By Lin Xinyi

THE Singapore Sports Council (SSC) hopes to increase the Republic's pool of potential athletes by starting toddlers as young as 18 months old on specially designed activity programmes.

The Fundamental Skills Programme will help every child between 18 months and six years to acquire basic movement skills.

Its focus will be on exposing young ones to the joy of movement while building their self-confidence and capabilities.

SSC chairman Alex Chan said the programme will help Singapore to expand the limited pool of young talents.

'We have about 190,000 children under the age of four and we'd like to see them all get a solid start in sports,' he added.

By the start of next year, a curriculum will be available to guide parents, caregivers and teachers in using play activities to develop a child's skills.

The programme is one of several long-term ones the SSC announced yesterday, when it revealed some of its key plans for the new fiscal year.

The programmes are aimed at increasing Singapore's pool of potential athletes and creating more opportunities for them beyond their sports careers.

Other programmes will give youth opportunities to officiate games and become coaches.

SSC chief executive Oon Jin Teik said: 'As Singapore positions itself as a destination for world-class sports events, it will need to have a pool of competent and world-class technical officials.

'Developing capabilities among these officials is another long-term priority for SSC this year.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.