Swim here for free

SINGAPORE - Fancy a dip in the new Sports Hub's Olympic-size swimming pools?

How about taking the kids to the children's water park there?

And all free of charge, too. From June 30 to July 31, the spanking new sports facilities at the Singapore Sports Hub will be free to the public.

Members of the public can book facilities such as a rock climbing wall, badminton courts and even a beach volleyball court.

The OCBC Aquatic Centre, which contains two Olympic-sized pools of Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) standards - one for training and one for competitions - can host a variety of pool events including water polo and diving.

The OCBC Arena consists of six halls over two levels that are designed to be scalable in size, and will cater to an array of indoor sports events for both National Sports Associations as well as the general public.

The courts can be modified to support badminton, basketball, netball and volleyball. While the activities are free, the courts and pitches need prior booking.

Other facilities such as the skate park, the fitness corner and children's water park do not require bookings.

After the free month, users will have to pay for these facilities from Aug 1.

The Sports Hub is still finalising prices for the venues, but will make every effort to keep prices affordable, said Sports Hub Consortium.

Membership to the Sports Hub Library is free for all Singaporeans and permanent residents (PRs), while the Singapore Sports Museum will offer free six years old.

Bookings can be made via the Sports Hub website (www.sportshub.com.sg) or its customer care hotline 6653-8900.

After the official opening of the Sports Hub on June 30, different sports will be available there for the public to enjoy for free every weekend.

The programme is available from 9am to 5pm on Saturdays and from 8am to noon on Sundays.

The sports on show the first weekend include netball and bossaball, which is a sport incorporating elements of volleyball and football, played on a huge inflatable trampoline.

How to get there

Public transport via MRT is highly recommended as the main mode of transport to and from the Sports Hub on event days.

Stadium MRT station (CC6) exits directly into the Singapore Sports Hub and a sheltered walkway connects directly to Kallang MRT station (EW 10).

Bus service 11 stops directly outside the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

It is also possible to alight at the bus stop along Nicoll Highway, which serves bus services 10, 14, 16, 70, 70m and 196.

There are also three taxi stands within the Singapore Sports Hub.

On days when there are events at the stadium, the basement and multi-storey carparks will be available only to those who pre-book for a space online.

Depending on the scale of the events, the openair carparks may also be subject to the pre-sold ticket scheme.

These parking tickets can be bought at www.sportshubtix.sg or at all singapore post outlets.

Each ticket, which costs $10.70, allows you to park from 7am on the event day for a 24-hour period.

cyap@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on June 20, 2014.
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