Singapore Table Tennis Association programme for athletes to pursue tertiary education in Republic Poly

By Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports

Singapore Table Tennis Association, Thursday, March 17, 2011 — The Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA), Republic Polytechnic (RP) and Singapore Sports School (SSP) are pooling efforts to create a specially-tailored programme that will meet the educational and training needs of paddlers Pang Xue Jie and Isabelle Li. This programme will meet the demands of the professional sport and allow the athletes to concurrently pursue the Diploma in Sports and Leisure Management.

The programme allows Xue Jie and Isabelle to train with the National Team at the STTA training grounds under the guidance of coach Zhou Shusen and Jing Jun Hong in the morning (9am-12pm), before pursuing their studies back at SSP in the afternoon (1pm-3pm) and at night (7.30pm-9.30pm).

Academic staff from RP will conduct lessons at SSP, with private make-up lessons available when the athletes return from overseas tournaments. The specially created schedule for the athletes will allow them to further their table tennis careers without it being at the expense of their studies. The STTA will also pick up the tab for all the costs involved in extra tutoring and make-up lessons for the athletes.

Currently, a series of world class competitions have been lined up for both athletes, with the World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands in May being first on the list, followed by the SEA Junior Championships and Asian Junior Championships in June. They will then participate in a series of competitions before culminating in the November SEA Games. Isabelle will subsequently participate in the World Junior Table Tennis Championships in Manama, Bahrain, while Xue Jie will head for overseas training.

President of STTA and Member of Parliament for Ang Mo Kio Er Lee Bee Wah said: “STTA believes in the holistic development of our local sporting talents in table tennis and we are committed to providing the best opportunities for our athletes. STTA, RP and SSP have put in special efforts to develop this programme as we understand how critical it is to provide our youth paddlers the support and resources they need to compete and succeed in table tennis and in life.”

She added: “We want to show that there is also a way to get a degree [despite focusing on table tennis]. Parents would probably want them to go for an academic paper at the expense of table tennis. But we want to prove them otherwise. We want to allow our athletes to pursue their dream of becoming world class table tennis players and we want them to be able to play table tennis full time.”

The STTA had earlier signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nanyang Technological University and the Beijing Sports University. The paddlers can progress to either university after they attain their RP diploma.

This idea was first mooted after the Youth Olympic Games. There were four athletes under the STTA Endowment Fund, namely Zena Sim, Clarence Chew, Xue Jie and Isabelle. With Zena already enrolled in the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and Clarence still studying at SSP, Xue Jie and Isabelle were shortlisted for this programme.

Principal of Republic Polytechnic, Mr Yeo Li Pheow, also elaborated on how the diploma which Xue Jie and Isabelle are pursuing will be of no difference in standards from others in their cohort.

“As RP is only a stone’s throw away from SSP, should there be a need for the athletes to attend lab sessions, it can be arranged for these sessions to be held in RP. There will only be a separate exam schedule for the players only if there is a need, otherwise, they will join the main cohort.

“The duration of the programme will be between 3-5 years, which will include 24 modules, an Industry Immersion Programme and Creative Engagement. The only key difference is that Xue Jie and Isabelle’s timetable is specifically tailor-made to meet their schedule. This programme will also be made available to outstanding athletes who are able to enrol in RP based on academic merit.

“Currently, only students from SSP are able to bypass the GCE O-Level examinations into RP under the RP-SSP Diploma in Sports and Leisure Management,” said Mr Yeo.

In the long run, the STTA will evaluate the programme and open it up to additional athletes if it proves successful. Er Lee shared: “We hope that they will eventually win medals for Singapore, then we will all be very proud.”