Coaches more vigilant during one-on-one sports lessons
Sport S'pore also cautions against intermingling outside of sessions
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Under the heightened safe distancing measures, outdoor sports lessons are allowed, but limited to one coach and one student. A Sport Singapore spokesman said there is no prohibition on holding multiple consecutive classes, as long as there is no intermingling before or after each session. Coaches are also allowed to run lessons at multiple locations.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
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Sports coaches here say they are exercising more caution while conducting private one-on-one outdoor lessons amid the heightened safe distancing measures that have impacted most physical activities.
Since May 19, all indoor sports and physical activity classes and programmes for youth aged 18 and below have been suspended after a number of school children tested positive for the coronavirus.
Outdoor lessons are still allowed, but limited to one coach and one student.
Swimming coach Ling Yao Hui, 42, previously ran classes at private and public pools, but now uses only those in condominiums. His fees are about $80 a lesson and his income has dropped by at least 60 per cent due to the current restrictions.
He wears a face shield and surgical mask, and trains up to three students a day across multiple locations. He said: "The cases now are quite high, but I still need to work to survive. But I cut 50 per cent of my classes for this period.
"I have had to make adjustments. I focus more on teaching endurance swimming so I don't have to get too close to the student. Because when you are teaching kids technique, sometimes you need to hold them."
Mr David Lim, 55, head coach and managing director at Swimfast Aquatic Group, continues to conduct lessons at Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) and Methodist Girls' School.
He said: "Currently, we need to stop the cross-transmission of the virus from different schools, different cohorts and different households.
"(But) my element is the water and I can't do many virtual lessons as compared with other trades."
In response to queries, a Sport Singapore spokesman reiterated yesterday that there is no prohibition on holding multiple consecutive classes, as long as there is no intermingling before or after each session. Coaches are also allowed to run lessons at multiple locations.
The spokesman noted that parents and coaches are encouraged to follow the national agency's guidelines on safe management measures during this period to make informed decisions.
Ms Kim Tay, 33, has stopped her two primary school-going children from attending swimming lessons for now.
The yoga instructor said: "We decided not to continue due to the increasing number of school children getting infected. We prefer to wait till the situation is better."
Housewife Jennifer Hong, 52, said she is satisfied with the protocols put in place by Swimfast, which is where her daughters, aged 18 and 20, train. She said: "There is no interaction with other swimmers at all and we leave immediately after the training.
"The kids enter and leave at different timings so as to minimise interaction, and their swim bags are placed at least 1m apart from one another. I also ensure that my girls sanitise their hands before and after training. The club has made excellent arrangements so I am assured that it is safe for our kids to go for training."
Professor Dale Fisher, an infectious disease expert at the National University of Singapore's Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, urged coaches conducting lessons at multiple locations to exercise more caution.
He said: "It's impossible for the authorities to consider every circumstance... so even if it may not be illegal, the coaches and trainers should try to limit lessons as much as they can.
"I understand the financial imperatives, but we have to be more sensible at this time. The obvious danger is if the coach or trainer gets the virus and goes around to these different locations and others get infected by him/her.
"And the trainer could always be in an asymptomatic phase so he/she might think he/she is fine and carry on. There are clear risks so we have to be more careful."
A tennis coach in his 50s, who wanted to remain anonymous, said demand for private lessons has grown due to students being on home-based learning.
He said: "Of course, there is always a possibility (of risks). We take all the necessary precautionary measures.
"For example, when I found out about the pupils from Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) contracting Covid-19, I told two of my pupils from that school that I cannot continue coaching them for this period.
"It is not practical to stop coaching for all the kids, as it is our livelihood. I am thankful that we have not gone into a full circuit breaker, since many of us were out of a job last year for four months during that period."
• Additional reporting by Mattheus Yang and Zachary Tham
