School sports facilities for weekend public use till March

As the Republic moved into phase three of its reopening yesterday, national agency Sport Singapore (SportSG) announced it would extend the availability of selected sports facilities under the Dual-Use Scheme (DUS), on weekends from Saturday to March 14.

In November, SportSG announced that school sports facilities under the DUS, which include indoor sports halls and fields, would be available for public use during the year-end school holidays. Usage of these facilities was suspended in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

With the extension, members of the public will be able to access 50 chargeable fields and 119 indoor sports halls located in 135 primary and secondary schools from Saturday. Bookings can be done through the ActiveSG app from today.

The 169 facilities that will reopen account for less than 60 per cent of the 290 DUS facilities, which also feature free-to-play fields and saw a pre-Covid take-up rate of about 80 per cent.

Fields will be open from 3pm to 7pm, and indoor sports halls from 3pm to 9pm, on Saturdays. On Sundays, all 169 facilities will be open from 9am to 7pm.

"Over the school holiday period, we received positive feedback from our members who expressed their appreciation in having more spaces and opportunities to keep fit," said Sng Hock Lin, chief of ActiveSG. "We will continue to assess the Covid-19 situation and explore the possibility of opening more spaces progressively, while ensuring that the safety of our players, as well as school students and staff are not compromised."

SportSG stressed that users are required to adhere to safe management measure guidelines.

For users of DUS badminton facilities, a maximum of eight people are allowed per court, along with an additional instructor or coach.

For other indoor hall-based sports like netball, volleyball, basketball and floorball, a maximum of eight people are allowed per group, with an additional instructor or coach.

Multiple groups can share the court but must observe safe distancing. And for fields, a maximum of 50 people are allowed per pitch, with three metres distancing between groups of eight.

SportSG warned that it would take strong action against individuals who fail to comply with the safe management measures, including barring them from use of all DUS and ActiveSG facilities. A Safe Distancing Ambassador and a facility warden will be at each facility to ensure that users observe guidelines.

For more information on booking details and the DUS facilities that will be open for public use, go to https://myactivesg.com.