Coaches are integral to the sports ecosystem

Mr John Bales, President, International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE),

Mr Ang Hin Kee, Assistant Director-General, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and my Parliamentary colleagues,

Ms Vicky Wong, Deputy CEO, Employment and Employability Institute (e2i),

Mr Lim Teck Yin, CEO, Sport Singapore (SportSG)

Distinguished guests,

Partners and coaches,

Ladies and gentlemen,

1. A very good morning to you all. It is my pleasure to be here today, at the launch of CoachSG. I'd also like to give a warm welcome to our guest speakers from overseas, who will be speaking at the inaugural CoachSG Conference; and also the representatives from the coaching fraternity in Singapore. Thank you very much for joining us at this event!

Enhancing coaching capabilities

2. The seed for CoachSG was planted when Singapore launched the Vision 2030 about five years ago. Vision 2030 is our national strategy for Singaporeans to lead a healthier and better life through a lifetime of sporting experiences. And one of its key thrusts is to enhance the capabilities of our coaches. We want our coaches to stay relevant in today's constantly evolving sporting landscape.

3. SportSG has set up CoachSG to support our coaches in their professional development across their coaching career.  Through CoachSG, SportSG will also strive to raise the profile of coaching as a profession. One of the key outcomes is to work with our partners to ensure consistent employment policies and standards across the industry.

Coaches key to shaping sporting experiences

4. As coaches, you play an important role in shaping the sporting experiences of our young. Our children's first experiences with sport come from their first coaches, be it the Physical Education teachers in schools, or coaches at sports academies or clubs. Most, if not all our Team Singapore athletes, would have been talent spotted and nurtured by their first coaches.

5. One such coach is here with us today – Head Coach of the Singapore Slingers Mr Neo Beng Siang. Over the years, Coach Neo has taken on a wide range of coaching roles in the sport of basketball, from students to club players, and even our national athletes.  Like many of you, he has sacrificed countless hours of his personal time to mould the young boys under his charge into responsible adults of good character. He brought glory to Singapore by coaching the Team Singapore Basketball team which brought home the Bronze at the 2013 SEA Games, ending a medal drought of 34 years. At the 2015 SEA Games, the team achieved podium success once again by winning the Bronze. Last year, Coach Neo was named the ASEAN Basketball League's Coach of the Year. Coach Neo, we salute your longstanding contributions and commitment to excellence! 

Building resilience through sport

6. Just like Coach Neo, many of you have been imparting your knowledge, skills and invaluable experience to successive generations of Singapore athletes. You have been journeying together with your athletes – celebrating breakthrough performances, whilst providing encouragement to work harder and soldier on in the face of setbacks.  You have mentored those under your charge - inculcating values of tenacity, discipline, commitment and respect. Over time, guided with steady hands, our athletes have grown more confident and resilient, equipped with the mindset and skills to handle other challenges in life. The resilience nurtured through sport will continue to contribute to the foundations of a confident and resilient nation that we envisage Singaporeans to be.

Engagements and collaborations

7. Many of you have also given SportSG inputs on the challenges that you face as coaches. We thank you for your feedback, and for shaping the programmes that CoachSG will be offering to help you overcome these challenges.   

8. In addition, CoachSG has started collaborating with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social and Family Development to train teachers and youth sector social workers respectively. Through our joint efforts, we aim to engage youths in lifelong participation in sports under CoachSG's programmes. One such initiative is the Game for Life framework, which will help you design sports programmes to build character and life skills in our youth.

Appreciating our partners

9. I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to all partners of the CoachSG initiative, especially the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i), MOE and the Sport Coaches Association of Singapore. Your encouragement and support have been invaluable in making CoachSG possible. e2i, for instance, will be subsidising the costs of several CoachSG programmes for Singaporean coaches.  We welcome more partners to join us – by nurturing our coaches, you will be bringing us closer to our vision of Singapore as a vibrant sporting nation.

10. With that, I wish everyone a fruitful conference over the next two days. Thank you very much!