$200,000 boost for budding athletes

Last month, Olympic champion Joseph Schooling called for more financial support to be given to local athletes aspiring to win medals at major sporting meets.

After all, his parents Colin and May famously spent more than $1 million on his Olympic dream when they sent him to train in the United States at the age of 14.

The swimmer, now 21, saw part of his wish fulfilled when he gave $200,000 to a special fund set aside by the Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) for development of the sport, which includes supporting promising athletes.

Read Also: Joseph Schooling: Pain behind the glory

The money is from the $1 million he received from the Singapore National Olympic Council's (SNOC) multi-million dollar awards programme (MAP), which mandates athletes give 20 per cent to their national sports associations (NSAs) "for future training and development".

The SNOC does not dictate how NSAs use their share of the awards.

May, who presented a cheque to SSA president Lee Kok Choy with Colin at the OCBC Aquatic Centre yesterday, said: "We hope it'd give the young ones hope that if they train hard enough and they have the potential nobody will be denied (funding).

Read Also: Joseph Schooling wins Singapore's first Olympic gold, beating childhood idol Phelps

"We don't want anybody to go through what we've gone through if the kid has potential."

Existing funding schemes include the Sports Excellence Scholarship (spexScholarship), which was launched in 2013. It gives athletes a monthly stipend as well as sports science support.

To apply for the spexScholarship, athletes must, among other criteria, "demonstrate potential for further development" and "be in medal contention for major Games and world-level events".

May said she hopes the SSA funds will help athletes who do not have results "but we know they have potential and (find it) hard to justify for (a) spexScholarship".

Lee agreed that should be a function of the fund. He said: "Determining potential is a struggle we always have, and we're trying to be better at it."

A committee comprising people within and outside the SSA will be formed to manage the fund, which also includes the $525,100 raised at a golf fundraiser headlined by the Olympic champion last month.

Read Also: The expensive truth behind Joseph Schooling's Olympic gold medal

More details about the fund, including the committee members and how money is disbursed, will be revealed in a month's time, said Lee. He added that while the funds would cover all disciplines under the SSA's purview, more will be directed to swimming given its "relative size and scale".

Other aquatic disciplines the SSA oversees include water polo, diving, synchronised swimming and open water swimming.

Read Also: Life after Rio Olympics: 10 things to know about Joseph Schooling

Lee, who is into his second two-year term as SSA president, said: "It's not just about targeting individual athletes. We also want to use the funds to build infrastructure and capabilities.

"Ultimately, increasing the quality of support and coaching gives everyone a better chance."

This article was first published on December 8, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.