Supporting athletes with high performance support

Distinguished guests,

Athletes and parents,

Ladies and gentlemen,

1. A very good evening to all of you.  I am delighted to join you at the spexScholarship Award ceremony, to be among our spexScholars, our nation's best athletes. 

Achievements of spexScholars have contributed to national pride

2. 2016 was a year of many 'firsts' for Singapore. Saiyidah Aisyah became our nation's very first rower to qualify for the Olympic Games; Mark Leong attained Singapore's first Gold medal at the 2016 Asian Waterski Championships Men's Slalom; Canoeists Stephanie Chen and Geraldine Lee won Singapore's first Gold medal at the Asian Canoe Sprint Competition; Bowler New Hui Fen became the first ever Singaporean to win the Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) Tour title, where she also earned the Tour's Rookie of the Year award; Swimmer Joseph Schooling, for winning Singapore's first Olympic Gold medal at the 100m butterfly finals in Rio; and Yip Pin Xiu achieved Singapore's first double-Gold with her 50m and 100m backstroke victories at the Paralympics a month later.

3. These were just some of the many breakthroughs by Team Singapore.  We saw how sports can galvanise and inspire a great sense of national pride. More importantly, your achievements on the international arena showed Singaporeans that when we set our minds to it, and work hard at it, we can achieve our dreams.  A small country can punch above its weight. 

Warm welcome to the new spexScholars

4. Today, we welcome 15 new scholarship recipients, bringing the total number of spexScholars to 68, across 16 sports!  This is also the first time we are featuring spexScholars from new disciplines under aquatics, canoeing and disability sports - twin brothers, Mark and Timothy Lee from diving; Xatia Lim (pronounced “Za-Tee-Ah”)from canoe paddle; Nur Syahidah Alim from para archery; and Suhairi Suhani from para athletics.

5. Mark and Timothy bagged a Silver at the 2015 SEA Games and are now training hard for the upcoming SEA Games and Asian Games.  Nur Syahidah and Suhairi, both debutants at the Rio Paralympics last year, are set to make their mark at the upcoming ASEAN Para Games.  In fact, I am very sure that all our spexScholars will continue to strive for excellence and do Singapore proud.

Enhanced and sustained support to our elite athletes

6. We started the spexScholarship in 2013 and with it, supported our athletes in full time training. We have also built up Singapore Sports Institute (SSI) and National Youth Sports Institute (NYSI) in 2011 and 2015 respectively. Over the last few years, we have gained some insights and accumulated some experience in running high performance sport programmes.

7. We are reviewing and improving our High Performance Sports (HPS) system with the aim of Team Singapore sustaining strong showings at the regional and world levels.  We will draw up specific targets for Team Singapore achievements at the SEA Games, the Asian Games and the Olympics or equivalent levels.  We will also set targets for our para athletes for the equivalent major games. 

8. To achieve our sports excellence goals, we need a complete ecosystem for each of the sports – structured, comprehensive and effective – in order to train a sustained pipeline of athletes. The ecosystem will include – the ability to develop young athletes and adoption of sport at the grassroots level; the capability and capacity of the coaching system; the sport science complement of technical and high performance personnel; the availability and standard of facilities for training and competition; and the quality of Daily Training Environment (DTE) and competition exposure for our athletes, including opportunities for overseas training and competition. These full complements of the ecosystem will require significant resources and consequently a need for prioritisation. We need to focus our finite resources, both financial and human, so that we can achieve the desired outcome. And we will need NSAs to work hand-in hand by taking long, sustained effort with the commitment to implement technically-sound training plans. We recognise that there will be some athletes who despite not being supported by a full ecosystem are nevertheless showing great promise against benchmarks. We will make provisions for higher campaign funding to support them.   

9. We will invest additional $50M over the next five years in our HPS system, and launch the One Team Singapore matching grant of up to $50m with dollar-for-dollar matching for donations into SportSG's Vision 2030 fund.  This will be over and above the existing $60M annual budget that SportSG currently funds the HPS system, which includes funding to the National Sports Associations (NSAs).

10. As significant public and private funding will be devoted to HPS system, Team Singapore athletes are expected to continue to build up a strong support by engaging the public and the community.  This calls for parents, relatives, friends, Corporate Singapore, and the wider public to rally behind our athletes.  For those who wish to play a bigger part by supporting and contributing to our athletes' sporting pursuits directly, you can do so through the 'One Team Singapore matching grant', which will be launched soon, where sports donations will go into stepping up funding support for our HPS system over the next few Olympic cycles.

Responsibilities and obligations as spexScholars

11. At the individual level, we need our athletes, especially our spexScholars, to continue to work hard both in and out of the sporting arena. The spexScholarship is not an entitlement or a reward.  It is a support programme for deserving athletes to pursue excellence at pinnacle sports events. You are here today because you have demonstrated your ability and potential to perform at the highest level. The expectations and benchmarks set for you are high.  I hope all of you will stay committed in this journey with us; and always strive to improve and never settle for just 'good enough'.   

12. As a spexScholar, your actions on and off the field will have an impact on your peers and the younger athletes.  So make it a positive one, as a role model to all aspiring athletes, by exemplifying the values of resilience, discipline and perseverance, and always conducting yourself with humility, dignity and integrity.  Just as the community has supported your journey to become Singapore's sporting heroes, find ways to give back through sports.  Inspire the next generation of athletes, as well as fellow Singaporeans to live better through sport.

Closing remarks

13. I would like to conclude by extending my heartfelt appreciation to the 'team behind the team' - our athletes' families and friends, coaches, as well as officials and volunteers of the National Sports Associations, Singapore National Olympic Council, Singapore National Paralympic Council, as well as colleagues from SportSG, the Singapore Sports Institute and the National Youth Sports Institute.  Our past, present and future success would not be possible without your support and dedication.

14. Finally, let's put our hands together and give our utmost support to our fourth batch of spexScholars!  Train hard, stay focused and do us proud.

15. Thank you.