More organisations are offering recreational paddling as part of their line-up of activities, including the People’s Association’s PAssion Wave community water sports centres and other ocean clubs in East Coast and Sentosa.
The fraternity hopes to ride that wave to spur more people to take up the sport by building more facilities to make it easier for both recreational paddlers and aspiring professional sportsmen to hop onboard.
“We would like to build more clubs in all the bodies of water in Singapore … and generate that (base of paddlers) into high performance and elite athletes who hopefully get us medals at major games,” said Yap.
NURTURING FUTURE TALENT
The federation is working closely with ActiveSG under a joint Canoe Academy to foster the next generation of paddlers.
It runs programmes across Singapore for those aged between nine and 14 years old at MacRitchie Reservoir, Marina Reservoir, Jurong Lake Gardens and Bedok Reservoir.
With easier access to coaching programmes, professional paddlers now also have more opportunities to contribute to the future of the sport by nurturing the pipeline of up-and-coming athletes.
“Coaching certs are more accessible now – this allows more of us to take up leadership roles instead of just being athletes. We start from those as young as nine years old. These kids can dream big at a very young age,” said Koh, who is an assistant coach under the academy at the Singapore Sports Hub’s Water Sports Centre.
The hope is for more athletes to rise with the tide, such as 22-year-old Georgia Ng, who specialises in kayak sprint events.
“I want to see where I am in terms of my own personal growth and also at the Asian level,” she said. She is setting her sights on next year’s SEA Games in Thailand.
Already, national canoe and kayak coach Bill Lee is looking ahead at upcoming international competitions, including the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.
“We will continue to build on performance. First, we try to be the best in Asia, which would lead us to the Asian Games – (we want) to get more boats qualified and get more boats on the podium,” he said.
