Junior Sports Academy: Primary 4 to 6

It must be the season for Junior Sports Academy nominations because I am getting a lot of enquiries on it. Even Faye brought it up all of a sudden saying she would like to give it a try! She is definitely heavily influenced by Ewan who got selected for JSA as one of those with high ability in the sports domain.

Now many of you have a lot of questions about JSA and recalled I shared our Trial Day experience somewhere in my socials. You could not find it and neither could I! So I have decided to put this on the blog for your benefit and hopefully, it will help shape your decision on whether you should put your child up for it. 

Here are the questions and hopefully my answers are of good help to you!

Q: How do we apply for JSA trial?

A: Where nominations are usually conducted in Primary 4, the Junior Sports Academy only got reinstated after Covid when Ewan was in Primary 5. Nominations in some schools are done only by teachers based on their observations of your child while nominations in some schools are an open-to-all concept where parents are notified. They can then fill up the Parent Nomination Form to put their child up for trial [request for it from your school]. 

Q: When is the nomination period?

A: It is usually held in February for the Primary 4 cohort.

Q: Did Ewan get selected for JSA?

A: Yes he was selected for JSA after his trials. 

Q: Did you find JSA useful for Ewan's development and did it help with pre-selection of Secondary School?

A: Oh yes it definitely helped with pre-selection of Secondary School. After being coached in Floor Ball, Table Tennis and Bowling at JSA, he now knows he is 100% committed to Badminton. At JSA, children are advised to choose a sport they have no prior exposure to. They believe in helping these children with high-ability in sports discover their focus to help them make a sound decision in Secondary School when its comes to CCA. Many a times, due to financial burden or parental assertion, children may be put into a discipline they do not necessarily love. This will waver their passion in Secondary School and there could be a high possibility of quitters. It is natural that our children grow up not knowing what they want. Discovering their love for a certain sport by providing exposure will then give them better focus in Secondary School. 

Q: Does Ewan enjoy JSA so far?

A: He has been with JSA since 2023 and is doing his last module now in 2024. On top of the 2 hour JSA every week, he has 10 hours of Badminton training on the side as well. With academics also high and hard on his shoulders too, we see these sport trainings as downtime. He is proud that he is now skilled in other sports he had never been good at before and had been enjoying the sessions. It is also great that we can play more sports as a family now! 

Q: Can JSA be used as DSA?

A: JSA cannot be used as DSA. Maybe this is why many, after being offered, decided not to take it up. Parents probably think it is a waste of time since it does not give the child any leverage to Secondary School. I see it differently though. I only have eyes on my son's personal development and enjoyment in this journey. Exposure is a privilege and since he had been given this opportunity, we took it in a heartbeat after consulting his opinion. Not everything in Life is about the destination. The journey is equally or even more important.  

Q: How can we prepare to pass the JSA trial?

A: They are selecting children with higher abilities in the sports domain. Just like GEP, there should not be a need to prepare for it. Should we do so, it will only backfire on the child when they struggle to perform. Do enjoy the process. Push them a little out of their comfort zone but not tipping them too much such that they buckle up and crumble.

Q: How long is the trial?

A: Our trial time was 3pm and I picked him up at 6.30pm. That is 3.5 hours.

Q: How was the queue situation?

A: It was snaking long. I arrived 30 minutes earlier than call time and got into the hall by 3pm. Those who came at 3pm only managed to enter the hall at 3.30pm onwards. Do prepare snacks to eat or books to read while queueing.

Q: Are parents allowed inside the trial?

A: No. Do not bring your entire family as well. It is already very frustrating queueing up with your child. Spare the rest of your loved ones.

Q: What are the children being tested on?

A: They will do jumping, shuttle runs, balancing beams and mostly the kind of tests to gauge their agility, endurance, balance and speed. Each test is conducted three times to deduce the average/best score for submission. There will not be any trials on any particular sport at all so there is no need to showcase any skillsets. 

Q: How big is each group?

A: 10 in a group.

Q: Is the trial stressful?

A: Ewan said that he had a ball of a time and three hours was too short!

Q: After being selected, how many sports can they choose from?

A: There are 19 sports to choose from. Students are to select one sport module from each category on the list and they will be coached on that sport over a span of four terms.

Q: When will the classes be held and how long are the classes?

A: It will be held on Saturdays and each session is 2 hours long.

Q: Where are classes located?

A: The JSA team will try to allocate the same sport in all parts of Singapore to cater to everyone's needs. See list here.

Q: Is attendance taken?

A: I understood that there should be 80% attendance for the child to graduate from JSA but recently, I heard 100% attendance is required. 

Just to share, in the past, Junior Sports Academy focused on a single sport when the children were in Primary School. Similarly, they first selected children who were very good in their sport and trained them to higher levels. They believed in focus because where this focus, there is a possibility of producing a National Team for the country. 

Then they realised that these children, being children, wanted more than just being tied down to one discipline as they see them starting to drop the sport in Secondary School. As our children grow up, they change their minds, they develop new desires and these are all so natural in all growth even in adults. I assume this is why they have evolved to provide exposure instead of focus in Junior Sports Academy.

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