A PRESENTATION BY

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, SINGAPORE

Changes to the

Junior Division

National School

Games (NSG)

M o v i n g t o w a rd s m o r e d e v e l o p m e n t a l l y a p p ro p r i a te a n d a t h l e te - c e n t r i c s p o r t i n g c o m p e t i t i o n s

Outline

• Background of the National School Games (NSG) and Junior Division Review (JDR)

• Guiding Principles and Desired Outcomes

• Overview of Changes

• Conclusion

Background of the

National School Games (NSG)

and

Junior Division Review (JDR)

MOE’s PE & Sports Development Framework

Goal of the National School Games (NSG)

“To provide quality competition experiences for our school athletes to support character development through the pursuit of sporting excellence1.”

1Mission Statement of the Singapore Primary Schools Sports Council (SPSSC) & Singapore Schools Sports Council (SSSC)

• Developmentally appropriate• Challenging yet enjoyable for participants• Safe & conducive for learning• Focus on contest of sporting abilities

• Respect• Responsibility• Resilience (Ruggedness)• Integrity• Care• Harmony• Sportsmanship• Fair play• Teamwork

• Emphasises the pursuit, not the outcome• Continuous & constant drive to improve• Challenges oneself• Gives one’s best in training & competition• Wins humbly, loses graciously• Excellence mindset

• In 2015, a review of the NSG competitions for the Junior Division noted that current NSG competitions are structured similarly to the adult form with only slight variations for some sports across the primary, secondary and JCs/CI levels.

• However, as most students in the Junior Division are beginning athletes experiencing their first formal NSG competition, the current competition might not be the most appropriate form of competition for our budding athletes if we want to help them realise their full potential in sports and to lead an active lifestyle.

• MOE, together with the Singapore Primary School Sports Council, worked with the National Youth Sports Institute and the various National Sports Associations (NSAs), to revise the competitions for the Junior Division, and will be implementing them over the next few years, starting from 2018.

Background

Changes Announced at the 2018 NSG Opening Ceremony

Alignment with School Mission, Vision, Values

• Our Vision: Leaders of Character, Learners for Life

• Our Mission: To nurture people of character, healthy patriotic citizens and creative independent thinkers, equipped with 21st

century skills

• Our Values:

• Integrity our foundation

• Compassion our key

• Ardent for Singapore, our home

• Respect, Responsibility and Resilience our strengths

Guiding Principles in Designing Changes

Guiding Principles

The changes are based on the following guiding principles:

• Developmentally appropriate competition, game and event formats that cater to the physical, cognitive and affective development of young athletes

• Opportunities for balanced and all rounded development

• Exposing athletes to different skill-sets

• Balance between increasing opportunities for success and nurturing an excellence mindset

• Competition opportunities for most, if not all, members of a team

Example: Floorball

Overview of Changes

• Current format: 5v5 + goal keeper with 2 goalposts

• New format: 3v3 + no goalkeeper + 4 goalposts (2 per team)

Rationale

• Less players per team – more touches on the ball thus helping focus on the fundamental technique of handling the stick and the ball

• Having 2 goals per side – Trains the peripheral vision and helps them to improve their spatial and court awareness

• No goalkeepers

• Avoids early specialisation and exposes players to different skill-sets

• Position in which the goal keeper stays throughout the game is damaging to a young athletes’ joint development.

Overview of Changes

What are the changes?

• There will be changes to the Junior Division in the following areas:

I. Structural Changes:

I. Award & recognition structures

II. Age group divisions

III. Competition formats

II. Technical Rule Changes

I. Sport-specific game rules & play

• With these changes, competition will be different from how they are currently. However, these are differences that are desirable & will benefit our student athletes in the long run.

I. Changes to Award & Recognition Structures

Rationale

• In the NSG today, only a small number of athletes are recognised & awarded with medals based on the positions they attained (generally only the top 4 positions).

• The limited recognition makes ‘success’ seems unattainable for the vast majority of the young and beginning athletes, and could reduce their drive to do their best; some may even adopt a defeatist mindset, and even withdraw from participation.

• The purely position-based recognition makes it easy for young and beginning athletes to focus solely on comparing themselves with others rather than focusing on mastering their skills and developing their own abilities and striving for self-improvement.

I. Changes to Award & Recognition Structures

Key Changes

• Increase recognition opportunities from the current 1st to 4th position to recognising 1st to 8th positions. The number of awardees will be calibrated based on the number of participants, especially for sports and events with fewer participants.

• Introduce criterion-based recognition over and above position-based recognition where feasible, such as for swimming and tenpin bowling, where specific timing and pin-falls allow objective criteria to be set.

II. Changes to Age Group Divisions

Rationale

• Currently, students compete in age-group divisions based on their chronological age (calendar year).

• However, chronological age is only a crude indicator of sport readiness due to differences in the onset and rates of pre-pubertal growth spurt.

• Example: 2 athletes aged 10 born on the same date in the same year can vary drastically in size, physical abilities, and skills in the same sport, as they are at a different stages of development. However, given similar developmental opportunities, it is possible for both to reach similar levels of performance after they have reached a steady state of maturation.

II. Changes to Age Group Divisions

Key Changes

• Students who are 11-year-old based on the year of birth, will be allowed to compete in either the Junior OR Senior Division for non-contact sports, depending on their level of competency, as assessed by the participating school.

III. Changes to Competition Formats

Rationale

• Current competition formats are based on “single-pyramid” model where teams are eliminated along the way until the top 4 positions are determined.

• While this is common, especially in adult competitions, where the top performing athlete or team is recognised, it is less helpful for young and beginning athletes for the following reasons:

• Early exit from the competition reduces competitive play opportunities for athletes to gain experience that is important for athlete’s development.

• Athletes and teams are less likely to have opportunities to play with others of comparable abilities until the semi-finals and finals for the ‘stronger’ athletes/teams, which is not conducive for their development.

III. Changes to Competition Formats

Key Changes

• Use of tiered and group-level competition format to:

• Provide for more even distribution of competition opportunities & experience

• Facilitate athletes / teams of comparable abilities competing together.

IV. Technical Rule Changes for Sport-SpecificGame Rules & Play

• Current game & event formats are modelled on adult formats, where the physical, cognitive & socio-emotional demands are designed for adults.

• As such, they are not optimised for younger & beginning athletes who still have a long way to go in sports.

Key Changes

Details of changes to specific sports will be given in the sport specific rules & regulations & briefings on the changes held for participating schools, and could include all or some of the following areas:

• Playing format

• Equipment changes

• Substitution rules

Example – Junior Division Floorball would now be changed from a 5v5 format, to 3v3 without goalkeeper and with 2 sets of goalposts.

IV. Technical Rule Changes for Sport-SpecificGame Rules & Play

Conclusion

Conclusion

• We are changing the Junior Division because:

• The Junior Division is the first formal competition experience for most student-athletes.

• There is no one ‘perfect’ competition or game format; competitions must serve the purpose desired by the organiser.

• We want to develop our student athletes with a long-term perspective.

• We want our student-athletes competing in the Junior Division to:

• Be able to participate in a competition that is developmentally appropriate for them.

• Develop performance and moral character, focusing on sportsmanship, teamwork and the pursuit of excellence.

• Enjoy the journey towards the competition (training).

• Sustain participation in sports for the long term.

Conclusion

Through these changes, we hope that in the long term, our young student athletes are able to:

• Have more meaningful learning and competition experiences

• Develop their fundamental skills

• Cultivate the joy and passion of playing sports in school and beyond

Conclusion

• We understand that there might be alternative views arising from different beliefs and experiences as to what is a best for our athletes.

• We have done our best to mitigate some of these by looking at research done abroad and have consulted the experts in the field.

• The route we are taking involves balancing various concerns to help our students enjoy the sport and have more meaningful learning and competition experiences.

• We hope that you can partner us in implementing the changes for the long term benefit of our young athletes.

Thank you

Common Misunderstandings

Misunderstanding – School decisions and behaviours are focussed on winningcompetitions and glory for the school.

The emphasis for schools at the NSG today is on character building and long-term athlete development. Rather than focussing on winning, the emphasis ison:

• nurturing performance character values such as resilience and self-discipline,and an excellence mindset through the process of striving to win;

• building moral character through the interplay of conflicting values such asstriving to win with values of integrity, fair play and sportsmanship; and

• acquiring the fundamental game skills and tactics for future sportingexcellence.

As such, while a winning mindset is still important for students involved insports competitions, the emphasis is on the striving to win rather than theactual outcome of winning.

Misunderstanding – Youth level success is a prerequisite for later success.

Many studies in various sports (including football, swimming, track & field,volleyball and judo) that have investigated the relationship between youth andsuccess have shown that youth level success is not a prerequisite for success inadulthood. Indeed, the research indicate that successful youth athletes are lesslikely than other youth athletes to become successful athletes in adulthood.

The demonstrated performances of youth athletes are also poor indicators ofpotential and future performance as performance at the youth level areexpected to show high variation before the age of 16 years (Kearney & Hayes,2018). Furthermore, demonstrated performances in youth sports is often aresult of differences in developmental age and the relative age effect, besidesother factors such as exposure to the sport and coaching quality.

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As such, instead of focussing on achieving short term success as a youth athlete,teachers, coaches and parents should focus on providing a developmentallyappropriate sporting experiences that emphasise:• Challenging but attainable opportunities for success, rather than success

being seen as unattainable• Fundamental game skills and concepts instead of more complex game

tactics• Flow and joy of participation instead of anxiety• Reasonable challenge instead of debilitating struggle• All rounded development rather than specialised areas of development

With such an understanding, the NSG provides a platform for our studentathletes to gain positive competition experience as part of long term athletedevelopment rather than merely a platform for achieving sporting success.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will there be a public announcement of the changes to inform parents andother stakeholders?

An overview of the changes was announced by then Minister Ng Chee Meng, atthe National School Games (NSG) Opening Ceremony on 24 July 2018. Followingthe announcement, public sentiments were mostly positive with only someconcerns surfaced by parents and the general public, which stems mostly from alack of understanding of the details of the changes. More information andexhibition matches of sports with major changes will also be showcased at theNSG Opening Ceremony in 2019.

Will there be a review of the Senior Division too?

As the Junior Division Review is the first major review of the inter-schoolcompetitions, more time is needed for the changes in the Junior Division tostabilise before a major review of the Senior Division is conducted. In themeantime, annual reviews and improvements carried out by the respectiveNational School Games Organising Committees will continue to be carried outfor all NSG competitions.

Would the move towards smaller-sided games lead to lesser opportunities forparticipation?

The move towards smaller-sided games is targeted at providing for moreinvolvement from players in the game. It would not lead to lesser participationopportunities as there will be other changes such as increasing the number ofteams a school can send to offset the smaller team sizes. On the whole,participation opportunities would be the same as current provisions or more.

Would students have transition difficulties when they progress to a differentplaying format in the Senior Division?

Playing formats in the Junior Division are designed to help young beginningathletes master fundamental psychomotor skills, basic game concepts andvarious core skills in their respective sports. A strong foundation in thesefundamental and core skills would provide them with a good start for masteringmore complex sport-specific skills and game tactics in the Senior Divisionplaying formats. Such an approach would be more developmentally appropriateand students with this strong foundation can progress to developing andmastering skills and concepts relevant for the Senior Division competitions.

Are we hoping to change the junior competition scene outside of school? Willthe change lead to students being over taxed/prepared for “2 types” of game?E.g., badminton court vs tennis court training for Tennis?

The new Junior Division playing formats were developed with the NationalYouth Sports Institute (NYSI) and the various national sports associations so thatwe provide a more developmentally appropriate playing format for our youngand beginning athletes. As such, playing formats beyond the NSG would also bebased on similar principles and considerations even if there might be slightdifferences. As such, the fundamental skills acquired by the athlete would betransferable to other developmentally appropriate competitions beyond theNSG scene. Participation in competitions that might be different in form butphilosophically similar to the NSG would be aligned with concepts ofdevelopmentally appropriateness which discourages highly sport-specifictraining for young athletes.

How would coaches be prepared for these changes that would affect theircoaching practice?

For sports where the playing and event formats are very different from thepresent formats, briefings for teachers in-charge and coaches have beenconducted between August to October 2018. The new rules and regulations isalso included in the JDRI Communications and Engagement package sent to allschools. Teachers in-charge and coaches can then familiarise themselves withthese rules so as to prepare the student for the new formats. MOE is alsoworking with the NYSI, CoachSG and the various NSAs to engage the coaches todevelop their capacities for training young athletes in a developmentallyappropriate manner.

By modifying the way the sports are being played, are we changing theoriginal nature of the sports and also potentially making it harder for ourstudents to do well in the sport at a later stage?

The modifications were conceptualised in discussion with inputs from theNational Youth Sports Institute (NYSI), relevant National Sports Associations(NSAs) and SportSG. Studies were also done to look at how these sports areconducted for young athletes in other countries. As such, the modifications aretechnically sound and supported by the respective game authorities and wouldhelp our students to master the sport in a developmentally appropriate mannerthat would enhance the chances of them realising their sporting potential intime to come.

Most athletes cite the element of competitiveness as key in pushing them todo their best in a competition. By reducing the focus on this in the JuniorDivision changes, how will we ensure that our young athletes remainmotivated to pursue sporting excellence?

One of the key aims of the JDR is to discourage excessive competitiveness, sothat beginning student-athletes could focus more on the development of theirfundamental skills and play. We will therefore structure the competitions suchthat the appropriate challenge and competitive rigour is retained and that thepursuit of sporting excellence is sustained. All these elements are important forcharacter development in sports.

How will the changes to the Junior Division impact the Direct SchoolAdmissions (DSA) scheme?

The Junior Division changes is not likely to have any direct impact on the DSAScheme. However, as a result of the JDR, we hope to see student-athletes whoare better developed in their fundamental skills and students with strongerinterest in sports applying for DSA (Sports).

Recent changes to the DSA scheme also encourages schools to take in bothstudents who have demonstrated talent, and those with potential in the chosensport, in alignment with changes in the Junior Division.