SPORT SPIN-OFFS
Singapore hopes an emphasis on sport will:
• Create world-class athletes
• Benefit the sports industry and economy
• Promote healthy lifestyles
• Build bonds between ethnic groups

That's why Singapore's new S$75 million ($44.4 million) sports academy is such a spectacular deviation. "In Singapore there's this belief that sport and academic education don't mix, but they do," says Peter Usher, the school's senior sports psychologist, recruited from British Columbia in Canada.

Singapore is trying to make up for lost time. When the Singapore Sports School opens in January, it will have two all-weather Olympic-sized swimming pools, a 700-seat indoor multi-sport auditorium, a 10-court badminton training centre, a synthetic football field and an eight-lane 400-metre rubber track for runners.

The school is the brainchild of a government panel set up in September 2000 to find ways to develop young athletes and the sports industry in Singapore. The committee's findings, released after 10 months of consultations, highlighted the importance of sport in strengthening bonds between Singapore's racially diverse ethnic groups. It also pointed out that greater participation in sport would develop a "resilient people" with perseverance, focus, discipline, teamwork, creativity, a drive to excel and a healthy lifestyle.

Economic spin-offs will also boost Singapore's economy--which is suffering a 17-year-high unemployment rate. Sport is estimated to contribute revenues of just S$680 million, or 0.5% of Singapore's GDP, compared with between 0.6% and 3.5% of GDP in European countries. Singapore expects revenues from the industry--spanning sports events, sponsorship, equipment and apparel, sports medicine and sports science--to rise to S$1.4 billion by 2010.

For a country that typically punches above its weight in industries ranging from electronics to health care, a measure of national pride is also at stake. At last year's Asian Games in Pusan, South Korea, Singapore won five gold medals, two silvers and 10 bronzes. But officials say there's always room for improvement. "World standards beyond the Southeast Asian Games and Asian Games are very much higher and we will need to do a lot more to reach these levels," the panel's report states. It points to countries with similarly small populations, such as Jamaica, Norway and New Zealand, which won seven, 10 and four medals respectively at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. (Singapore won none.)

To fast-track its most promising young athletes, Singapore has recruited Australians to coach swimming and netball, a coach from China to teach table-tennis, an Indonesian to coach badminton, an Englishman to coach football and a German to coach track and field. "It's about time for Singapore to start a sports school," says Quinton Roman, the school's South African strength-and-conditioning coach. "In the next four years Singapore will start reaping the rewards."

That may be a little ambitious. China has hundreds of sports schools, Thailand has 13 and Malaysia has two. And Singapore allotted just 150 places to its first intake. The school expects to reach its capacity of 600 students by 2007. This year, 1203 athletes tried out in track and field, swimming, football, netball, badminton, table tennis, sailing and bowling.

For the soccer squad, the school had to whittle 400 applicants down to 22. Head football coach John Bilton, the former director of the English Premier League's Leeds United Football Academy, notes that Singapore kids lack training in basics such as agility, balance, coordination and speed. "They don't get enough of it in the schools," he says. Bilton adds that a lot of his squad are "very skilled technically--some more than ones in [Britain] of the same age" because they play a lot of street football. But he cautions: "They're about two years behind [their age groups] in things like tactics."

Usher says his focus will be on improving everything from the way the keen young athletes psych themselves up to their determination levels. Whatever limiting beliefs they may have about themselves are what hold them back, he explains.

Usher says he hopes to develop psychological skills ranging from learning how to control one's emotions and manage performance to gaining control of a situation and recognizing the difference between good nerves and bad nerves. "We're educating them about champion qualities," he says. "We're establishing a dream and enhancing belief systems."

Sports scientists will complement the international coaches and monitor growth, development and the nutritional needs of the students, as well as offer physiotherapy and rehabilitation services. The school also offers classes in exercise physiology and biomechanics (the physiology behind what is done in training and the scientific principles behind it), sports psychology, physiotherapy, strength and conditioning, and nutrition. "For once, Singapore athletes will have sports science drilled into them," says Gobinathan Nair, general manager of the school's Sports Science Academy.

Nutrition will be carefully monitored, too. Students can graze at a 24-hour Recovery Centre stocked with isotonic drinks, fruit and other wholesome snacks. The menu of specially prepared nutritious meals will change every three weeks. For the first portion of the term, it's tuna sandwiches and fruit for breakfast. "Calorific requirements will be worked out in terms of the amount of carbohydrates, proteins and fat they're getting in their diet," Nair explains. "As the kids get into a real competitive stage, we'll see if they're getting enough of what they need."

For Khoonnie Liang, a 12-year-old swimmer, life at the sports school promises to be a lot easier than trying to juggle swimming sessions and a tough academic regimen at her former school. The school she used to attend didn't have a swimming pool, so she had to train at a special swimming club. The schedule was gruelling: getting out of bed at 5 a.m. to make it to the pool by 5:30 a.m.

"I used to have to skip training sessions if I had a test," she says. "My old school wasn't very supportive of sports in general. They didn't have many facilities. They wanted us to get good academic results."

Liang is one of the lucky ones. Australian swim coach Peter Churchill says he had to select 28 swimmers out of a pool of 138. The swimmers show "an immense amount of talent," he says, but they may not be "as tough" as kids in other countries in the region. Nevertheless, he says, most of his first-year crop would rank in the top 10 of their age group in Australia and one or two would be able to compete for national medals.

"We've got to keep them for four or five years and make sure they don't fall out of the sport," he says. That's why Churchill is going to have his team swim at least 50-60 kilometres a week (about 5 kilometres per training session). That means about 30 laps of the Olympic-sized pool. "We've got one 14-year-old who looks like she might make the Southeast Asian Games at the end of this year," he says.

Students will board at the school, where the timetable comprises training sessions as well as regular schooling. They will undergo systematic training for the whole year and will be sent overseas for international competitions to peg their standards to international levels. One-third of the teaching staff will live at the school to supervise evening study sessions.

The Singapore government subsidizes the S$25,000 annual tuition fee so that students just pay S$6,000 per year. That fee can drop to $3,000-4,000 if they win a scholarship. The school offers 50 scholarships, and there are a number of corporate sponsors, too, including lottery operator Singapore Pools and battery maker Energizer Singapore.

For Syafiq Zainal, the school is a dream come true. The 12-year-old hopes one day to play soccer for his favourite team, Manchester United. "This programme is great for me," he says with a huge grin during a recent two-day orientation camp, where the kids played games and participated in other team-building exercises. "I'm looking forward to the training. I hope they'll be tough on me so that I'm good enough to become a professional player."

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