About 800 Tanjong Katong Girls' School (TKGS) students got a taste on Friday of the festivities for next year's Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Singapore.

The students got a good start to their school day when nine Team Singapore athletes - among them three TKGS alumni - Asian Games gold-winning sailors Kimberly Lim and Savannah Siew and national softballer Guo Yan Xiu - paid a visit to drum up support for the 28th edition of the regional meet taking place in June next year.

There were also two male softballers - Marcus Liew and Benjamin Ang - and four male basketballers - Larry Liew, Ng Han Bin, Wu Qingde and Delvin Goh.

During a dialogue session, the athletes spoke about their sporting experiences before playing games with students on stage and posing for photos with them.

A sailing boat simulator, helmed by Kimberly and Savannah, allowed students to try their hands at the sport.

The athletes' visit was part of the Singapore Southeast Asian Games Organising Committee's (Singsoc) Modular School Programme, which aims not only to get students around Singapore excited about the SEA Games, but also to educate and engage students about the value of sport.

So far, 80 primary and secondary schools have signed up for the programme, which consists of nine modules that will get students involved in the Games in various ways.

These modules range from workshops that teach students to create artwork from recycled materials to be placed at Games venues, and will include tours of the Sports Hub and the newly-opened Singapore Sports Museum to learn about the history and key sporting moments in the Republic.

Said Toh Boon Yi, Singsoc's chief of community and corporate outreach: "This programme is to leverage on the SEA Games as a platform...to create a generation of shared memories (among students) since the Games only come around once every 20 odd years or so.