Dr Lee (back row, in striped shirt) accompanied the MOE-YSA wushu team to the 8th Zhengzhou International Shaolin Wushu Festival in October 2010.

Dr Lee has been instrumental in shaping the school sporting scene since he assumed the position of Head of Talent Development (Sports) at MOE's Education Programmes Division in November 2005. At that time, MOE felt that Singapore's maturing education environment made it timely to explore new ways to develop students in non-academic spheres. The concept of JSAs was mooted and eventually launched in 2008, followed by the first three YSAs for secondary and pre-university students in 2010.

"The JSA and YSA schemes are the cornerstones of our sports talent development programme," explains Dr Lee. Currently, there are 21 JSAs providing budding primary school athletes with high-quality programmes in selected sporting areas, namely swimming, wushu, table tennis, track and field, badminton, fencing, soccer, artistic gymnastics, shooting and bowling.

This July MOE set up three YSAs, one each for wushu, badminton and table tennis. "Our vision is to establish JSA and YSA training centres in every zone - north, south, east and west - of Singapore," says Dr Lee, who is also a Senior Specialist at MOE's Co-Curricular Activities Branch. "This would boost accessibility and safety for our athletes." He adds that increasing the visibility of high-level training in different neighbourhoods may encourage aspiring young athletes to step forward for selection.

MOE has 21 Junior Sports Academies, covering a wide range of sports, including bowling.

Working with stakeholders in sports

Together, the sports academies and Singapore schools' sports teams nurture a pool of young athletes that supports the nation's sports talent development programmes. The sports academies also enjoy the backing of partners such as the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, the Singapore Sports Council, the Singapore Youth Sports Development Committee and the various National Sports Associations (NSAs).

Right in the midst of this is Dr Lee, whose work keeps him in constant contact with all the above organisations and spans a range of responsibilities. On the frontline, he scours the NSAs to tap on their technical expertise and seek out coaches who could help develop the skills of students in the JSAs and YSAs. Good coaches are nominated by the NSAs, while promising young sportsmen are identified in consultation with their schools and the NSAs. Dr Lee can also be found at training sessions where he oversees the development of his young charges, whom he and his Talent Development Team accompanies during overseas trips at times.

It's been just five years in the making, but Dr Lee is confident that the formal talent development programme he helped to spearhead at MOE will achieve its goal of securing a stronger foundation for Singapore sports. "In time to come, we want all our national sportsmen and women to emerge from the JSA and YSA schemes," he says.

At Junior Sports Academies, promising young athletes are trained by good coaches nominated by national sports associations.

Keeping communication lines open

Behind the scenes is much writing of proposals, recommendations and concept papers to pave the way for future initiatives. "I spend a lot of my time working on plans, policies and frameworks regarding talent development," shares Dr Lee. "I also prepare replies to queries from various stakeholders and the media, and get a lot of calls from parents." Be it parents seeking advice on JSA qualification criteria or information about training and competition schedules, he believes in keeping communication lines open so that parents are updated on their children's sporting activities.

Dr Lee recalls that in the past, parents often worried that intensive training regimes would affect their children's academic performance. Not so today. "Younger parents are more receptive to the positive impact that sports brings," he reveals. "Parents of students in the JSAs have told us that their children have become more disciplined, organised and independent after training with us." Some parents, he observes, even encourage and support their children's sporting activities by engaging private coaches, investing in quality sports equipment and ensuring that their children get to training on time, eat right and rest well.

The athletes, too, have benefited from the fresh opportunities to beef up their skills and competitive acumen. "They definitely relish the opportunity to benchmark themselves against the best when they compete overseas though their JSAs," says Dr Lee, who is pleased to see a growing camaraderie and esprit de corps among the youth sports community. "During inter-school competitions, when they meet their JSA training buddies, there isn't the usual animosity," he shares. "Instead, they display true sportsmanship and applaud the winners wholeheartedly, even if it means they have lost the competition."