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In recognition of the importance of elite athletes’ whole person development and dual career pathway, the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Lam Tai Fai College (LTFC) today to announce their partnership for providing a highly integrated and flexible curriculum for young athletes, enabling them to train full-time whilst continuing to pursue their studies at senior secondary level.

The MOU was signed by Dr Trisha Leahy BBS, Chief Executive of the HKSI and Mr Wong Kwong-wai, Principal of the LTFC, with the signatures witnessed by The Hon Tsang Tak-sing GBS JP, Secretary for Home Affairs; Mrs Jenny Fung Ma Kit-han BBS JP, Director of the HKSI;  Dr the Hon Lam Tai-fai SBS JP, Supervisor of the LTFC; Mr John Fan Kam-ping BBS JP, Deputy Supervisor of the LTFC; Professor Chung Pak-kwong, IMC Manager of the LTFC; the HKSI’s Head Squash Coach Tony Choi Yuk-kwan MH and squash athlete Harley Lam Yat-ting.

Mrs Fung said at the MOU Signing Ceremony, “I would like to express our sincere thanks to the LTFC for partnering with the HKSI in making such a tailor-made education programme possible, so as to strengthen our support for athletes’ whole-person development.  I am confident that, with the MOU signed today, not only could our close collaboration help young athletes fully unleash their potential but also cultivate a new generation of world-class champions for Hong Kong with more impressive and even record-breaking results!”

Dr the Hon Lam also said, “ LTFC welcomes the opportunity to work more closely with the HKSI.  Since 2004, LTFC has been putting a special emphasis on sports development.  We aim to promote sports in the community, to support elite sports, and to develop LTFC into as a prime destination for hosting major sports events, so as to increase students’ interest in sports.  We have nurtured a strong atmosphere of sports in the school and a lot of outstanding student athletes who attained numerous achievements in overseas competitions, such as Kwok Ho-ting, World Champion cyclist; Au Sin-ying and Nicholas Edward Choi, fencing medalists in Asian Games.  In the future, we wish to partner with the HKSI to facilitate integrated educational opportunities for student athletes to train as full-time professional athletes whilst pursuing their educational goals.  This can surely encourage them to achieve their best in competitions and bring honour to Hong Kong.”

The MOU signing was followed by a sharing session featuring representatives from both the sporting and education sectors.  Mr Wong of the LTFC said, in respect of the LTFC’s mission to integrate various aspects including sports in local education to develop future leaders and sports professionals, they are delighted to make a significant step forward in providing a tailor-made curriculum for local talented athletes to help them focus on achieving sporting success without compromising their academic pursuits.

The HKSI’s Head Squash Coach Tony Choi, squash athlete Harley Lam and fencer Nicholas Edward Choi also shared their comments on this partnership.  Head Coach Choi agreed with the LTFC’s approach of integrating sports and studies.  He said, “It takes years of commitment and dedication to full-time training for a talented athlete to achieve their full potential and reach world-class performance levels.  I believe this partnership will motivate more young athletes to fully dedicate themselves to elite training at an earlier stage.  This will help inject new blood into elite sports.”  Harley and Nicholas also concluded their sharing by encouraging young athletes to be bold, to follow their dreams in sports while maintaining academic studies for whole-person development with such an enhanced educational support.

The Programme, to be commenced in the 2015/16 school year, outlines a framework to formulate flexible and individualised school programmes for full-time junior athletes by setting up a special class with a tailor-made curriculum for Form 4 to Form 6 levels.  The athlete’s study timetable is also tailor-made in order to fit in their training and competition schedules.  It covers a range of collaborations such as an extension of the study period, as well as a provision for extra tutorial, educational counselling and a online study platform.  The HKSI and LTFC will also conduct regular and formal reviews to evaluate the progress and needs of every subject student athlete, as well as the operation of the overall collaboration.

For enquiries on the Partnership School Programme and enrolment, please contact the Athlete Affairs Department of the HKSI at 2681 6173.

For detail about the MOU Signing Ceremony, please refer to webcast.