SINGAPORE – In a move that augments Kallang as the home of Singapore athletes, the Singapore Sports School (SSP) will move there from its current location in Woodlands, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong revealed in his maiden National Day Rally speech on Aug 18.

The relocation was part of several sporting plans that PM Wong shared in his speech as the Government looks to strengthen the Republic’s sports culture and high performance outcomes.

The move will be part of the Kallang Alive masterplan. Details of the timeline will be announced in due course.

The new SSP will be housed alongside new sports science and sports medicine facilities and national training centres for several key sports, making it the new home of Team Singapore, declared PM Wong, adding that this will allow student-athletes to “study and train, together with the senior athletes”.

These plans stem from the Government’s objective to do more to strengthen the sporting culture in Singapore and to support all Singaporeans in realising their sporting dreams, said PM Wong.

The SSP, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in April, was built at a cost of $75 million. It offers both secondary and post-secondary academic programmes for student-athletes aged 13 to 18.

Its 7ha campus in Woodlands Drive houses facilities such as two Olympic-size swimming pools, a 700-seat indoor multi-sports auditorium, a badminton training centre with 12 courts, and a table-tennis centre with up to 16 tables.

Its successful alumni include Olympians such as Asian Games gold medal-winning sprinter Shanti Pereira, fencer Amita Berthier and former swimmer Tao Li.

The new SSP is expected to be sited on the plot of land currently occupied by the Kallang Netball Centre and Kallang Squash Centre.

Netball Singapore, which recently received a lease extension on its Kallang facility till 2026, will be moving to its new home in the Toa Payoh Integrated Development, which is scheduled for completion by 2030.

National table-tennis player Ser Lin Qian is among those who are excited by plans to bring the sports community, including SSP, together in a single location.

Ser, who is currently in a joint diploma in business studies programme offered by Ngee Ann Polytechnic and SSP, said: “The overall experience of student-athletes will be better with new facilities, more opportunities, convenient access to a wider range of resources and support, and integration with the wider sporting family.”

The 35ha Sports Hub, which opened in 2014, includes the 55,000-capacity National Stadium, the Indoor Stadium, the OCBC Arena and the OCBC Aquatic Centre, with the Kallang Football Hub and Kallang Tennis Hub recently added to its vicinity.

While the Sports Hub has made our sports scene more vibrant, with the Government taking over its management in 2022, “we have the ability to unlock its full potential, and make the whole Kallang area more alive”, said PM Wong.

Plans for a new indoor arena were revealed in March, with PM Wong adding that it will have a capacity of 18,000, higher than the Indoor Stadium’s capacity of 12,000.

National badminton player Yeo Jia Min is looking forward to the new arena, saying: “Every year, the Singapore Badminton Open takes place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium; the atmosphere has been amazing, and it’s great to hear local fans cheering in the stands.

“With the new indoor arena, I’m sure there will be opportunities for bigger sporting events or games to take place for athletes and spectators, so I’m looking forward to it.”

But Kallang will not just be the home of Singapore’s athletes.

PM Wong added that it will also be a place for all Singaporeans to enjoy sports.

He said: “You don’t need to be an elite athlete to enjoy the facilities at Kallang. You may be a weekend player, or a beginner or someone trying to pick up a new sport. Whatever your level, so long as you have an interest in sports, there will be something for you here.”

To facilitate this, the main road that runs through the Sports Hub will be converted into a pedestrianised community boulevard where sporting programmes will be held.

During his speech at ITE College Central in Ang Mo Kio, PM Wong also acknowledged that more young Singaporeans with talent in sports are taking it seriously, and excelling at the highest levels, as he congratulated Team Singapore’s Olympians who recently concluded their campaigns in Paris.

Among those mentioned were Maximilian Maeder, who was in attendance. The 17-year-old clinched a historic men’s kite bronze at Paris 2024 on National Day for Singapore’s first Olympic medal since former swimmer Joseph Schooling’s historic gold at Rio de Janeiro 2016.

Praising the likes of Maximilian, Pereira, badminton players Loh Kean Yew and Yeo, and para shooter Daniel Chan as examples of sporting excellence, PM Wong said: “Mindsets are changing. In the past, parents were not so sure about their children pursuing sports as a career. Now we see more successful role models.”

Watch PM Wong’s National Day Rally speech here: