PA's 8 Water-Venture outlets are helping to boost participation rate
Daryl Chin Straits Times 25 Apr 11;
ON MOST weekends in the last four years, Lim Teck Koon, 17, has taken a two-hour ride by train and bus from his home in Jurong to a water sports club at Changi Beach.
He spends the next six hours on the water, polishing his kayaking skills. The reason he makes the long journey is that Changi's Water-Venture outlet is one of two clubs where he can sharpen his capsize drills; the other is in Sembawang.
The Institute of Technical Education student hopes to become a kayak instructor when he hits 18, 'so I can share my passion for water sports and get to know more people too'.
He is almost there. Last December, he earned his three-star kayaking certificate, which allows him to paddle a one-man kayak on most water bodies, in the company of another kayaker.
The teenager is riding the crest of a wave of new enthusiasm among ordinary folk for water sports, which used to be too expensive for the man in the street.
The promotion of water sports by the People's Association (PA) through its network of Water-Venture outlets has a lot to do with this.
It now runs eight outlets in Changi, Pasir Ris, Sembawang, East Coast, Kallang, Bedok Reservoir, Jurong Lake and Lower Seletar Reservoir, and plans to reach out to one in five residents by 2015 through such community sports.
It offers reasonably priced courses and equipment rental for activities such as dragon-boating, abseiling, kayaking, sailing and windsurfing. A kayak costs $15 to rent for two hours, and a windsurfing board, $35 for the same time period, with members paying half that rate.
With the facilities in place, the people have responded by showing up: In 2008, 5,933 people used the facilities; by last year, the figure had grown nearly sevenfold to 40,989. Eight in 10 of these participants were under 35.
Dragon-boating attracted the most participants - 46 per cent - last year, followed by kayaking at 35 per cent.
Ms Zoe Lek, 32, who has been kayaking for 14 years, credits the increased number of facilities for the new interest in water sports, and estimates that the number of kayakers has gone up by three times in the last 10 years.
Said the IT project manager: 'In the past, I had to look through a phone directory to find a kayak club. Now, it's more accessible to the community and people can head to the one nearest them.'
Veteran windsurfing trainer Cyrus Medora, 60, said affordability has also helped popularise the sport. 'When windsurfing took off here in 1979 or so, it was a trendy sport for yuppies and cost hundreds of dollars for equipment, which was a lot in those days.'
Prices at places like Water-Venture club in East Coast are now about a third of what they used to be.
A PA spokesman said that, in particular, constituencies near waterways have taken a shine to water sports.
A partnership between the PA and Kolam Ayer's grassroots groups led to the set-up of a water activity centre last year. Nearly 200 residents there have since had kayak orientation exercises.
The PA said more such tie-ups with grassroots groups are in the works.
The growing popularity of water sports has piqued the interest of other athletes, who may otherwise not get their feet wet.
Avid runner Chris Tay, 18, a student, said: 'My knees have been giving me problems recently, so I may give water sports a shot. The last time I tried windsurfing though, my contact lenses were washed away!'
