Commentary: ‘A fight to survive’ – former national swimmer Joscelin Yeo on the financial hurdles Singapore athletes face

SINGAPORE: A lot of times when people hear that I was on the national team for 17 years, they often assume that I must have been a full-time professional swimmer with a high income.
I started swimming at 5 years old and at 11, made the national team in 1990. As a student-athlete, I was able to work my school timetable around my training schedule and therefore balance both. But as I transitioned from being a student into an adult, that involved finding work and holding down a job.
Being a professional athlete should have meant that sports was my one and only job. Yet, back then, no company was willing to pay me merely to swim.
I was fortunate to find a sponsor who was willing to sponsor me in cash (it was as rare as striking lottery), and that enabled me, together with a scholarship from the Singapore Sports Council (now known as Sport Singapore) to further my sporting career beyond student life. It enabled me to survive. But it was far from thriving.
The same question that I asked myself some 20-odd years ago remains: Is a professional sporting career viable in Singapore?
Let’s take a closer look.
Currently, the only professional league in Singapore is for football. Both local and international professional football players play in our league, with international players commanding much higher salaries.
Their salaries reportedly range from less than S$15,000 per annum for those just starting their careers to upwards of S$1 million for international players, according to local media reports.
While the higher end offers a comfortable life, these salaries are typically reserved for a few international players. This is for the men’s league. The Women’s Premier League, the highest level of competition in Singapore for women’s football, is an amateur league.
Beyond football, we do have professional athletes in snooker, bowling, tennis, golf and swimming to name a few. Most rely on government support, which includes various programmes designed to help athletes with the potential to bring glory to the nation.
These include the spexScholarship programme, which provides enhanced support to prepare high-performing athletes to excel at the Major Games at Asian and World levels, including the Olympics. The programme, launched in 2013, provides monthly stipends, training allowances, as well as funding for competitions.
Its intention is to contribute to additional costs of meeting the demands of an international athlete; it is not intended to meet all the costs involved. Different levels of support are allocated based on the life stages of the athlete, for example student or working adult. The bar is high, meaning that an athlete might sometimes be less supported earlier on in their journey.
There is also spexGLOW, or the grant for loss of wages, for athletes who opt to train full-time for up to 12 months in preparation for a Major Games. The grant is to offset lost wages sustained from missing work, up to a maximum of S$3,000 per month for up to 12 months within a stipulated year.
Then there’s spexCareer, a customised scheme that seeks to develop the careers of Team Singapore athletes by partnering with companies to offer employment such as internships, apprenticeships, job placements and flexible workplace practices. This is meant to help national athletes cope effectively with the dual demands of sports and their career and prepare them to transit into successful post-sports careers.
Out of 59 companies listed as partners, 12 are government organisations and 47 are private businesses spanning a wide range of industries. Several athletes who have gone through the scheme have observed that it is more beneficial for sports with daytime training schedules. Those with training sessions at night still have to work a full day, much like a typical employee.
It appears then, that there is a lack of synergy between what Sport Singapore is trying to do, what the National Sports Associations are doing, and what the athletes need.
The spexCareer scheme, while beneficial, seems better suited for athletes who are considering transitioning out of sport, rather than supporting a sustained professional sporting career.
So, what are the alternatives? Beyond government support, athletes often rely on their parents to support their sporting aspirations, find sponsors who are willing to give them cash or turn to crowdfunding.
Take Joseph Schooling, Singapore’s first gold medal Olympic winner, for example. His parents reportedly spent more than S$1 million to support his swimming career, even going so far as to sell a home in Australia.
Singaporean rower Saiyidah Aisyah Mohamed Rafa’ee resorted to crowdfunding in 2016, raising S$12,500 for her training stint in Australia ahead of her Rio Olympics qualification campaign.
Apart from the scholarship money I received to support my sporting expenses, my parents spent upwards of S$50,000 a year to bolster my journey.
Another thing to note is that for families like mine with multiple children on the national team – my older brother played water polo and my younger brother was the top triathlete in Singapore and Asia at one point – the financial burden can weigh heavy. My parents didn’t just have to support me, they also had to support my brothers. Sponsors were my lifeline – something not everyone has.
In order for a sporting career to be had, athletes need money for myriad things starting with their daily training environment which includes coaching, sports science, sports medicine, analysis, recovery, research, management, equipment, facilities and sparring partners.
There are also other costs such as overseas training stints, overseas competitions (which include cost of entry, lodging, food, transportation and flight) and venue rentals just to name a few.
Then there are regular living expenses such as mobile bills, electricity bills, water bills, mortgages, and much more.
What about savings? Surely a professional athlete needs to have savings otherwise they could end their sporting career with zero financial ability to start anything else. Would that be a viable career then?
As the second week of the Paris Olympics gets underway, I can’t help but think of my ex-teammates from Australia and the United States who have become professional athletes. I’ve watched how they are able to focus all their energy on training, finding the best resources for their athletic needs and meeting sponsor requirements.
Our local athletes, on the other hand, fight to survive while trying to be the best athletes they can be.
The government’s efforts are commendable, but they alone cannot sustain our top athletes. Our sportsmen and women need financial support from the corporate sector.
Sports can unite people, and when organisations in Singapore see the value in setting aside annual budget to back athletes and their aspirations, only then will we truly be a sporting nation. And only then will professional careers in sports become a choice more people can make.
Former national swimmer Joscelin Yeo is a four-time Olympian who also won 40 gold medals in the SEA Games during her 17-year swimming career. Yeo, a former Nominated Member of Parliament, is now the co-founder of Into The Wild, which organises wilderness camps for children.