A word from the editor: Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, is a politician, Ironman triathlete, and successful businessman. With a passion for sports and a heart for youth sports in particular, Ser Luck is on a quest to strengthen our sporting culture. We at Red Sports welcome him to our community as he looks to engage us on the issues close to his heart.
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‘Young and growing people must have facilities to develop their bodies apart from facilities to develop their minds. Sports must therefore be an essential feature of our national way of life.’ – Mr. Othman Wok, The First Minister in charge of sports, speech on 7 Dec 1966
This is how it all started. We built the National Stadium and it was completed in 1973. Subsequently, more stadiums, sports complexes and swimming pools in the heartlands were built. We have the hardware but do we have the software, the culture? Do our youth embrace a sports lifestyle as the vision laid out by our first generation leaders? Does Singapore have a sports culture at all?
Tell me what you think. I’m listening.
Ser Luck
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Take part in the REDpoll below. You may choose more than one answer.
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Does Singapore have a Sports Culture?
The answer is ‘Yes’. Look around in schools. The number fo zonal competitions, national competitions are in abundance.
Does Singapore’s Sport Culture have enough support?
The answer ‘No’. There are a lot of concerns with regards to the fact that the sports activities are carried out in the sun and is a bit too strenous and prone to injuries. This is especially so in the lower/junior divisions where the basic is introduced. Those who are not new in this will know and realise the amount of talents we have and that can be enhanced and further developed as they grow.
So for me, the culture has always been there. Its the support that is lacking. Be it in the form of awareness through the media to cover the sporting events that goes on, to the hesitation of parents allowing their children to spend time in the sun. Kids nowadays are more inclined ‘digitally’ instead of ‘physically’.
We can educate, inculcate etc, but if the basic support from everyone else is not there, then the culture will always be confined to the same old group, same old people that we see each competition.
Just my two-cents worth.
[…] Read Teo Ser Luck’s first post on Red Sports here – Ser Luck: “Does Singapore have a sports culture?”. […]
Dear Sir,
Sad to say, we have all been brought up with the notion that sport is but a past time, translating it as something you would do if you have free time. Though it has seen changes throughout the years, but it is of a bare minimal.
As mentioned in earlier posts, the main concerns of having a sport culture is the ability to feed ourselves. Instead of the flesh is willing and the spirit is weak, we have on hand a situation whereby the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak! (Could be quite literally from not having a keep to feed oneself).
Here, I woud like to share a story with all of you.
There was a boy who loved sports since he even knew how to bounce a ball. His first passion was basketball, a sport which he played since 6. He was pretty good at it, and when he was 12 years of age, he stood at 177cm tall. However, he stopped playing the sport when he joined a local secondary school due to gangsters dominating the courts and lack of coaching support/expertise.
Then he picked up both soccer and rugby at the age of 14. He was actually good enough to represent both sport at club level then. But he dropped out of soccer soon after, simply because of a sensitive issue. When SportsCity (now defunct), wanted to do an interview with the club, this chinese boy and his indian friends were all told not to attend the session.
He continued on in rugby till now. But many times, there were decisions to quit the sport, simply because the injuries had cost him (or his parents whom are not that well to do) money, time and confidence. Good enough to represent the Nation, he was left to lick his own wounds alone when he was injured. There was no professional help, especially in the field of sport psychology.
He then became a certified rugby coach with an internationally acclaimed license through the Singapore Rugby Union.
Right now, he is undergoing a degree in Exercise and Sports Science and working at a sport training facility off Bukit Timah. He is me.
Though a really sensitive topic, racial discrimination in certain sports is glaring, but often neglected or even hushed. At the end of the day, I carried on the path of rugby not just because I was physically more adept to it, but also the culture of having all the races in Singapore playing in the sport. I would dare say not many other sports in Singapore has such a vast majority of races playing this game.
Another issue would be the lack of expertise in grooming the culture. This ties in with the issue of earning a keep. It is a vicious cycle really, on whether deciding to take the plunge to study a sport related course/degree so that you can work in a sporting industry, if there is to be one. True, that many have mentioned that there is the SportsHub upcoming, and together with it, investors. However, even in our National sporting teams, we have chosen to use many foreigners, it dulls my vision in holding a job in the future even when a relevant degree. I have come in contact with so many peers whom actually hold a similar degree, but are jobless. Lucky for me, I have a job now. But in the administrative side. I had to stop coaching, which is something I love greatly, simply because of the fact that it has no future at the moment. There was a period of time I literally survived on bread and water, 3 months to be exact.
Support is also lacking in the sense of counselling for injured athletes, as I fell into depression when I broke my shoulder. Also lacking in the form of lack of career opportunities. The media also has a part to play, whereby I find local sport news greatly outnumbered by sporting clips millions of miles away. Like Ian Chew said, Thank God for RedSports.sg.
Right now I am struggling with both school and work, as I want to make it in sports. As of many of those whom I know of. I took that plunge. That leap of faith. But the question now is, how many of us would have that blind belief that there is a future for us sport enthusiasts or sport enthusiasts to be?
We were brought up to be practical, so I guess only when there are concrete information of our sport industry, I think it would be bleak.
I think there is a culture that enjoys sports. We like watching and we like playing. We use sports as exercise and recreation.
In fact I have played recreational leagues in many sports where the competition is fierce (people really have a will to win). Maybe its because of our meritocracy kind of upbringing. We like winning.
What I do not feel we have is a will to prepare to win.
My coaches and I have worked with hundreds of athletes from youth all the way up to national level. And in many sports, there is a lack of the desire to prepare to win.
For example, I often ask the athletes I coach “who wants to get bigger, stronger and faster so you can win more games/score more points ets”…
Everybody says “me me me!”…
But 2 weeks later when I ask “who managed to eat breakfast every day for the last 2 weeks” Close to 0 hands… “oh im too tired, oh, I played computer games till late last night, oh school started early…”
It is true, the majority of us have a sporting culture. If that is enough, then we are almost there. But a sporting excellence culture. No we are not there yet.
I agree with Janette. Kids today are much less athletically inclined compared to say 10 years ago due chiefly to lifestyle changes. It is also not helped by greater academic expectations of them even from ayoung age. And it is this young generation that we want to impact.
Let’s start by first inducing families to adopt a heathy lifestyle in a fun and enjoyable way. Pitch it as family bonding time! Provide more facilities and space for exercise and sports, so that families can find it convenient to have a kick-around or shoot some hoops.
MCYS, SSC, MOE and schools should work together to educate children from a young age the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Schools should actively encourage play among the children, instead of just focusing on academic achievements. Get the parents involved too by encouraging companies to have a Keep Fit day that involves families!
At the same time, SSC should work closely with the NSA to institute comprehensive talent development programs within each individual sport. (I mean, where would the sporting culture be if there were no local sports heroes to emulate?) This should definitely involve as many schools as possible, since all of the young are found in schools!
Lastly, the media can also play its role by highlighting local sports. A quick browse of most papers reveal a deluge of EPL news. How about the local sports scene? Thank God for websites such as these to keep us abreast of local news!
To have a culture, it has to start from somewhere, a basis or a foundation. A Malay, Chinese or Indian culture has their own unique styles such that we are able to distinguish them immediately. So my answer to the question if Singapore has a sports culture, well my answer is a definite no. Reason being is that we do are not able to link Singapore and sports.
I am a student in one of the junior colleges in Singapore. For the past twelve years of schooling, the emphasis has been on education. Our minds were moulded to such an extent that failing exams meant disaster for us in the future. Comparing then and now, it can be seen that efforts have been put in to provide a holistic education where sports also play an important role in success. However, the lack of support for various sports seem to hinder the progress. An example is the closing down of certain CCAs in schools when majority of the CCA members do not do well academically. There are other examples to cite from to illustrate the lack of support we gather everywhere.
I applaud the efforts put in by various organisations and people to introduce or create a sports culture here in Singapore. In my opinion, we should concentrate on certain sports that have been making tremondous progress, such as table tennis, soccer, badminton, swimming and so on. By focusing on these few sports, we can establish a strong foundation through the success of these few sports. Once the future of these sports have stabilised and are of a standard we can be proud of, we can turn to other sports and give them our attention.
Growing a sports culture here in Singapore will require a much brighter spot-light to be shone on local sporting events. News, events and happenings in Singapore must be bubbled up to the our top-of-mind. At the moment, local sports news coverage is rather scant.
Our focus today appears to be at the facility-infrastructure and event level. We need to drill further to highlight the ‘actors’ in these events, the players themselves. People need to connect to the individual in the same vein people talk about Tiger Woods or Roger Federer. People don’t discuss about the games or events without referencing to the players involved.
A strong local sporting culture happens when people care. And people can’t care if they don’t know.
We should start the talk and practice active, healthy and sporty lifestyle at the pre-school level. Children are beginning their lives to learn and so good habits and routine must be cultivated very early in their lives. If allow them to handle MP3, mobile phones, PC, laptops, TV, DVD, X-box games more than outdoor running, swimming, cycling skating, then it is impossible to change them at a later stage as the former has become second-nature to them.
With 5 days week being implemented, motivate parents and grandparents to enrol the very young ones for sports lesson and training. Allow the use of edusave or CPF to sign up such courses. Healthy lifestyle reaps plenty of benefits for the long term. What is the purpose of saving so much for retirement and ended up with most of us lying on the sick bed at 60 to 70 years of age.
Once children cultivate good habits, it is unlikely for them to indulge in unhealthy lifestyle at a later stage. With fitter bodies built up at early age, they find less tough to pursue a more strenuous sports in their 20s or 30s. There may be less young adults collapsing after sports.
We should take on this matter quickly and immediately as the present young parents of 20s to 30s are endowing their young kids with their own “bad culture” such as watching DVD endlessly and challenging kids at X-box games overnight.
We may need to put on hold the grooming of young sports star to a later stage and channel more resources and manpower to educate the young parents to lead healthy lifestyle. With this changes, the young ones are save from lifelong illness when they do grow up and retire. When this problem is addressed, the sports culture would consciously and subconsciously kick into our Singaporean lifestyle. Then, we would witness long queues of sports kids and youths awaiting to shine in Youth Olympic Games instead of dreaming to be Project SuperStars or Singapore Idols. We may not need the service of foreign sports kids who are waiting to ‘steal’ a slice of the limited pie we are having in sports and games.
Share with young parents that their kids may age faster than them should improper parenting is given for their health and this may wake them up to have good eating and sporting lifestyle. Parents are more than willing to sacrifice and change for their precious ones.
Just hope before the end of 2030, we could witness more runners and swimmers than window-shoppers and movie-goers at any time of the days or seasons.
The sports culture can be created. A quick look at the socialist programmes of China, North Korea, former Eastern Bloc points to one way, creating a sports culture to produce stars to win at international events to project soft power. The record of life after winning medals is patchy, some get good treatment as future coaches while some are relegated to a life of commercial endorsements or worse.
The other way is the monied way that competitive sports, esp football, golf, tennis … has gone. Korea has shown a way how they can focus on golf and continually produce stars. So SGP can do this way too.
I would say focus on a basket of sports we can produce stars for continually, and go for the Korea/China way. That way money can take the local sports scene to another height, beyond community sports which is always a touch and go grassroots affair.
Some Singaporeans simply laugh when I tell them that I am a full time athlete. “Why do it when you don’t get paid?” Some just show pity. “How do you survive?”
The fact that sports is not considered a main stream occupation, or at the least, is not seen by majority of employers as a serious and beneficial commitment, is just one of the signs how sports has yet to be part of a Singapore culture. Is it only recognized on a recreational basis? Or can sports be a Singaporean identity? I think it can.
Why do athletes have to put up with so much negativity in society, work and school,when we are as committed, dedicated and work just as hard, or even harder than everyone else. Are we being penalized for doing what we enjoy and are passionate about, full time?
I am striving for sports to be recognized and accepted in society, and I won’t stop until I have crossed the finish line.
Singapore to begin with is built on an elitist culture that under-girds every aspect of its society. This is good because it engenders and encourages the best from and of people. The strive to excel nevertheless has as its goal a lucrative financial future for self and family. Can sports be any different? Can a sporting culture be attained to the same level of the Singapore success already attained in the development of the minds of her young? I believe they can, but not without commensurate promises of financial rewards. Ask any pragmatic parent in Singapore and they will tell you how they would prioritize their financial investment in the lives of their children. American colleges make a point to attract the best athletes with attractive scholarships. They do show that brains and brawn can be developed in tandem. Singapore has certainly the means to do this if they chose to.