By Eric Song/Singapore Sports School

Singapore, Monday, June 27, 2011 — Singapore Sports School (SSP), in collaboration with Singapore Badminton Association (SBA), Singapore Golf Association (SGA) and Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA), will be making significant adjustments in the “school day” for 18 selected student-athletes.

These student-athletes will undergo training with their respective national teams during the day and attend classes in the late evening — quite a different concept from what their teammates and students in mainstream schools do.

The longer training sessions are aimed at optimising training and eventually narrow the gap with the international playing standards.

The evening classes will also allow selected golfers to get in 18-hole rounds as part of training, something not possible with the current time table. Six golfers will join this programme.

The student-athletes will complete their secondary and post-secondary education via the School’s through-train pathway, that is, the Republic Polytechnic-Singapore Sports School Diploma for Sports and Leisure Management (RP-SSP DSLM) programme.
The RP-SSP DLSM programme is customised to allow student-athletes to take up to five years, if necessary, to complete their diploma course.

How ‘School Within A School’ Come About

Singapore Sports School was established in 2004. During this short time, we have produced 176 Singapore representatives in the Open category, among them, five world champions who have won six world championship titles.

While we continue to be a pipeline for the Singapore national team in several sports, particularly badminton and table tennis, our School has yet to produce players who can achieve breakthroughs on the international stage.

Upon greater study with SBA and STTA, it was concluded that the way forward must be to adopt a training structure that resembles the model used by countries that are advanced in these sports.

This means 5- to 6-hour training sessions lasting from the morning to the late afternoon, with ample rest and recovery breaks between training sets.

Singapore Sports School has already experienced success in such a sport-study structure — as exemplified by table tennis student-athlete, Isabelle Li. Her extensive and intensive training and competition schedule in the lead up to the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) gave her the skills and stature to win the Silver medal in the Women’s Singles competition; her customised study schedule facilitated her academic success and allowed her to join the RP-SSP DSLM programme as a Sport Scholar.

This “School-within-a-School” programme is aimed at assisting selected student-athletes achieve international sporting standards and preparing them on an optimal training and developmental pathway with complementing educational track.

What The ‘School Within A School’ Will Look Like

Daily Time Table
8.00 am – 11.00 am Training
11.00 am – 2.00 pm Lunch / Rest / Recovery
2.00 pm – 4.00 pm Training
4.00 pm – 5.00 pm Rest
5.00 pm – 6.20 pm Lessons
6.20 pm – 6.50 pm Dinner
6.50 pm – 9.40 pm Lessons

Singapore Sports School has engaged experienced teachers for the evening/night classes.

Singapore Sports School’s current day class size is kept small to a maximum of 25 student-athletes. The new evening/night class size will be even smaller – just three to five student-athletes, so that teachers can give them greater attention, like private tuition.

Embarking on this programme are seven badminton, five table tennis and six golf student-athletes.