SINGAPORE: Starting March, students and their families can pick up outdoor skills such as orienteering, hiking and kayaking at the ActiveSG Outdoor Adventure Club.
Launched on Saturday (Jan 14), the club is the first non-traditional sports club or academy by ActiveSG, the national movement for sport and physical activity, which launched four academies and clubs last year for football, athletics, basketball and tennis.
“The other four clubs were very sport-specific, focused. This one enables us to actually offer a wider variety for people who are not particularly interested in just playing football or just playing tennis,” said Mr Lim Teck Yin, CEO of Sport Singapore, ActiveSG’s parent organisation.
“(At) the Outdoor Adventure Club, you can engage in cycling … then on another week go out for a kayaking expedition. It’s not a specialist programme.”
Participants hiking through the Rail Corridor at the launch of the ActiveSG Outdoor Adventure Club on Jan 14, 2017. (Photo: Loke Kok Fai)
Unlike the existing four clubs, the Outdoor Adventure Club does not predominantly target children. It also offers activities for youths, adults and seniors.
“As we begin to look at programming for all Singaporeans, we recognise that going outdoors, away from your traditional sports facilities is a way to go. We can cater to a wide range of interests, and a wide range of age groups as we begin to develop outdoor activities,” Mr Lim said.
More than 800 participants comprising families and students from 15 schools took part in Saturday’s launch event held along a 6.3-km stretch along the Rail Corridor from the old Bukit Timah Railway Station to Ten Mile Junction in Bukit Panjang. There they went through an adventure course where they learnt outdoor skills such as orienteering and fire building, while completing activity stations and obstacles by working together as a team.
A student learns how to start fires in a mess tin in one of the Outdoor Adventure Club’s activities. (Photo: Loke Kok Fai)
The activities offered by the club are in line with the Government’s National Outdoor Adventure Education Masterplan to develop confident, rugged and resilient youths, the event’s organisers said.
ActiveSG will also partner the Outward Bound School to tap their expertise in running some of the programmes.
“ActiveSG hopes to be able to not just work with youth groups and schools, we also hope to work with corporates in Singapore for their staff to enjoy outdoor activities and sport,” said Mr Lim. “We also want to work with senior groups, community groups – anyone. And the Outdoor Adventure Club in ActiveSG is going to encompass all manner of outdoor activity.”
Mr Lim added that with the opening of the club, he hopes ActiveSG’s membership will grow from 1.2 million to more than 1.3 million.
