Lasting Legacy from Recent SEA Games

Dr Benedict Tan asked the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) given the success of the recent South East Asian Games, how will the Ministry ensure that there is a lasting legacy; and (b) what will the Ministry do to ride on the momentum.

Madam, the recently-concluded SEA Games was a sporting milestone for Singapore. Indeed, we must build on its success, which was a great example of how, by working together as one Team Singapore, we can excel and do our nation proud.

Our Team Singapore athletes put up their best ever performance at the SEA Games. This shows that our High Performance Sports system is on the right track. We will do an after-action review and apply the lessons learnt to further strengthen the system, so that more of our athletes can go on to excel in future SEA Games and on a bigger stage – the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, as well as the Olympics.

First, we will continue to find ways to improve the training and development of our athletes, for example, by strengthening our partnerships with the National Sports Associations (NSAs) to improve their quality of coaching, to work out individual athlete

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development plans and high performance programmes. We will also strengthen the support offered by the Singapore Sports Institute to national athletes, for example, by enhancing the sports science and sports analytics support to them.

Second, we will improve youth athlete development, so that more promising student-athletes will have the opportunity to excel in their sports and don national colours, while continuing their education. The review of the Singapore Sports School, which is now underway, will provide for this.

Third, we will build on the support of employers, so that national athletes who have to juggle sports and work can get the support they need to train and compete for Singapore.

There was strong community interest in the SEA Games. More than half a million people attended the various sporting events and activities. And there are currently over 60 million views of the broadcasts of the various events on the SEA Games YouTube channel.

Through the packed venues at every sporting event, we could clearly see that there can be great demand from Singaporeans to catch sporting action "live" in our stadiums and arenas. So, we will build on this interest by making our sports calendar more vibrant – providing Singaporeans a wider choice and an array of sporting events to attend, be it the upcoming FINA World Junior Championships in August, the Women's Tennis Association Finals in October, or the Netball Nations Cup in December. Our goal is to promote a culture of attending sporting events with friends and family and, in the process, inspire Singaporeans to engage in sports themselves, whether at the recreational, competitive or even the high performance levels.

We will also continue to grow the ActiveSG movement. It currently has 815,000 members and we will provide more opportunities for Singaporeans to adopt an active lifestyle.

The most heartening aspect of the Games for me was the strong demonstration of the Singapore Spirit throughout the Games. Our many volunteers worked hard, day and night, to put together a great experience for Singaporeans and visitors from the region. So, we will strengthen sports volunteerism as one of the legacies of the SEA Games.

There were many instances where the Singapore Spirit shone bright – with spectators singing the National Anthem with gusto; great sportsmanship exhibited by our athletes; and people who stayed back to help clean the venues after events.

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These instances clearly demonstrated the Singapore Spirit – of unity, resilience and pride in our nation. So, we will continue to nurture and grow the Singapore Spirit in all of us, so that we can continue to stay united as a people and strong as a nation.

In the coming months, as we celebrate our Golden Jubilee, there will be more opportunities for sports to rally the nation. The ASEAN Para Games in December is one such opportunity and I look forward to seeing Singaporeans come together again, this time in support of our Team Singapore para-athletes, in the same way that they turned up to cheer for Team Singapore at the SEA Games.