Opening Remarks By Mr Richard Seow at The Official Launch Of The National Standards For Youth Sports

Opening Remarks By Mr Richard Seow, Chairman, Singapore Sports Council, At The Official Launch Of The National Standards For Youth Sports

1. Sport is about human endeavour and spirit - it shows the soul of a community and how we are bound as a people. How we play what we enjoy and how we relate to each other.

2. At the Singapore Sports Council (SSC), we are firm believers of the power of sport to improve lives and to create more opportunities for our youth to cultivate lifelong, value-centric learning. But sport, on its own, does not build character, it simply reveals it. Through intentional design, the National Standards for Youth Sports (or NSYS) will leverage on the best principles of sport and create explicitly the environment for our youth to grow and develop.

3. Sport develops our competitive spirit, but it also can help to grow good values. It can build confidence and resilience; it can teach teamwork and instil a sense of commitment. The NSYS will provide all teachers, parents and coaches with the competencies and understanding to bring out these values and better prepare our youth for future challenges.

4. The NSYS dovetails with our aspirations through Vision 2030. With Vision 2030, we are committed towards providing more opportunities through sports for our youth to build individual character, strengthen their sense of community, and ignite a love of country.

5. Indeed, today marks another significant milestone in our Vision 2030 journey. The Sport Pathways Committee is the second (after SportCares) of the 20 recommendations to be launched under Vision 2030. On behalf of SSC, I would like to express our gratitude to our partners and colleagues from the Ministry of Education.

6. Through our partnership, I'm confident that we will continue to unlock more opportunities for our youth to develop into people of character and significance. Without further adieu, please join me in welcoming our Guest-of-Honour, Ms Indranee Rajah, Senior Minister of State for Law and Education for the opening speech.