Swimming: SSA opens second National Training Centre at Sports School

SINGAPORE - The Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) has moved to expand its high-performance base by setting up a second National Training Centre (NTC) at the Singapore Sports School (SSP) in Woodlands.

In its Thursday (June 2) announcement, it explained that a second NTC would be able to support more swimmers who aspire to represent the Republic. Currently, youth and national swimmers train indoors mostly at the OCBC Aquatic Centre, which has a 10-lane competition pool and an eight-lane training pool. At the Sports School, the swimmers will also have access to a swimming complex with two all-weather Olympic-sized pools.

SSA executive director Edwin Ker said the second NTC would increase the accessibility of support and services, particularly to swimmers who reside in the northern parts of Singapore. Besides NTC coaches, it will also allow for access to sports scientists from the Singapore Sports Institute (SSI) and National Youth Sports Institute(NYSI).

He added: "With the opportunity to stay in the boarding facilities in Sports School, swimmers can train, rest and sleep in one place. Coupled with access to the sports science support by the NYSI, national swimmers and potential ones could receive more responsive support.

"With these, we hope to increase the pipeline of national swimmers."

National head coach Gary Tan, 40, told The Straits Times that the set-up of a second training base would give him "more options to work with".

He said: "With the right facilities and software that is embedded in the Sports School's system, we are then able to focus our attention on getting our athletes closer to their Olympic dream. Therefore, this partnership is one that would serve a bigger purpose in creating sustainable success for our ecosystem."

Athletes can apply to the NTC at the Sports School via three pathways -the Major Games pathway, the Performance pathway, and the Singapore Sports School pathway. Under the Major Games pathway, a swimmer must record a time at an event that surpasses SEA Games qualifying standard while to qualify for the pre-requisite under the Performance pathway, the swimmer must have a minimum of 650 Fina ranking points across any event. The Sports School pathway requires one to enrol as a student.

Andy Voo, coach at Aquatic Masters Swim Club, felt the move would benefit junior swimmers, who "will have a chance to train with more established athletes when they train at the NTC". "I think it is motivational for the junior swimmers, providing them with NTC coach from Sports School who trained Maximillian Ang and full facilities to make use of," he added.

But the SSA decision did not thrill the coaches of two leading clubs.

Olympian Ang Peng Siong, who runs the Aquatic Performance Swim Club (APSC) that has produced many Games champions through the years, expressed surprise at the lack of consultation with affiliates, which number more than 30. He said he had learnt about the news via an e-mail on Thursday.

Said Ang, whose school currently trains about 200 swimmers: "I was not consulted. A lot of the initiatives are done without engaging affiliates which is disturbing. The SSA is supposed to represent affiliates."

On the set-up of a second NTC, he said: "The models around the world, especially in the United States and Japan, have shown how successful it can be when you have clubs contributing to the talent pool. Once you narrow it down to just a few selected locations, you are putting all the eggs in one basket. Our track record at the school speaks for itself - we have contributed to almost 200 medals at major Games over the years. We have coaches who are more than capable."

Tan, however, insisted that the second NTC is not meant to sideline clubs.

He said: "We are very thankful that our swimming clubs have continued to develop and groom pipeline swimmers for Singapore. Together with the clubs, the second NTC will look to support a bigger community of swimmers who aspire toward the 2028 and 2032 Olympic Games.

"We are not forcing an athlete to choose the national training centre and we are not forcing the hand of a club to push the athlete over to us. We know that not everyone needs to go down to the NTC. Not everyone finds a reason to come to the NTC. They should be comfortable with wherever their coaches are but if they feel they need to have a different environment and one that allows them to have a full support system, that's where we come in."

Tan pointed to the requirement of a swimmer having to seek clearance from their current club before being allowed to join the NTC.

But Ang dismissed this, saying: "As a parent, if you are given a choice, one would opt for Anglo-Chinese School or Raffles Institution over the neighbourhood schools. So you can say that you are not forcing but you are creating a system where it does not encourage club programmes to succeed."

Another Olympian, David Lim, who runs the Swimfast Aquatic Group, lamented: “Clubs have had the cream of their swimmers taken away since the NTC started. These club coaches also need the motivation that they are able to train a swimmer to the highest level and not have to feel that all they had to do was to train a swimmer to a certain level and expect to lose them to the NTC along the way. 

“So how is SSA going to motivate these coaches? How is SSA going to get more people into this profession if they are literally telling everyone, ‘You’re only good to a certain level’. How many local coaches are in these two NTCs?”

He urged the SSA to give the matter more consideration, adding: “There are at least 20+ active clubs in Singapore now. If SSA thinks this is the way going forward and wants to set up more NTCs, they also need to come out with a pathway for clubs to work hand in hand with the national agenda.”