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National School Games Open in Sporting Style

Wednesday, 17 February 2010 14:00

National School Games Open in Sporting Style

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

by www.schoolbag.sg

 

A high-energy taekwondo display and a hard-fought softball match were the highlights of the National School Games opening ceremony on 1 February 2010 at Raffles Institution. For the first time in the 51-year history of the Schools National Championships, an opening ceremony was held to mark the occasion as well as the change of name to National School Games.

Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Education, was the guest of honour and threw the opening pitch for the opening match of softball between Raffles Institution and Hwa Chong Institution. In her speech, she announced the setting up of Youth Sports Academies to provide centralised training for athletes who are in secondary school, junior college or the centralised institute. The first three academies to be set up in March 2010 are in badminton (Bedok View Secondary School), wushu (Meridian Junior College) and table tennis (MOE CCA branch).

This photo essay brings you the highlights of the National School Games opening ceremony.

National School Games official opening ceremony

The National School Games opening ceremony started with a special display by students from the Singapore Taekwondo Federation. This year marks the first time that taekwondo is a sport recognised in the National School Games.

 
National School Games official opening ceremony

Taekwondo athletes demonstrated their grace and prowess as they broke wooden blocks and executed stunning cartwheels and other movements. The display group comprised students from Pri 4 up to those who are in ITE or polytechnics.

 

National School Games official opening ceremony

These taekwondo athletes train twice a week with Mr Tan Cheng Hui, chairman of the demonstration team for the Singapore Taekwondo Federation. As they come from different schools, sometimes their training takes place at night, with the older students guiding the younger ones.

 
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Some of the more experienced taekwondo athletes in the display team have represented Singapore at the World Taekwondo Festival in Korea, where they were placed third overall in the demonstration team event.

National School Games official opening ceremony
With a flourish, Senior Minister of State Grace Fu (in orange shirt) and other distinguished guests "lit" the National School Games torch on the website of the Singapore Schools Sports Council. It will "burn" on the homepage for 211 days, until the end of the Games on 17 September 2010.

 

Taekwondo is Finally in

Wednesday, 17 February 2010 13:45

The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Jan 29, 2010

SCHOOL SPORT MATTERS

Taekwondo is finally in

Martial art is on school sports calendar after over 20 years of trying

By Frankie Chee

28 jan10

Springfield Secondary student Joyce Lee, 14, training hard for the inaugural Schools National Taekwondo Championships which will be
held in April. Springfield is one of 35 secondary schools offering the sport as a CCA. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

 


MEET the newest member on the Ministry of Education's (MOE) school sports calendar this year: Taekwondo.
After more than 20 years of trying, the Singapore Taekwondo Federation (STF) has finally managed to convince the MOE to
accept the sport as a core event.

Taekwondo will now be the third martial arts sport, after judo and wushu, to be listed on the school sports calendar.
This means school kids can now kick and punch their way to victory in the inaugural national primary and secondary school
tournaments which will begin at the tail-end of April and on May 21.

And by representing their school, they now stand a chance to win zonal or national school colours awards.
'The time spent by the students on the sport will now be recognised,' said STF's general manager Lim Teong Chin.

   

MOE to launch a new sports excellence plan in April

Wednesday, 17 February 2010 00:11

The Straits Times
Feb 2, 2010

MOE_new_sports_academies
Members of the Singapore Taekwondo Federation giving a demonstration of the martial art at the inaugural opening ceremony of the National School Games yesterday. Taekwondo will be making its debut in this year's National School sports calendar. -- ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN

 

MOE to launch a new sports excellence plan in April

By Gerard Wong

THE Ministry of Education (MOE) will cast its net wider to reach out to promising student athletes and help them realise their sporting potential.

Starting in April, it will set up new centralised training centres called Youth Sports Academies (YSA) for selected sports to provide a high level of training for secondary, junior college and Millennia Institute students.

For a start, there will be three such centres at Bedok South Secondary, Meridian Junior College and the ministry's Co-curricular Activities Branch (CCAB) in Evans Road. Each centre can take in about 90 to 100 students.

They will offer training in badminton, wushu and table tennis respectively.

Currently, the Singapore Sports School, set up by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports in 2004, is the only secondary school specialising in the development of talented student athletes.

The Woodlands-based boarding school takes in up to 150 students each year. Students are given not only high-level training and sports-science support but also a flexible academic system that helps them to balance their sport training with their studies.

JUNIOR SPORTS ACADEMIES

What they are: Centralised sports training centres for talented primary school athletes. They were started by the Ministry of Education in 2008. There are 12 JSAs housed in selected schools and national sports association training halls.

Who are they for: Selected Primary Five students who have outstanding sports results or Napfa physical fitness scores.

What is the training like: Between two and four times a week, after normal school hours or on weekends.

What are the sports offered: Badminton, fencing, football, netball, shooting, swimming, table tennis, track and field and wushu.

YOUTH SPORTS ACADEMIES

What they are: Centralised sports training centres for talented student athletes from secondary schools, junior colleges and the Millennia Institute. Three YSAs - Bedok South Secondary, Meridian Junior College and the Co-Curricular Activities Branch - will be launched in April.

Who they are for: Talented students whose chosen sport is not offered by the Sports School or who may prefer to go to a school in the regular system that does not offer their sport as a niche area.

What is the training like: Like the JSA programmes, the YSA programmes will be conducted after school hours.

What are the sports offered: Badminton, wushu and table tennis for now.


   

Taekwondo Is An Effective Educational Tool for Children Worldwide, WTF President Says

Wednesday, 13 May 2009 08:48

Taekwondo is an effective educational tool for young people around the world and now is the time for taekwondo to serve the world, says president of the world's taekwondo governing body.

As part of efforts to promote global peace, the president says that he hopes the WTF-initiated Taekwondo Peace Corps program to be expanded into a new entity of the so-called Sport Peace Corps, in cooperation with the United Nations and the International Olympic Committee.

The Value of Korean Traditional Sport in Youth Education

Under the topic "," WTF President Chungwon Choue (at the podium) speaks during the Parallel G session on the third day of the 6th World Forum on Sport, Education and Culture at the BEXCO in Busan, Korea on Sept. 27, 2008. At the session, President Choue made a presentation on the WTF Taekwondo Peace Corps program.

Read more: Taekwondo Is An Effective Educational Tool for Children Worldwide, WTF President Says

   

Taekwondo Day Observed with Various Events at Olympic Park in Seoul

Friday, 05 September 2008 08:00

The 2008 Taekwondo Day was observed in a ceremony at the Olympic Park in Seoul, Korea on Sept. 4, 2008, drawing about 7,000 people from at home and abroad.

Under the theme “One World Through Taekwondo,” the 2008 Taekwondo Day, the third of its kind, was jointly organized by the World Taekwondo Federation, the Kukkiwon, the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation and the Korean Taekwondo Association, along with the Korean Government

To mark the day when the IOC voted to include taekwondo in the official program of the Olympic Games, the WTF designated Sept. 4 as Taekwondo Day at its General Assembly in July 2006 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

 

Read more: Taekwondo Day Observed with Various Events at Olympic Park in Seoul

   

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