Dragon boat races, pedal boat and double kayak try-outs, a splash battle zone and blackminton among activities lined up.
SINGAPORE, 7 March 2017 – Singapore Sports Hub celebrates the completion of its first season of the Sports Hub Community Play Day initiative with a water-themed day of activity on Saturday,11 March.
First launched in June 2016, the Sports Hub Community Play Day (CPD) initiative has successfully attracted close to 35,000 attendees in its three previous editions. The CPDs are an open invitation to the community to discover, rediscover and participate in sports, and adopt healthier lifestyles.
During this edition of CPD, the fourth and final one for the season, participants can look forward to numerous water-themed activities free of charge across three locations, the Water Sports Centre (WSC), Stadium Riverside Walk and OCBC Square for the first time
- At the WSC, participants will be able to try their hand at manoeuvering kayaks and pedal boats for free.
- Over at OCBC Square, there will be a carnival featuring 14 activities; 8 of which involve water, such as water yoyo and even a dunking tank. Adventurous individuals can challenge themselves and navigate through an Inflatable Obstacle Course, while music lovers can groove along to the tunes of The Bushmen, the number one Reggae band in Singapore, who will be performing live.
- Rounding up the exciting line-up of activities is a Kids Splash Zone and a flea market at the Riverside Walk. Members of the public can end the evening with a live demonstration of saber combat by The Saber Authority.
- The highlight of the ‘Dry’ activities is the introduction of Blackminton, a faster, more windstable version of crossminton/speedminton played at night with glow-in-the-dark equipment at the Beach Volleyball Court.
Making its debut at this edition of CPD is the inaugural Sports Hub-Singapore Dragon Boat Association (SDBA) Dragon Boat Century Race. Conceived as a curtain raiser for the dragon boat season in Singapore, the race – which features a unique 100m sprint with a 12-crew format – will see participants vying for crowns in the Premier Mixed, Senior Mixed, and Master Open (age) categories.
The unique race length of 100 metres is also aimed at making the sport of dragon boat more accessible, fun and perhaps even a family affair with the various age-categories enabling as many members in a family to get a taste of dragon boating.
Guest of Honour for this fourth edition of CPD, Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry), S. Iswaran, will be flagging off the Finals for the races and presenting the medals to winners.
More dragon-boating is to be had in the afternoon when the DB Hearts Challenge takes place. Involving participants from the National Cancer Society and Singapore Disabilities Sports Council, among others, this is a friendly 200m race with a 22-crew format. (Details overleaf in Appendix I)
Commenting on the initiatives, Chin Sau Ho, Senior Director for Corporate Communications and Stakeholder Management for the Singapore Sports Hub said “The Sports Hub’s Experience Sports events have been well-received. We’ve seen participation numbers almost double between 2015 and 2016, with on average 57 activities each month. There is clear demand for quality community programming, and we intend to continue offering new and unique programmes for the community at large to enjoy, and cultivate more shared sporting experiences with family and friends.”
Kicking the day’s activities off is the Health Promotion Board’s Lose to Win programme, which begins at 9:00am at OCBC Square. Registration for all activities is encouraged. Details of activities may be found below.
HPB Lose to Win Programme
Time: 9.00am to 2.00pm
Where: OCBC Square
Registration: From 10.00am
Free Water Sports Activities
Time: 3.30pm to 6.50pm
Where: Water Sports Centre
Registration: From 2.00pm at main stage area @ OCBC Square
Carnival
Time: 2.00pm to 9.00pm
Where: OCBC Square
Lifestyle Programming
Time: 2.00pm to 9.00pm
Where: Stadium Riverside Walk
For more information please visit: http://www.sportshub.com.sg/community/Pages/CommunityPlayDay.aspx
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For media enquiries, please contact:
Gregory Cheong
Weber Shandwick
T: +65 6825 8025
HP: +65 9758 7199
Email: [email protected]
Shorbani Roy
Singapore Sports Hub
T: +65 6653 9026
HP: +65 9794 2401
Email: [email protected]
APPENDIX I – ABOUT THE SPORTSHUB-SDBA CENTURY RACE & DB HEARTS CHALLENGE
The SportsHub-SDBA Dragon Boat Century 2017
Organized by Singapore Sports Hub in partnership with the Singapore Dragon Boat Association (SDBA), the racing distance of 100m (hence its name – the Dragon Boat Century), will effectively start the 2017 dragon boat racing calendar spectacularly with Singapore’s first super-sprint dragon boat event.
The Dragon Boat Century will see 60 dragon boat racing crews with more than 1,000 participants and supporters from community clubs, schools, corporations, government agencies, the expatriate community and dragon boat sports clubs, gathering at the Sports Hub Water Sport Centre.
The Dragon Boat Century will also feature the DB Hearts Challenge. This is an initiative from the Singapore dragon boat community to introduce dragon boat racing to special needs groups. In the Challenge, there will be able bodied participants sharing the dragon boat and sitting side by side with special needs participants.
The special needs participating teams includes participants as diverse as cancer survivors from the Breast Cancer Foundation and Singapore Cancer Society. Those with physical disabilities or limitations from the Deaf Association and the Singapore Disabilities & Sports Council. As well as those with intellectual and developmental needs from the Special Olympics organization and Rainbow Centre. And a group of healthy Active Agers from the Punggol Coast SDSC.
The other highlight of the Dragon Boat Century will be the Singapore National Dragon Boat Team’s new dragon boats’ Eye Dotting & Blessing Ceremony. This is a colourful cultural and traditional ceremony to celebrate the awakening of the dragon’s spirit in a brand new dragon boat as it takes to the water and receive its racing crew for the first time.
DB Hearts Challenge
The Same Kind of Dragon Boat Race, for Atypical Group of Participants
Project Founder: Tan Eng Hee
Project Chairperson: Desmond Koh
Documentation by Gordon Ng and Lim Ying Hao
Email: [email protected]
DB Hearts and DB Hearts Challenge
DB Hearts is a non-profit entity that was founded by Mr. Tan Eng Hee in 2016. Mr. Tan believes that everyone should be give equal opportunities to participate in this kind of races, not just limited to ablebodied dragon boat athletes.
Anyone who has the passion for dragon boat should be given the opportunity to experience a dragon boat race, with no biasness that allows different groups and profiles of dragon boat enthusiasts, an all-inclusive event for participants with unique profile to have a fair chance in experiencing a standard dragon boat race, eventually to be the top teams amongst the finalists.
Organisations interested:
- Breast Cancer Foundation
- Singapore Cancer Society: Cancer Support Society
- Deaf Association
- Singapore Disabilities and Sports Council
- Special Olympics organization
- Rainbow School
- Active Agers from Punggol Coast SDSC
|
Organisation |
Background information |
|
Breast Cancer Foundation |
To be the catalyst of change for society’s perception of breast cancer by educating young and old, irrespective of gender, ethnicity and social background. |
|
Silent Dragon |
Silent Dragon is a recreational dragonboat team set up by a group of deaf and hearing in February to promote friendship and understanding between the 2 communities. The team focuses on the learning journey and friendship forged during their weekly training session. |
|
Singapore Cancer Society: Cancer Support Services |
Singapore Cancer Society is a community-based voluntary welfare organisation dedicated to maximising life by minimising the impact of cancer through research and advocacy, public education, screening, financial assistance, patient services and support, and rehabilitation. |
|
Singapore Disabilities and Sports Council |
The Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC) is the national sports body for the disabled in Singapore. It is a voluntary organisation registered with the Commissioner of Charities. |
|
Rainbow Centre |
Rainbow Centre Singapore is a not-for-profit Organisation that serves children and young people with a diverse range of moderate to severe developmental needs, including autism, physical, visual and/or hearing disabilities; many have multiple disabilities. |
|
Special Olympics |
Non profit organization dedicated to providing year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community. www.SpecialOlympics.org.sg |
|
Punggol Coast/Kraken Active Agers |
|
Appendix II – Singapore Sports Hub Community Participation info 2016
|
S/N |
Item |
2016 (Jan – Dec) |
|
1 |
Experience Sports programme incl. CPD (participation) |
~ 92,000 |
|
2 |
Community Play Day |
~ 35, 000 |
|
3 |
Community Sport Activities (including CPD & others) |
684 |
|
4 |
Average monthly participation (excl. CPD participation) |
~ 5,000 |
ABOUT SINGAPORE SPORTS HUB
The Singapore Sports Hub is Singapore's premier sports, entertainment and lifestyle hub with integrated community programming.
Consisting of a unique cluster development of integrated world-class sports facilities within the city, it plays a critical role in accelerating the development of sports industry, excellence and participation, and will take sports to the next level in Singapore.
Located on a 35-hectare site in Kallang, the Singapore Sports Hub will include the following facilities:
- A new 55,000-capacity National Stadium with a retractable roof and movable tiered seating
- 100PLUS Promenade that encircles the National Stadium
- A 6,000-capacity OCBC Aquatic Centre that meets FINA standards
- A 3,000-capacity OCBC Arena which is scalable and flexible in layout
- Water Sports Centre featuring kayaking and canoeing
- 41,000 sq m Kallang Wave Mall
- The iconic Singapore Indoor Stadium
- Shimano Cycling World
- Singapore Youth Olympic Museum & Singapore Sports Museum
- Sports Hub Library
- Daily community facilities and activities open for Singaporeans, including beach volleyball, hard courts for futsal, basketball and netball, lawn bowls, giant chess, skate park, climbing wall and running & cycling paths
The Singapore Sports Hub, which is managed by SportsHub Pte Ltd, is one of the largest sporting Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects in the world. It is also Singapore's largest flagship PPP project of this nature, and has won the PFI award in London in 2011, World Architecture Festival Awards for Best Future Project in the leisure-led development category in 2013 and Sports Building of the Year in 2014.
For more information, please visit the Singapore Sports Hub
- Website: www.sportshub.com.sg
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- Twitter: @sgsportshub
- Instagram: sgsportshub
