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Taking a peek into the future

In barely six months, the South-east Asian (SEA) Games will return to Singapore for the first time since 1993, with most of the battles scheduled to be played out at the Sports Hub.

In barely six months, the South-east Asian (SEA) Games will return to Singapore for the first time since 1993, with most of the battles scheduled to be played out at the Sports Hub.

Deep within the state-of-the-art 35ha facility in Kallang is the Singapore Sports Institute (SSI), which will be a major nerve centre in the Republic’s drive to become a sporting nation.

TODAY sports correspondent Low Lin Fhoong (linfhoong [at] mediacorp.com.sg) took a guided tour earlier this week to get a glimpse of how the SSI is helping Singapore’s best athletes become world champions.

 

SINGAPORE — Unless you are an athlete representing the Republic, a staff member or an invited guest, it is unlikely that you will be able to see what goes on behind the shiny glass doors that mark the entrance to the Singapore Sports Institute (SSI).

But if you do, do not be alarmed to see a pyjamas-clad athlete sauntering by. That is because the SSI, which moved to its new premises within the sprawling S$1.33 billion Sports Hub in Kallang in July, will feature an Altitude House, a 100 sq m facility that allows up to 16 athletes to live in high-altitude conditions of between 2,500m and 3,000m above sea level — up to a maximum of 5,000m — for up to four weeks to aid their training for competitions and major games.

It is all part of Singapore’s plan, with at least about S$1.5 billion — including S$100 million for sports excellence and S$125 million for facilities operations, events and programmes — invested to help it become a major sporting nation. And a key component of the grand plan is the SSI.

“Our aspiration is that we want to be world class, that when anyone says anything about sport in Singapore, they think about the SSI,” said SSI chief Bob Gambardella.

“Our long-term vision is to put together these services for our athletes and coaches, and to give them every maximum advantage going into a competition.”

The SSI began operations more than three years ago, with its working template developed from the then Olympic Pathway Programme, a government-driven initiative to help Singapore’s elite athletes achieve excellence at the Olympics, and was housed in the temporary premises of the then Singapore Sports Council — now known as Sport Singapore — when construction for the Sports Hub was in progress.

But it was not until the Sports Hub was ready in June that the SSI could go into full swing in its role of providing the nation’s elite athletes with the latest facilities, services and high-tech gizmos to help them become more competitive on the international stage.

One of these is its apartment-style Altitude House that will boast a living room, dining area, toilet and shower, kitchen, as well as four bedrooms with individually adjustable altitude conditions.

Keeping in tune with the live-high, train-low principle to optimise physiological adaptation and maintain performance, the plan is for athletes to live in the altitude-controlled facility to increase the body’s levels of erythropoietin and red blood cells, as well as maximal oxygen uptake, while going about their daily training, school or work routine at sea level.

Endurance athletes who want to reap the benefits of high-altitude training — reported to boost the body’s oxygen-carrying capabilities by at least 20 per cent — will also no longer have to travel to Kunming or Kenya’s marathon town of Iten.

By next year, the SSI will boast an environmental chamber that will allow them to train in adjustable conditions: Temperature (zero to 50°C), humidity (10 to 90 per cent relative humidity), wind and altitudes of between zero and 5,000m (11 to 20.9 per cent oxygen).

The national men’s hockey team will be first to test the Altitude House next year ahead of the SEA Games from June 5 to 16.

“If the athletes go to different places, there is a lot of wear and tear and there is less of that at home,” said Gambardella. “They can do more quality training at home, then go off to a competition. We want to help periodise training so it’s more scientific and give them the right type and dose of training.”

 

THE ROAD TO SUCCESS AT THE 2015 SEA GAMES

 

Officially opened in July, the SSI and its 117 staff members occupy the more than 3,000 sq m facility, which includes a sports medical centre, physiotherapy clinic, athlete service centre, sports biomechanics lab, high-performance and rehabilitation gym, sports psychology lab, human performance lab, sports nutrition training centre and biochemistry lab.

Modelled after world-class sports institutes in Japan and the United States, the SSI will ramp up its services to national athletes for the duration of the SEA Games.

“The medical centre will be expanded and the athlete centre will be used as a safehouse,” said Gambardella. “They can come to chill out and relax. We won’t be 24/7, but we will have extended hours. But the medicine (centre) will be 24/7. We are also ready to deploy our scientists and staff to training and competition sites (during the games).”

To cope with higher demand from national sports associations during the SEA Games — which will feature 36 sports — the facility will expand its physiotherapist numbers from about six to 18 with the help of its industry partners, the Ministry of Health, and hospitals during the regional event.

 

WHAT’S COOL

 

The athletes’ service centre is a hit among Team Singapore’s athletes, who enjoy relaxing in its spacious lounge with its sofas and bean bags, mini pantry and massage chairs.

National sailor Kimberly Lim, who won the women’s 420 gold at this year’s Asian Games in Incheon with Savannah Siew, visits the SSI twice a week to train at the gym.

“I really like the athletes’ corner. I can study here if I need to, chill with friends or meet athletes from other sports that I don’t get to see because we train in East Coast,” said the 18-year-old. “I once met (paralympian swimmer) Theresa Goh at the lounge and we ended up playing Monopoly with some other people.”

Athletes can also learn to prepare healthy meals at the sports nutrition lab, which boasts six cooking stations to accommodate 24 people. Apart from theory lessons, workshops are conducted for athletes and corporate groups on how to cook quick and easy meals, as well as healthier versions of local favourites such as chicken rice.

A handicap-friendly recovery house with 20 rooms — consisting of 40 beds — is also being built near the OCBC Arena to accommodate athletes and coaches during centralised training camps, as well as visiting athletes, coaches and officials.

 

THE SCIENCE BEHIND SUCCESS

 

Canoeist Muhammad Syaheenul Aiman Nasiman was hard at work when TODAY dropped by earlier this week, putting in six four-minute sets of intensive paddling on a kayak at the human performance lab during a physiological step test.

“This allows us to look at exercise efficiency and gives an indication of his adaptation to training and the information is given back to the coaches,” said Dr Frankie Tan, a senior sports physiologist who is also the SSI’s head of sports science centre.

“We also look at the stroke mechanics (via video recording) and this is done a few times a year.”

The science of jumping, sprinting and throwing is studied at the sports biomechanics lab, with sophisticated mathematics and computer modelling techniques to help an athlete and coach assess performance.

One of the new features at the lab is the installation of 12 3-D infrared cameras to allow scientists to capture and study an athlete’s movement — captured via retro reflective markers placed on the body. Force plates installed into the lab’s floor will also allow them to measure the forces used by an athlete.

“For example, we can see how much force sprinters apply to the ground (with these plates),” said Dr Marcus Lee, SSI’s head of sports biomechanics.

“It can also be used for injury prevention. For netball, we can see how much force is going through their knee joints when they change direction (of movement) as a common injury is in the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). We can then look at strengthening the lower limbs or changing the landing technique and it is all athlete specific.”

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