Past figures have indicated that 40% of DSA admissions into secondary schools are based on skills relating to sports and games, and in local schools, the most common sports CCAs are basketball, badminton, and football.

However, be mindful that only about three in 10 students will be successful in their DSA applications. Everyone is invited to apply, but you should do so with clear intentions. Read on to find out what to discuss with your child, before submitting a DSA sports application!

How is my child faring in the sport?

When children first join a sport, coaches might ask, “How far do you want to go?” Some children dream big from the start, desiring to join national teams and play in regional and international competitions, while others simply hope to “play for fun.”

If your child is a main player on a school team (i.e. one who is always lined up for school competitions), or has started playing in clubs or other non-school competitions, they should certainly apply for the DSA if they are keen to continue with the sport in secondary school and beyond.

However, if your child is a reserve player or has limited competition experience, you’ll want to give this more thought. You should first determine if your child still wants to grow in the sport, and find out what he or she considers ideal conditions to thrive. For instance, a child currently being benched in a top school may yearn for the chance to compete, but perhaps in a mid-tier school where the stakes are lower. 

Knowing what your child truly wants will help to narrow down the schools to apply to.

Should my child apply to top schools or neighbourhood schools?

If your child is performing well in a sport, there’s no question about applying to top schools. For children who lack competition exposure — but still love a sport — school selection will be less straightforward.

Regardless, it’s always useful to know which schools are stronger in the sport that your child loves. For a quick way to gauge this, you can check out the results for the National School Games or NSG, to see which teams have qualified for the quarter-finals, semis, and finals, and how they’ve fared. 

If you’re not familiar with the NSG, games are typically organised by ‘divisions,’ where the age range is as follows:

There are 28 sports played during the NSG, and these are:

1. Badminton
2. Basketball
3. Bowling
4. Canoeing
5. Cricket
6. Cross-country
7. Fencing
8. Floorball
9. Football
10. Golf
11. Gymnastics
12. Hockey
13. Judo
14. Netball
15. Rugby
16. Sailing
17. Sepaktakraw
18. Shooting
19. Softball 
20. Squash
21. Swimming
22. Table Tennis
23. Taekwondo
24. Tennis
25. Track & Field
26. Volleyball
27. Water Polo
28. Wushu

For more information on competitions and results, visit the NSG website.

To give an example of how these results might be helpful: if your daughter is interested in badminton, you can look at the B Division quarter final fixtures for NSG 2023, to see that well-known schools such as Raffles Girls’ School, Nanyang Girls’ High School, and Anglican High School are doing well and likely have a strong badminton culture. If, on the other hand, your son plays a less-common sport like sepaktakraw (“kick volleyball”), the neighbourhood schools that are in this year’s NSG semi-finals — Marsiling Secondary, Bartley Secondary, Jurongville Secondary, and Woodlands Secondary — may offer a fulfilling experience.

There are other ways that you can use these results, such as by looking at the zonal competitions (i.e. the preliminary stages), to see if there are unexpected or lesser-known schools that are performing well and have potential for growth.

Is it too late for my child to excel at a new sport?

On the world stage, there are certainly athletes who started playing their sport ‘late,’ which could be anything from 13 years old to the late teen years. 

In the Singapore context, it may be trickier to be a late starter, if one wishes to be more than a recreational player. Some local teens have made successful switches, such as from gymnastics to indoor skydiving, or badminton to sailing. It helps if the new sport that your child is choosing is less ‘saturated’ — perhaps the sport is fairly new, or training is inconvenient and costly. Better still if an external training centre provides a pathway to local and international competitions, so your child can represent the school or even the country, regardless of whether the school offers the sport. 

Should cost be an issue, look at the youth sports development programmes by ActiveSG, which can lead to playing for national teams. For some sports, such as canoeing, there are beginners’ classes for 13 to 14 year olds.

But if we’re referring specifically to the DSA applications, schools are primarily looking for players to compete at the National School Games, as opposed to spotting raw talent. Those who want to switch sports may find it more prudent to qualify for their desired school based on their academic results, and subsequently try out for various sports teams. Within popular schools, do be aware that there are limited school team slots for newcomers, as priority will go to DSA students and experienced players.

What can my child do for a better chance of DSA success?

With sports, the tryout process will effectively weed out students who don’t have the skills that schools are looking for. So before tryouts, do make sure that your child is well-rested, and feels mentally strong to give it his or her best shot.

If your child makes it through the DSA tryouts, simply stay tuned for further instructions from the school. Many schools will have an interview process, which is why DSA students spend time preparing for common interview questions such as “why do you love your sport” or “why do you want to join our school?” 

Answers should be genuine and heartfelt, so please don’t make your child memorise a perfect response. Instead, have a good chat with your child, and get him or her to reflect on:

1. Why the sport is important and how it contributes to your child’s personal satisfaction and well-being
2. How far your child hopes to progress, and what your child is currently doing to work towards bigger goals
3. Why does your child want to join a particular school — who or what are the sources of inspiration?
4. For team sports, what is your child’s role in a team? Apart from the sporting role, does your child also take on leadership responsibilities, or do they make it a point to show kindness and compassion? Are there examples they can cite?

Pay close attention to your child’s responses, so that you can find better ways to support them in their sport, whether or not they receive a DSA offer. Here’s wishing your child the best of luck in this year’s DSA season!

Want to talk to other parents about the DSA? Join the conversation on KiasuParents’ DSA 2023 thread!