Championing Psychological Safety with Singapore Sports School

Did you know that the International Olympic Committee recently revised the definition of Safe Sport? Safe Sport is now:

"A physically and psychologically safe and supportive athletic environment where participants can thrive and experience the full benefits of sport participation"

Among the first to act on this expanded definition was Singapore Sports School (SSP) who invited Safe Sport to conduct workshops on 23^rd January 2025, with the theme of creating psychologically safe environments. Having been to SSP in 2021 and 2022 for awareness workshops with the staff and students, we are grateful to be invited back at this timely juncture.

Often safeguarding is associated with case management and responding to reports. In practice, a key element of safeguarding is also the everyday preventative and advocacy work. In line with the updated definition, we curated sessions where coaches and staff could discuss how SSP provides a psychologically safe environment for its students now, and what could be done going forward.

Using Fletcher and Sarkar’s (2019) Challenge and Support model, participants learnt about the fine balance between challenge and support to achieve psychologically safe environments. The coaches and administrators were separated into different sessions, and feedback showed they appreciated the opportunity to connect with colleagues openly and candidly.

One key highlight was the honest discussions about the challenges they have in their respective roles, and they shared the support and resources they need to be able to create a facilitative environment for the students.

For workshop requests, please write to us at contact@safesport.sg.