Sports Hub stints for ITE interns

THE Singapore Sports Hub is looking to partner more educational institutions in Singapore to provide hands-on experience at the sports and entertainment events it hosts.

This comes after it inked a Memorandum of Understanding yesterday with the Institute of Technical Education (ITE). The three-year partnership will see ITE students get practical work experience and training through internships.

Said Philippe Collin-Delavaud, the Sports Hub's chief executive officer: "The ITE covers a broad range of skills so the fit between us was very good. We may have (more of) such deals with more focused organisations like universities."

He added that the internships could lead to future employment opportunities at the Sports Hub, saying: "We are in the service (industry). It's very important for us to prepare new students to be our employees of tomorrow."

The partnership with the ITE began in October last year, with students completing a 10-week internship in various positions within the Sports Hub.

Dominic Chan, for instance, worked at the OCBC Aquatic Centre where he was involved in events such as the Fina World Cup. While he had previously volunteered at the same event when it was held at the Singapore Sports School, the 20-year-old said he got a very different perspective through his internship.

"I was involved in procuring items before the event, setting up the event, and facilitating the crowd on event days. It was very different from when I was just volunteering, where I mainly helped out with logistics," said Chan, a recent graduate with a Higher Nitec in Community Sport and Recreation Management.

maychen@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Mar 18, 2015.
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