Speech - Welcome Address by Ms Low Khah Gek, CEO/ITE, at the MOU Signing Ceremony between ITE and Tchoukball Association of Singapore (TBAS), on Sat 13 July 2024 at 1000hrs at Indoor Sports Hall, ITE College West, Choa Chu Kang Grove

Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law

Mr Don Wee, MP, Chua Chu Kang GRC and Advisor to ITE’s UITS

Mr Xie Yao Quan, MP, Jurong GRC

Dr Lim Zi Xuan, Delane,  President, Tchoukball Association of Singapore

Mr Low Jwee Poh, CEO, Mr. Bean

Distinguished Industry Partners

ITE Colleagues and Students

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

It gives me (and all of us) much excitement and joy to be here at this morning’s flag presentation and the MOU signing between ITE and the Tchoukball Association of Singapore. 

When the news broke in Singapore in January last year that our Singapore Women Tchoukball Team is ranked World No. 1 and our Men Tchoukball Team was ranked World No. 3, many of us, ordinary Singaporeans, were delighted but we were also bewildered and also asked, “What is Tchoukball?” I am sure there was a surge in google-search and you tube search! Tchoukball has become a ‘hit’ and everyone is talking about the game!

This interest-generation moment is so significant that in various strategic and management meetings, we asked ourselves how to create such high public interest (e.g. Worldskills competitions or ITE’s Work-Study Diploma), we asked if we could create something similar to this Tchoukball overnight sensational interest moment.

ITE’s Tchoukball Programmes and Talents

ITE students are passionate about Tchoukball. They pursue this game in their PE lessons as well as through the CCAs. We started to collaborate with TBAS in 2022 and our students have had the opportunity to interact with the National Women and Men Teams and experience first-hand professional training at a superlatively competitive level. 

We discovered ITE has many Tchoukball talents! 

• Fiqqo Anaqi Abdul Wazid is a Higher Nitec Marine Engineering Y2 student from College Central. Fiqqo started his Tchoukball journey in his PE lessons and then joined ITE Tchoukball CCA. He is very talented and is currently training with the Singapore Men's team. At the same time, he is also an International Tchoukball Federation (FITB)  certified referee and actively coaches the Singapore M12 Boys Team.

• Zayne Sim Tian Ci is a Higher Nitec Event Management Y2 student from College Central. He has a similar Tchoukball journey like Fiqqo and is also currently training with the Singapore Men's team. He holds a Tchoukball coaching certificate and is also a FITB-certified referee. Zayne represented Team Singapore in the recent Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) Tchoukball InvitationCompetition in April this year.

• Syakirah Iwani Binte Jalil is a Nitec Nursing Y 2 student from College East. Her talents was discovered by our staff and recommended to TBAS. Syakirah, has been training with the Singapore M18 Girls Team and will be participating in the upcoming 7th Asia Pacific Youth Tchoukball Championship later this month.

Collaboration Opportunities

ITE and TBAS will jointly expand our efforts to scout and groom local talents. We would go beyond the current POLITE (Polys & ITE) and Inter-Tertiary Championships (ITC) tchoukball competitions to  jointly organize more Tchoukball tournaments and Community Outreach programs to promote the sport and identify talents. 

The ITE coaching team and students will also learn from and collaborate with the TBAS coaching team to infuse relevant GPS technology, fitness tracking devices, and data analytics into our training sessions to improve players’ fitness, game strategy, and tactics.

Conclusion

In closing, I wish to express my appreciation to Tchoukball Association of Singapore for formally committing to partner with ITE through this MOU signing. Together, let us raise Tchoukball to greater heights of achievements at the world stage and fire the national pride and unity of all Singaporeans.

My best wishes to all the National athletes representing Singapore in the upcoming Tchoukball Championship and competitions!

Thank you