver. At the end of the day, if a student cannot make it as a top athlete, he can fall back on his academic achievements.

And it seems that the School is not stopping at the Secondary 4 stage to prepare only for the "O" Levels as according to the School principal, Mr Moo Soon Chong, "students will be at the peak of their performance after four years of training at the Sports School. It will be a waste if we don't continue to rpovide for their needs." Therefore the School is already negotiating post-secondary options for their students like offering "A" Levels, linking up with junior colleges and external universities in Australia and New Zealand for matriculation programmes which can enable eligible students to pursue a degree course eventually and yet continue to train in their chosen sports.

On the professional side, a team of sports science experts such as a physiotherapist, a nutritionist and two sports psychologists, is available to monitor the students' development and progress to ensure that they perform at their best.

The students' daily timetable looks like this:

Hours
0600 - Rise and Shine
0630 - Training Session One
0800 - Breakfast
0900 - School
1400 - Lunch, Enrichment programmes and nap
1600 - Training Session Two
1830 - Dinner
1930 - Supervised study time
2130 - Free time
2230 - Lights out

Hopefully, in four years' time some of these students can don national colours and represent Singapore in their chosen sports. I look forward to many more locally produced National badminton players.

 

Wow Iwan,

Four to five hours of training for six days a week, are you trying to gain a place in the National Team ultimately! I hope your training venue is near your home or your father's shop so that you don't have to waste too much travelling time. I hope the facilities are adequate and you have a coach to guide you too.

But what happens to your studies? Aren't you going to improve your marketability unless you want to be a badminton pro? What time do you go to bed normally? Hope you have enough rest and sleep, although I note that you also take an afternoon nap.

 

Oh Iwan

How interesting the account you have given. I'm glad you are enjoying yourself. If your dad is happy with your help in the shop, I'm sure he will continue to let you play more badminton.

I have met Mongoose before and know how skilful he is with his game although I only played doubles against him only once. But I have never met and played with Swijaya although we did PM each other in the past. Unfortunately, they did not tell me that they managed to get hold of you and I hope you enjoyed playing with them and their kakis. I'm sorry we did not have a chance to meet up. I promise to make up at the next opportunity.

On your question about reaction speed, I think seemingly little things count, like the little habits that you may have which unwittingly cause slow reaction time or delay in your response. For example, even the holding of the racket. Some players have got into the unhealthy habit of keeping their rackets pointing down to the floor instead of holding it up comfortably around chest or head level.

Then they stand flat-footed instead of 'bouncing' on the balls of their feet constantly in ready position. Their eyes are not alert to the bird and their opponents' position and as result their reaction time is slower and they miss the opportunity to anticipate their opponents' return shots.

Then some players have the habit of making unnecessary movements with their body and limbs, either they over run by taking too many steps or they are too slow as a result. Or they react too fast before the opponent has even hit the bird resulting in them being "tricked" into going to the wrong direction.

In the execution of your strokes, try not to take too long a swing if a short swinging arc or fast whipping action can do the trick. You will be surprised how effective this can turn out to be! And don't fall into the habit of taking the bird low when in fact you can take it high. You will know if you have improved in your speed if you find that you can connect the bird at higher than net level for most of the time! In other words you are in an excellent controlling position to 'attack' the bird faster and with more options to confuse your opponent.

Of course you may not be able to see yourself in action. Your coach will be able to see what you have done and can advise you. Or better still, if you can video tape yourself in action and see the result. The "before" and "after" tapes can tell a good story!

 

Thanks Modious for the additional information on our Sports School. Hope you are doing well in your NS and graduate to Officer Cadet class soon.

Judging from the feedback from the students, they seem to enjoy the change from the normal school system to the modular system which allows them time to train in their favourite sports and yet continue to pursue their studies less stressfully, with a reduction in the number of subjects too. Some find the going a bit tough because they train two times a day when they used to train only twice a week. So the workload is definitely much higher. To produce champions, you need to train them more intensively and get them used to the routine.

Yes, ants, these 12 to14 year-old students are specially selected for their potential and talent out of about 1,500 who applied. For the relatively low fees their parents have to pay, the students are getting the best Singapore has to offer, with full board and lodging! But these students must be academically good as well so that the resources put on them are not entirely wasted. And hopefully, they are highly motivated to become champions as well.

The boarding school provides a conducive environment for the students to mix with their peers from both the same and other sports. They eat, play and study together and can form lasting friendship thereafter. They are well looked after in the Sports School with sports science professionals available to help them do better. The nutritionist ensures that they eat the right stuff for their growing bodies and Milo seems to be the drink of the day!

They are not really taken away from their parents as they are allowed to return home during the weekends.

 

Of course don't completely abandon what you are confident of doing well. My suggestions are meant to add to your arsenal of shot making and to improve on them if possible.

But whatever you do, try to do it more efficiently, not only to save energy but also the time taken, although the difference may seem minute in terms of split-seconds. But all these savings add up to quite a bit and if you have formed the habit of making precise and efficient shots early in your game, you can concentrate on improving in other departments.

You should be daring enough to experiment with your shots and not be too complacent in your comfort zone in executing them. The game has seen quite a bit of changes over time and these are brought about by the players and coaches themselves.

For example, you are very comfortable with your clears now but have you tried to discover whether there are other players who can do equally well without so much movement as you do? Try to 'steal' as many good points from them as possible. Do you need such a long follow-through action or a short follow-through but with a faster and shorter forearm whipping action with less wrist-work but more pronation can do a better job? A shorter follow-through which can produce the same or better result is definitely more efficient as you can save some time.

It is true that when defending, it is better to bend more at the knees to put your body on a lower plane and concentrate on the bird, but the racket should still be held high. Remember not all attacking strokes will come to floor level, it can be at mid-point or even shoulder level. So if you let your racket down habitually, the higher level attacks will cause you more problems than if you had held the racket higher. Furthermore, it is easier to lower your racket than to raise it. And don't forget that if you can hit the bird at a higher level, you are in fact getting to it faster and may well be counter-attacking instead of defending.

Take receiving service for example. As a receiver is it better to hold the racket high or low? In fact, the server has an advantage. If he serves well, the short serve is an attacking shot because the bird should fall immediately after it clears the net. But if the bird should go just a little higher, he is at the mercy of a ready receiver who can attack it if his racket is held high and he is quick with his footwork. Imagine if he has held his racket pointing to the floor he may miss this opportunity!

Now, as regards wrist work, I hope you have read the rather informative report by Phil on "Body Kinetics for power strokes". Too much emphasis has been placed on the wrist but I agree with the comments that "pronation or supination of the forearm is the final motion in a power shot, and combined with shoulder rotation are VERY important to power...there is no such thing as "wrist snap" for a power shot..."

I think the final wrist work is to help you change direction at the last minute, or when you are at the net, to give you the snap to quicken your shot, to trick your opponent, etc, but certainly not add to your power so dramatically.

So if you work too hard on your poor wrist, you will likely cause injury to the muscles around it. So, give yourself more time to strengthen your wrist. It is more important to work on the use more of your arm and shoulder for more power. Take a little more rest. Don't overwork your body, do something else which is interesting and related to your training; like go for a bicycle ride around the countryside or go for a swim, play beach ball, etc. Take your mind off badminton for a while, recharge yourself. Take your gf to the movies, but don't go to the bar for drinks for you may lose your privilege again! ha, ha, ha

 

Hi Iwan

The training the kids get in our Sports School will likely be different from yours. However, like you, most of them are highly motivated and they want to do well in their respective sports. That is the common denominator.

A right amount of stress is said to be good as it can keep one on his toes. Unfortunately for you, your training squad is diverse in age and you are the odd man out. Only self-motivation and the achievement of your goals along the way probably help you to keep going, but this has the tendency to cause you to over-train and then fatigue sets in. On the other hand, the SS kids are of about the same age group to help them relieve the monotony that may occur from time to time. They can relate to one another better and get the inspiration among themselves.

Furthermore because the SS has better interdisciplinary resources, more options are available to the trainers to introduce variety in the training schedule. A resourceful and creative trainer can make each training slightly different and interesting for the kids so that they will not feel bored. They can inject fun games to relieve boredom.

Then apart from sports, the kids also have to study. But they need to study less than before as there will be less subjects and the modular system allows some flexibility. So they actually have some welcome distraction in the form of books and enrichment programmes or projects. Then they can return home on weekends to see their family and friends. Another healthy outlet to destress if it is there in the first place!

And at their age, they will gradually be introduced to weight training, etc, which can help them to grow physically stronger. But their physical training will not be as intensive and demanding as you have put yourself in.

That's why the SS kids are such a privileged lot and the highly-motivated ones should really do well at the end of four years.