SINGAPORE - Hockey youth programmes here will receive a boost with five local clubs awarded $10,000 each under a new youth development academy grant by the Singapore Hockey Federation (SHF).
The five sides are the Old Rafflesians Association (ORA), Jansenites, Indian Association (IA), Hypernova, and Vijayanti.
The grant, which was started in partnership with local media agency The Little Red Eye - who contributed $50,000 - was announced on Saturday (March 19) morning at a ceremony at One Farrer Hotel.
SHF vice-president and youth development committee head Christabel Chan said: "We are wildly appreciative of The Little Red Eye's support of our youth development efforts that are aimed at ensuring the long-term viability of hockey and the values, culture and community that go hand in hand with the sport in Singapore."
The grant aims to give a much-needed boost to youth programmes that have been hampered by the pandemic.
Full-scale hockey competitions have been unable to take place for two years and training was restricted to groups of five and below before the authorities relaxed safe management measures this week.
Benjamin Kee, general manager of The Little Red Eye, said: "Policies that have been put in place during this global pandemic have unfortunately had a negative impact on sports in our country. And as an active sportsman in my youth, it was clear to me that stakeholders must come together if we are to keep our sporting culture burning bright."
The grant was welcomed by members of the hockey fraternity.
Hypernova chairman Joshua Tan said: "This grant is a great initiative that will help clubs like us kick-start youth programmes to ensure we have a steady flow of talent into our senior teams.
"We're all looking forward to competing again soon, and having such a programme in place will at least breathe some new life into the club scene that has been starved of excitement these past two years."
To ensure a broad and sustainable impact on youth hockey here, the committee has set an eligibility criteria for clubs to meet.
Some of these include having youth teams in different age groups (U12, U14, U16, U19), a 75 percent retention of athletes and organising youth tournaments within the club.
"We are confident that with the key performance indicators (KPIs) and requirements that we've put in place before we even started assessing proposals from applicant clubs, alongside the SHF support that clubs will receive, we will be able to kickstart a sustainable youth development programme that we hope will spark growth in hockey in the various age-groups," Chan added.
SHF President Mathavan Devadas was hopeful that support from sponsors like The Little Red Eye would aid the SHF's efforts in igniting interest and participation in hockey among young Singaporeans.
He said: "Every little effort that can help us reignite interest in the sport must be embraced, and every little step towards reversing the effects that the pandemic has had, and revitalising the pipelines that lead into our national teams will only help us in the future.
"I'm confident these steps are the first of many that we will start to take in the months ahead, and I'm grateful for the support of stakeholders like Benny who are helping us get off the ground again."
