Additional $25m boost for sports community here

The local sports community will receive an additional financial boost with the injection of $25 million into the Sports Resilience Package, said Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong in Parliament yesterday.

This will take the total amount of government support to help the industry mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic to $75 million.

The bulk of the additional funds will go towards an expansion of the $3 million Enterprise Innovation and Capability Development Grant (EICDG) - which was introduced last June - while a new Self-Employed Person (SEP) Project Grant will benefit health and fitness professionals.

"All these measures will help our sectors adapt to the new normal," said Mr Tong.

Of the added support, $22.5 million will go towards extending the EICDG until 2025. The grant, administered by national agency Sport Singapore (SportSG), supports sports businesses that seek to capitalise on growth opportunities in the digital economy.

One such business is SportsKingdom, which aims to provide a management system online for sports academies.

Its chief executive, Mr Chetan Suryawanshi, a former national cricket player, said the company plans to develop an app with an artificial intelligence (AI) component that will act like a coach and allow users to hone their skills.

SportsKingdom plans to roll out the app early next year with the AI feature for cricket, and wants to branch out to other sports like football, tennis, hockey and basketball.

"The app can tell you where you need to improve and what drills you should do, which you can do in your own backyard or personal space," said Mr Suryawanshi, 36.

Local sports businesses can also rely on an extension of operating grants, at a quantum of up to 15 per cent of total operating expenses and capped at $10,000 a month, until December.

The Youth Floorball Academy is one of nearly 100 businesses that have tapped the grants.

• Establishment of the Safe Sport programme to address abuse and harassment in sport, with a unified code against misconduct

• SportSG to engage stakeholders on the industry development plan for fiscal years 2021 to 2025

• Launch of a new Active Health Corporate Playbook

• A pilot project utilising computer vision systems to analyse national athletes' training and performance

Ms Elaine Tan, who co-founded the academy in May 2017 with her husband Norani Zaini, estimated that the business suffered revenue loss of $20,000 when operations came to a halt temporarily during the two-month circuit breaker last year.

Ms Tan, 34, said the grant helped offset part of the rise in costs as they had to increase the number of sessions and coaches to comply with safe management measures.

"The grant relieves the pressure on our operations so we can focus more on developing more interesting plans for our trainees, especially with competitions still not allowed to restart," she added.

The new SEP Project Grant, meanwhile, will provide additional support for individuals and businesses - capped at $25,000 for each application - to develop projects that enhance the health and wellness of Singaporeans.

This complements training allowance grants and structured mentorship for coaches, which have been in place since last November and were yesterday extended until March next year.

National Under-15 football team coach Philippe Aw took up both opportunities as he attended three online courses and, in January, began a six-month mentorship programme for two basketball coaches and a hockey coach.

Mr Aw, 43, said he felt it was vital for coaches to upskill, upgrade and stay relevant during the downtime, as the pandemic limited physical training sessions.

He said: "Even though the coaches (mentored) are not from the same sport, our sports have similarities in the way they are played and... are team sports.

"Coaching has so many elements, so... the (mentorship) goes beyond the technical or skill aspects of the sport."