Support for Youth Athletes Juggling Sporting and Academic Commitments

Ms Hazlina Abdul Halim asked the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) how does the Ministry plan to enhance support for youth athletes juggling sporting and academic commitments; (b) how can the Ministry partner other agencies to better support youth athletes sitting for national examinations; (c) what enhanced measures will SportSG take to ensure national sports associations’ policies and decisions balance the holistic development of athletes' sporting and academic excellence.

Mr David Neo : Our student-athletes face the demanding challenge of juggling academic excellence with athletic pursuits. Our national high-performance sport (HPS) system provides student-athletes support to pursue sporting and academic aspirations.

Under the Sport Excellence (spex) programmes, the High Performance Sport Institute (HPSI) partners national sports associations (NSAs) to do long-term planning for student-athletes' competition, training and academic needs. HPSI provides our national athletes psychological and athlete life support, delivered through consultations and educational programmes by sports psychologists and athlete life managers. Such support aims to help athletes manage the pressures of balancing training, competition and academics.

Athletes in schools are also supported through partnerships between the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, Sport Singapore and the Ministry of Education (MOE). Most times, national athletes do get exemptions from school activities and even examinations to attend to their national training and competition demands, and we will continue to work with MOE on this.

The Singapore Sports School (SSP) also plays a crucial role in our HPS system. It provides a dedicated high-performance developmental pathway for youth athletes to achieve both sporting excellence and their academic aspirations.

In the SSP, education is wrapped around sports, helping student-athletes maximise their training while balancing the demands of education. SSP collaborates closely with NSAs to ensure student-athletes are supported through athlete-friendly academic programming and practices, together with specialised sports coaching, sports science support, and international training and competition opportunities, to maximise their potential.

Talented athletes seeking to benefit from SSP's high-quality Daily Training Environment are afforded ongoing opportunities to join the school. At the secondary level, athletes can apply for a transfer from their existing schools as mid-stream applicants. At the post-secondary level, SSP also facilitates the entry by high-performing athletes into its programme, with support from their NSAs. We will continue to develop and strengthen sports as a viable career. We will enhance our support for athletes to balance their sporting aspirations alongside their academic and post sports career needs.

We introduced the spexEducation Undergraduate Scholarship last year, to provide greater assurance to our athletes for their undergraduate studies, whether during their sporting career or after they retire from active competition. In April this year, SSP and the six Autonomous Universities (AUs) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance the AUs' athlete-friendly practices and strengthen support for carded student-athletes.

The Government is committed to working with partners to support student-athletes and parents in balancing their sporting and academic pursuits.