SSC makeover includes community focus and new name

SSC makeover includes community focus and new name

The Singapore Sports Council (SSC) is giving itself a facelift, as part of efforts to better reflect its ambition of nurturing a sporting Singapore.

Sport Singapore, as the organisation will be known from next month, will continue to manage the nation's elite athletes but at the same time pay greater attention to getting locals engaged in sport.

Going beyond just an aesthetic change, the rebranding exercise is aimed at shedding the national sports agency's image of governance and aligning itself more closely with Vision 2030, the blueprint for Singapore sport.

"We do have a role when it comes to the investment of public funds in sport," said SSC chief executive officer Lim Teck Yin on Monday.

"But larger, and just as important, is how we empower our partners.

"Everything we do is through sport and not for sport, and it's focused on serving a community.

"The (new) name connotes a sense of community, partnership and vibrancy. Those are all the elements in Vision 2030."

The announcement of the agency's makeover comes a week after details of the rejuvenation of Singapore's sporting facilities were unveiled by Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong in his ministry's budget debate last week.

Under the first phase of the Sports Facilities Master Plan, $1.5 billion will be committed to put the majority of Singaporeans within 10 minutes' walk to a sports venue for play and exercise.

Added Lim: "Just building hardware alone is not going to enable Singaporeans to play more sport and lead active, healthy lives."

It is why the rebranding is taking place in the same month as the launch of ActiveSG on April 26 at Jurong West Sports and Recreation Centre.

Billed as a national movement, ActiveSG is drawn from the idea of Super Sports Clubs and aims to give Singaporeans more access and opportunities to play sport in an affordable way, regardless of their skill levels.

The free membership will give citizens and Singapore permanent residents the ability to participate in sport across five zones island-wide (Central, East, North, North-east and West).

They can also go on to represent their respective zones in leagues and competitions, and could even get a chance to represent Singapore.

The launch will be followed by a series of zonal outreach efforts, sports festivals and competitions across the country.

The multi-million-dollar initiative will include the revamping of several older facilities to introduce outdoor gyms, aqua gyms and other social spaces.

Said Lim: "Over time, we hope to (help people) build affinity to a particular zone but we want to allow that time to evolve. The whole idea is to provide people (with) incentives that will enable them to overcome any inertia they might have.

"We want to make this national movement something that Singaporeans own, that they feel they can enjoy and be a part of. You don't just play in a competitive sport only if you're very good."

 


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