sports clubs/programs

[lagimoana]

We are moving to Singapore with two boys, aged 8 and 11.

Both are sporty here in Australia - they enjoy cricket, tennis, basketball, swimming and soccer.

Can anyone give me any advice on the following?

- swimming squad programs in 50m pools
- tennis clubs with coaching programs
- basketball competitions and clubs
- soccer competitions and clubs
- cricket clubs

My initial searches have led me to the Singapore Swimming Club for swimming, and nothing else...help??!?

[American]

We are moving to Singapore with two boys, aged 8 and 11.

Both are sporty here in Australia - they enjoy cricket, tennis, basketball, swimming and soccer.

Can anyone give me any advice on the following?

- swimming squad programs in 50m pools
- tennis clubs with coaching programs
- basketball competitions and clubs
- soccer competitions and clubs
- cricket clubs

My initial searches have led me to the Singapore Swimming Club for swimming, and nothing else...help??!?

why not just send them to the Australian International School? I am sure they will cover all of the above activities.

If not, you can consider joining Hollandse Club, although no cricket nor basketball.

There are so many activities/programs here and you can build your own bespoke program for them through various clubs. Just google search - you are bound to find something for every single one of the above - how much money do you have lined up for this? It can be costly.

[lagimoana]

Thanks for your reply.

I've found a few options for cricket, swim squads, basketball and tennis, and although they are costly, they are much cheaper than the Australian International School.

We are on a local package, so two children at AIS would set us back more than $6k/month. Even if I spend $2k/month on extra-curricular activities, we're still saving $4k. We negotiated a higher salary to allow us to afford International Schools, but I am not the kind of person to spend $6k/month on something that is not worth anywhere near that amount of money.

And AIS does not score as well on the Australian standardised testing as our local (free) government primary and secondary schools. Admittedly we are in one of the most privileged parts of the country and we moved to this suburb partly because of the quality of the schools.

It seems to me that most international schools in Singapore do not offer educational or other benefits to match their exorbitant price tags.

Our local all boys private school (where our son is enrolled to begin high school, and may end up boarding) runs at $25k/year and offers a much more comprehensive range of extra-curricular programs. The local inter-school sporting competitions and leagues are also of a higher grade from what I can tell - that is to say, rival schools play at a higher level than we will find in Singapore.

It is surprising to hear people talk about the excellent schools in Singapore, here in Australia. The local government (MOE) schools are definitely world leaders, and my boys will sit for the AEIS in September because I would be delighted to pay $1100/month for a world class education. But the international schools (save for the ones that are the hardest to get into - SAS, Tanglin, UWC), are actually of a lower quality than Australian public schools, in my opinion.

We won't bother applying at SAS because I'm sure we have no chance there, but might apply at Tanglin and UWC if they're unsuccessful when they sit the AEIS.

So yeah, that's why I will not just send them to the Australian International School.... sorry for the rant.