By Koh Yizhe
Ever wondered what it is like to study sports in Singapore?
Daniel Khoo is one such student studying at Republic Polytechnic (RP). He is pursuing a diploma in Sports and Exercise Sciences and after only two years at RP, He is the president of the Sports Science Academy which is unique for students in his course. With this opportunity, he has organized many events for the good of sports in RP.
RS: What do you think of RP offering sports courses?
Daniel Khoo: I think RP made a wise choice to offer sports courses for interested students because they are following the nation closely. We can see that Singapore is starting to work towards improving the sports industry. For example, YOG 2010. Being one of the first few institutes to offer the course is good because it means that we are in the right trend and since sports is a niche market, being the first few in this market will benefit us in the future.
What are the factors you considered when choosing to go into the sports industry, even when you chose to go to ITE before?
The factors which I considered when choosing to go into the sports industry are interest, passion and market.
When I talk about interest, it's about my love for sports therefore I want to study more about it and through this, I found out a lot of interesting things about sports. It's not just the athlete itself but also the people behind them and the mechanics of how/why the athlete is able to perform a certain movement in sports. Doing what you are interested in is most important when choosing a course.
Passion is all about being more and more passionate about sports science and wanting to find out even more.
Lastly, the market is the sports industry in Singapore. The sports industry in Singapore is a niche market and it's good because it means that one must be of certain standard in order to be in the market itself which makes it more attractive to me.
Why did you choose your course?
I built up an interest in the sports industry since my ITE days. If not for that, I won’t be here today studying this course.
Your course, what is it about? Any particular part of it you would like to highlight?
My course is the Diploma in Sports and Exercise Sciences. It is about the mechanics of humans in sports. Through this course, we explore things like what is the reason why one gains strength after doing strength training? What causes the increase in strength? How long does it last? Stuff like that.
I'm still currently studying the various topics and each topic is really interesting. They are all related to each other which make learning all the more engaging. I find the whole understand of how an athlete progress through training and the whole mechanics of this progression extremely appealing to me.
Do you enjoy it so far?
I enjoy it very much, even more so then my ITE days because that time was more general but now, we have more in-depth research and I am looking forward to finding out more in time to come.
Is there much of a difference between RP and ITE in the curriculum?
There is quite a big difference between RP and ITE in the curriculum as during ITE, we did a bit of everything. For example, I studied Sports Science, Sports Business, Sports Marketing, Events Management, Outdoor and Adventure Learning, etc. But on the other hand, while I'm in RP, I concentrated fully on Sports Science and really go into the different fields of Sports Science. We now cover Sports Physiology, Sports Psychology, Sports Nutrition and the like. It's really focusing on Sports Science and not other areas.
What efforts have RP done to help you be successful in what you do? (Eg. Student life activities)
RP have a lot of supportive facilitators to help me be successful in my IG (Interest Group) itself. I'm currently the President of the Sports Science Academy IG and my IG Facilitator, Ms Orla Gilmore, is a very supportive. She always supports my ideas and with her aid, I managed to get a lot of programs running.
What are the career options after completion of the course?
Personal Trainer, Coach or further studies in a specific field.
What would you say to those who might be interested in the diploma you’re pursuing?
The Diploma in Sports and Exercise Sciences is a very interesting and addictive course. It's definitely the course for people who love and seek to learn more about sports.
Hi daniel, im a student from ITE College West studying Hospitality Operations, not related to sports. But I have a deep passion for sports, is there any way i could be eligible for this course? (DES)
same questions as mini here…
wat job prospects/position will be for a dip in sports science?
Hi K,
Are you planning to pursue psychology or sports psychology? For psychology, RP has just produced its first student who will pursue psychology degree in University of British Columbia (UBC), one of the top universities in the world. This student will be graduating with a diploma in business applications this year. You might be asking how is that possible?
RP provides holistic development through an innovative and unique education that realises potentials and drives pursuit of aspirations of students to meet dynamic global needs.
Graduates of RP are vocal, resourceful and diligent because Problem-based learning introduces real problems for students to source for information and present it. Students learn from each other by questioning why, what, how to do things better.
Moreover, the recent news on NTU introducing sports degree opens up a another avenue for you to further your studies locally. Like the degree, RP’s diploma will focus on health and wellness; exercise and sport physiology; and sports injuries, etc.
Do contact onestop@rp.sg for more details. Good luck!
Hi daniel, i personally am a graduate from ITE College East. I was studying the Sport management higher Nitec course and am very interested in the sport science diploma in RP. Im very interested in sports psychology as well so therefore, is it possible to pursue a psychology degree after pursuing the RP diploma?
And also, i would like to hear your comments about the PBL system of learning in RP. Thanks a lot.
sport and wellness management in nyp does have modules on coaching, personal training and fitness leadership, health and wellness management etc and it also have the business modules such as accounting, business finance, business law, entrepreneurship, country club and resort manegement, human resource management etc.
it has a wider range of job scope. you can go into business, management, health industry or sports science industry. you can also go into most courses in local university except for those nursing, dentistry etc. but if you’re keen and very interested in sports science already then go for it in rp.
Hi mini,
the other job scope for sports science field can include research, coaching, personal training, sports injury, etc.
Actually you got to see what you want personally.
Sports Management will be focusing more on events management, sports marketing, sports admin, etc
Sports Science will be focusing more on doing researching, conducting tests for athletes, learning Sports Injury, Sports Biomechanics, etc.
Therefore you have to give it some good thought before deciding. (:
hi, i would ask what are other job scope for a sports science field offer? because i’m actually in a dilemna between choosing sports science and sports managment.