Cash carrots to get more in S’pore to boost sporty lifestyle

SINGAPORE — People with creative ideas on how to get more Singaporeans to play sports and companies that want to promote an active and healthy lifestyle among their staff can now get possible funding of up to S$50,000 for each proposal under a new Sport Singapore (SportSG) intiative, if they hold their activities in the week leading up to National Day.

Announced yesterday by the national sports body, the Active Enabler Programme (AEP) seeks to reach out to 150,000 participants in all. The sports activities that the AEP aims to foster are part of a variety of events that will make up “GetActive! Singapore”, an inaugural national event to be held from July 30 to Aug 7, and annually henceforth. Others include sports festivals at all ActiveSG centres on the weekends of July 30 to 31 and Aug 6 to 7, and the Singapore National Games.

To be part of the AEP, interested applicants have up to June 30 to submit their plans to www.getactive.sg. These can range from mass participation events and social activities that feature elements of sport, to workshops and seminars.

If SportSG approves the plans, it will provide a grant of up to S$25,000 for a project reaching out to at least 30 participants, and up to S$50,000 for mass events of more than 200 participants.

There are criteria to be fulfilled. For example, SportSG said it will not fund expenses incurred outside the country; nor any fundraising or crowdfunding events. It will also not provide cash prizes, or reimburse any expenses incurred from any form of religious or political activities.

When asked, SportSG declined to reveal the budget that it has allocated for the AEP. However, apart from monetary grants, it will also offer assistance for these events in the form of fitness instructors, sports coaches and officials, event management expertise, venue spaces as well as sport and snack packs.

To date, 10 groups — mostly corporates — have indicated interest in submitting proposals for funding as part of the AEP, including FedEx Express Singapore. Said its managing director Khoo Seng Thiam: “FedEx has been a strong advocate of healthy living as a way of life for our employees over the years. Getting involved with GetActive! Singapore is a very natural progression for us to expand that platform.”

More than just a way to celebrate National Day, the approved AEP ideas will also inspire Singaporeans to pick up a sport, or to lead a more active and healthy lifestyle, SportSG hopes.

A SportSG spokesman said a recent study that it commissioned showed that many Singaporeans tend to stop playing sport or cut down drastically after they leave school, due to work and family commitments, and pick it up again between the ages of 35 and 40 after major health screenings and medical check-ups. The challenge is to get people to continue playing sport after leaving school, or pick up sports earlier. SportSG will be reaching out to human resource directors of companies and public agencies that it works with to brief them on the AEP.

Said SportSG chief executive officer Lim Teck Yin: “We believe that there are great ideas out there on how to use sports and physical activities to celebrate our National Day, and we want to encourage people with these ideas to step forward and lead the celebrations with their fellow Singaporeans.”