MOE to set up Youth Sports Academies to promote sports excellence

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Education (MOE) is setting up Youth Sports Academies (YSAs) to provide centralised training for talented athletes at the secondary and junior college/centralised institute levels and promote sports excellence.
The YSAs will enable graduates of the Junior Sports Academies (JSAs), and other students in MOE secondary schools, junior colleges or centralised institute to receive a high level of training in their chosen sport.
The YSAs will complement the Singapore Sports School by providing a developmental pathway for students who are talented in sports but enrolled in regular schools in the system.
For a start, MOE will set up three academies in April, each catering to one sport. The three sports are badminton, wushu and table tennis.
The YSAs will be housed in schools and institutions with facilities or expertise to support the training of these athletes.
The hosts for the first three YSAs are: Bedok South Secondary (badminton), Meridian Junior College (wushu) and MOE’s Co—curricular Activities Branch (table tennis).
There will be three admission points for the YSAs — at Secondary 1, 3 and junior college 1/centralised institute level 1. The MOE said this is to take into consideration students who are "late developers".
For the first year, the YSAs will cater to students in Secondary 1 only. The selection trials will be held in March. The YSA programmes will be conducted after school hours.
In 2008, MOE piloted four JSAs. Another eight new JSAs were set up in 2009. The first batch of 144 JSA athletes completed their two—year training programme at the end of 2009. They are now enrolled in 63 secondary schools, including the Singapore Sports School.