Junior Sports Academy, Sports Buffet

Yee at his weekly Flippa Ball session.

 

Junior Sports Academy (JSA) is managed by MOE , and the target audience are kids who show an interest in sports, or exhibit better sports coordination.

What is JSA?

Think of JSA as Sports Buffet πŸ™‚

As long as your kids love sports, does not matter any disciplines, be it Run, Swim, Taekwondo, Gymnastics, Fencing or even Table tennis. There are up to 19 sports on the menu!

JSA sports selection
JSA sports selection

There are selection trials every year and those who show more potential (and passion) in sports got a higher chance to be selected.

If you child is in P4 or P5 and love sports, give it a try. No3 Boon Yee is a perfect candidate as he loves the great outdoors and adventures πŸ™‚

JSA curriculum and objectives

To quote from MOE website :
”Β Budding sporting talents will be identified and developed with a broad-based physical sports programme, to strengthen their overall physical competencies and motivation in sports at the primary school level.

These students will explore and discover their strength and passion in a range of sports at the primary school level, and subsequently make an informed choice to commit to one of them with more targeted support from schools and relevant sports organisations at the secondary school level and beyond.

Interestingly, a child should NOTΒ pick a sport which he is comfortable with. Example no soccer or swimming if he is already in school team or attending weekly swim classes.

The idea is to pick a “new” sport and let the coach and instructors develop your potential, you have to pickup from basics again πŸ™‚

If the child excel in his sports and wish to pursue it further, there are Sports School and other tracks to consider.

Our thoughts?

I always believe that Sports can help to mold a child’s character.

Sports is a good platform to build up his or her resilience, discipline, independence and sportsmanship.

I have never been active in sports but am now running more to inspire the little ones to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Checkout out our family sports here, Running, Hiking and Cycling.

The Mrs was a little bit hesitant about Junior Sports Academy programme initially, as selected candidates will need to commit to 4 x 12 weeks of training, one session per week.

Junior Sports Academy
Junior Sports Academy

We were worried that this might load the child with additional activities, but seeing how Yee enjoys his flippa-ball sessions, we are glad we signed him up for JSA πŸ™‚

I wished I had as much opportunities (Sports buffet) from Junior Sports Academy in my youth!

Boon Yee’s Primary (and backup) sports selection for the first 48 weeks. If selected, he will immerse in that sports module for 12 weeks “internship”.

Who know, we might be seeing a budding Schooling or WaterPolo national member in our home one day :p

=== ===
-Fencing or shooting
-Badminton or Table Tennis
-FlippaBall or Basketball
-Taekwondo or Track & Field
=== ===

Besides popular Soccer, Volleyball and Basketball, there are less visible options like Sailing and Bowling too.

Best of all, kids and parents do not need to invest in any sports attire or kits (no need to buy rackets or soccer shoes), all will be on loan from JSA programme. JSA only need parents’ commitment to bring the kids to their class on time.

 

The coaches are hired by JSA programme to teach the kids.

JSA Flippa Ball

There are many ways to excel and thrive in today’s society. And sports is still an underrated sector with much potential.

The challenge would be how many parents are willing to let their child take up a sports career? Β We will support our kids if their true compass is in sports. As long as they are enjoying their life and are happy, we shall be happy πŸ™‚

Read more about our JSA adventures :

-JSA Flippa Ball
-JSA Badminton
-JSA Taekwondo

* Do read our friends’ review (Life’s Tiny Miracles), there are also super keen on JSA πŸ™‚

Mizuno Ekiden Dads

Mizuno Ekiden D-Day,Β all 12 of us met earlier for group photos before we started racing running. This is the first time so many Dads from #DaddyMatters are participating in a single event.

We had some Durian and Prata sessions before, but 12 for sports is a new milestone πŸ™‚

Image credit Daddy Matters

 

Call for action was activated a few months ago, and 12 Dads responded. Amazingly, not all are runners, but we all wanted to do something for Daddy Matters :pΒ 

13 members from Daddy Matters, if you include Isaiah. He is our “honorary” runner, but had to skip Mizuno Ekiden due to an incident.

Eric,D,Lucian,Winston,M,Isaiah,Andy,Vincent,Nick,Seng Kiong,Wai Keong,Randy and Patrick

Personally, I want to keep fit for self and family. I always believe that sports is a great avenue for parents to bond with kids (even PM is talking about keeping fit diabetes-prevention at National Day rally!)

However, we parents always find it tough to squeeze out extra time for sports due to family and work commitments. Hope more parents will keep on striving for a Healthy Lifestyle.Β 

 

 

Mizuno Ekiden is a relay race, 4 runners form a team to complete 21km or 42km. So we have to handover a sash to the next runner.

Some of us are meeting for the first time, we better know the runners before and after ourselves haha :p

The before after photos for our three teams. Man, we are super high spirited! Besides running our own goals, we hope to do some collective activities for Daddy Matters too.

We hope to promote active Parenting, Dads supporting one another.

Β 

Mizuno Ekiden Race village at The Promontory. Beers are served after the race, but I did not ask whether we can drink before running (hic) ?

 

Race is quite well organised, and many participants ended their race with smiles. Good food and beer awaits.

I only have one small complain, there was no water point for those waiting for their race (only isotonic drinks available). I am the 4th runner, so I needed to wait over 90 minutes before my turn.

 

Dads having fun, showing off our Dad bods. We did say we all come from different background yeah πŸ™‚

On a serious note, Run Safe and take care of each other!

Mizuno Ekiden Dads

With a rally of Taiko drums, the first runners dashed off. Daddy Matters group tried to run together (Vincent and Winston in picture below).

 

Teams eagerly waiting to tag and take over the next race. “Team Chio Bu” spotted on the electronic Panel!

 

Nick dashing in to pass over the sweaty Sash to Patrick πŸ™‚

Well done Dads! All were sweaty and the earlier runners had a harsher Sun! My team completed in 2.16 Hour, not bad πŸ™‚

Our jigsaw-like finisher medals, our sweat and determination πŸ™‚

Earlier, four of us Dads were featured on behalf of Daddy Matters, from LR Winston, me, Nick and Lucian. Read the article here.

Dads are not the only one at Mizuno Ekiden 2017, check out some blogger Mums at Instagram hashtag #Racymamas too. Kudos to all πŸ™‚

We would like to thanks Mizuno Ekiden for the running invite, do follow them on their Website and Facebook. More Mizuno Ekiden photos will be available on RunningShots albums.

Follow the Fun Dads on our Facebook Page. https://www.facebook.com/DaddyMatters

Daddy bloggers Daddy Matters

 

ps.. (photos above credit Daddy Matters or SengkangBabies)

do follow me on this #skbRunning or blog link for Sengkangbabies running events. I will be attempting 42km at SCMS