SportSG to free up more tennis courts for public bookings
The move comes after an Instagram video highlighting the difficulty of booking public tennis courts.
The Kallang Tennis Hub. (Image: Instagram/edwintong)
This audio is generated by an AI tool.
SINGAPORE: Sport Singapore (SportSG), Singapore Tennis Association (STA) and The Kallang Group will introduce measures to "optimise the availability of tennis facilities" for public bookings.
This includes the consolidation of all national squad training at the Kallang Tennis Hub, with training schedules streamlined to maximise court availability for public use, they jointly said on Friday (Jul 17) in response to CNA queries.
"These measures will progressively free up more courts at the Kallang Tennis Hub, as well as at ActiveSG facilities, including Heartbeat @ Bedok and Yio Chu Kang Sport Centre, with some courts already released for public booking with immediate effect," they added.
This comes after an Instagram video posted earlier this week by Mr Leslie Ng, who goes by the handle "sgphysiobarn", highlighting the difficulty of booking public tennis courts.
"It is the hardest thing in the world to book public courts in Singapore. Not everyone is lucky enough to live in a fancy condo with a tennis court," he said.
"We basically are fighting for public courts."
He claimed that while courts at Kallang Tennis Hub are often block-booked by STA, no one turns up to use them.
"If you’re not going to use the courts, why don’t just release it?"
Speaking to CNA, tennis coach Christabelle Ong said that she has often observed empty courts at Kallang Tennis Hub despite being unable to book them online.
"If they are not using it, they should just release it. Because even at the last minute, people will go and book (courts)," she said.
"It’s better than they not release and the court goes empty."
SportSG, STA, and The Kallang Group said they will "continue to work closely to monitor court usage and remain committed to ensuring that Singaporeans have access to sporting facilities for both recreational and competitive use".
CNA has contacted STA for more information on how often it block-books courts, how many hours a week these bookings cover, and why some courts appear to be left empty.
Speaking to CNA following the joint statement, Mr Ng said the issue was not new, but he was surprised by the public reaction after the video was posted.
"I knew people would comment and so forth, but I didn't expect it to blow up as fast as it did," he said. "There's a lot of pent-up frustration (from) the public and also coaches."
Cancellations and no-shows could then be capped at a certain number to ensure things do not "get out of hand", with repeat offenders prevented from making bookings for the rest of the year.
"Singapore is small. Because it is small, we need to utilise our resources better," he added.
