Sports School head eyes podium finish at Olympics

SINGAPORE — Classroom and chalkboards have been a part of Mr Tan Teck Hock’s daily life since he began his teaching career at Jurong Secondary School in 1992. It comes as no surprise then that the newly-appointed Singapore Sports School (SSP) Principal calls himself an educator at heart.

But the 49-year-old is also clearly a Singapore sports fan. Meeting the media for his first in-depth interview since officially joining the school on Dec 15, Mr Tan talked about the dream which he and his staff have for the school — to see an alumnus on the Olympic podium one day.

“I believe all Singaporeans share the same dream ... that is to see Team Singapore succeed at the highest level. Deep inside the hearts of all the SSP staff is the desire to eventually see a Singaporean stand up there at the Olympic Games holding a medal,” said Mr Tan, who has a Level 3 certification from the National Coaching Accreditation Programme and coached Jurong Secondary’s Girls’ “B” and “C” Division cross-country teams to five championship titles during his time there.

He added: “That’s what we are dreaming of. If along the way we have President’s Scholars or PSC (Public Service Commission) scholars, those will be big bonuses. But really, it is about the success of Team Singapore to compete at the highest level and bring glory to Singapore.”

Mr Tan, who was previously the founding Principal of the Physical Education and Sports Teacher Academy, is the third Principal for SSP, which celebrated its 10th anniversary on Wednesday.

While the school’s student-athletes and graduates include four Olympians (swimmers Tao Li and Mylene Ong, sprinters Calvin Kang and Dipna Lim-Prasad), seven world champions in sailing and gold medallists at the Asian, Commonwealth and Southeast Asian Games, its sporting talents have yet to taste success at the Olympics.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has set a goal for the SSP to become the national sports academy of excellence in the next decade.

Mr Tan’s first task will be to work with Singapore Sports Council Chairman Richard Seow and Ms Yeoh Chee Yan, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, on the school’s year-long strategic review.

Some of the ideas that have emerged from the school’s previous internal reviews include a satellite centre based at the S$1.33 billion Sports Hub where athletes from sports such as diving and silat can train. Currently, SSP houses 10 sports academies, but some student-athletes have to train outside the school.

Mr Tan is also exploring more academic options for student-athletes beyond the GCE O-Level examinations, through-train diploma programmes with Republic Polytechnic and the International Baccalaureate.

Apart from working with more primary schools to identify young talent who might want to join SSP, he is also keen to lend the expertise of the school’s Performance Enhancement Institute to athletes outside of SSP in areas such as sports physiotherapy, psychology, physiology, technology and nutrition.

He is also aware of the need to overcome Singaporean parents’ obsession with grades and brand-name schools. “If we want to take sports to a higher level, we have got to capture the public mindshare,” he said. “A lot of parents don’t know what we do and think the school is all about sports and nothing else. I beg to differ.”