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ActiveSG Cup 2022 aims to get more Singaporeans to sweat it out, post-pandemic

ActiveSG Cup 2022 was launched to create fun and inclusive competitions and leagues where everyone can compete.

The idea was to encourage Singaporeans to be active again following lockdowns due to Covid-19.

Its primary target market is youths between the ages of 13 and 19. It was originally meant to be concluded in December 2021, but due to a spike in Covid-19 cases in the republic, the government tightened measures involving social gatherings, thereby delaying the start of the inaugural edition.

ActiveSG’s goal is to have this competition annually. There are two sports represented in the ActiveSG Cup – basketball and football.

ActiveSG opened tenders to various sports and events organisations to manage and facilitate this nationwide competition. My company, D2D Sports was one of the lucky ones and the only grassroots football league organiser that was awarded the tender to manage and facilitate the tournament in the Eastern zone of Singapore.

The other zones are North, Central, North-East and West.

The categories in the football tournament are Y13, Y14, Under-16, Y17, Under-19 boys and U-16, and Under-19 girls. Each category would have 20 teams that we need to source out using our marketing and contacts.

The format is rather complex, but in a nutshell, from the zonal stage, all teams would progress to play in the national round in centralised locations against teams of a similar level.

After two rounds of round-robin; one in the zonal stage, and another at the national stage, the teams would play in the knockout phase.

Each team was originally charged S$100 to participate for the entire duration of the tournament but that was reduced significantly to S$10 per team to encourage teams to sign up.

The challenge, however, is the competition between the different zones.

The other hurdle is to get the involvement of the schools. This competition is scheduled to start on Feb 12 and is expected to run until March 19. Matches will be held over the weekends, which is precious time for the teachers. If lucky, we could get parents who would be keen and willing to spend their weekends to gather the children and participate in this competition.

Another challenge we face from schools is that some are reluctant to participate until they get the go-ahead from the government to increase the current social gathering ruling from five individuals, to eight. This, despite the competition being run by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth.

We are reaching the end of the registration period (Feb 7). We hope to see more participation, marking the return of grassroots football, in some form or another, in Singapore.

This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Twentytwo13.