The SkillsFuture Fellowships boosted his professional development and helped him give back to his field
Winning a SkillsFuture Fellowships award helped Dr Sofyan Sahrom continue to deepen his skills and become a better coach.
Dr Sofyan Sahrom's keen interest in deepening his skills helped him earn a SkillsFuture Fellowships in 2018.
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As a strength and conditioning coach at the Singapore Sports School, Dr Sofyan Sahrom took an intellectual approach to a physically oriented job.
Working with a colleague, he created a research-driven strength and conditioning programme for the students, known as the Athletic Training Competency (ATC) approach. It focuses on improving a youth athlete’s strength and conditioning based on their individual maturation status and current physical competency, instead of academic level or chronological age.
The programme’s content was supported by the research Dr Sofyan had conducted as part of his masters degree thesis. The ATC has since become the foundation for several other handbooks, such as The Singapore Athlete Development Playbook and the Singapore Sport Institute-National Youth Sports Institute Consensus Statement on Strength and Conditioning for Youth Athletes.
After completing his master’s degree while working at the Singapore Sports School, he embarked on a full-time PhD, researching the biomechanics of the vertical jump at Edith Cowan University in Perth. He completed his doctorate in 2019 and is now a senior performance pathways scientist and team lead in physiology at the National Youth Sports Institute.
ON A QUEST TO DEEPEN HIS SKILLS
Dr Sofyan’s contributions to the development of the ATC approach, and his keen interest in deepening his skills throughout his career, helped him earn a SkillsFuture Fellowships in 2018.
The SkillsFuture Fellowships recognises Singaporeans who have mastered skills in their chosen areas of professional and technical expertise. Each SkillsFuture Fellowships recipient receives S$10,000 to enable them to continue developing their skills.
Dr Sofyan used one-third of this amount to travel around Australia observing professional strength and conditioning coaches. This helped him develop new ideas and perspectives while benchmarking Singaporean standards against Australian ones. The remaining amount was spent acquiring programming and data science skills, as well as taking courses on mentoring, teaching and andragogy – the methods and principles of teaching adult learners.
MENTORING FUTURE TALENT
Dr Sofyan believes that a certified strength and conditioning specialist not only possesses knowledge and skillsets for his or her own growth, but also has the power to help others develop.
“To grow means to constantly learn and innovate,” he said. “But another form of growth is to contribute knowledge that helps others.”
Besides volunteering as a mentor for younger coaches who have just completed their strength and conditioning certification, Dr Sofyan has served as a practicum supervisor for sports science students.
Today, Dr Sofyan continues to mentor others, and says he is now more effective at providing feedback, thanks to the SkillsFuture Fellowships-funded courses he took on andragogy.
“Every time I mentor someone, I reflect, reassess and see how I can do better. For example, we have physiotherapists learning to be strength and conditioning coaches, and I get to learn their perspectives on rehabilitation.”
Dr Sofyan’s mentees have also benefitted from his experience. Mr Luthfil Aidiel was mentored by Dr Sofyan from January to May 2022 at the National Youth Sports Institute and was inspired by the spirit Dr Soyfan had towards learning and staying curious. “Dr Soyfan provided meaningful insights into my performance as a young sports scientist. I enjoyed the many intellectual conversations I had with him and it has encouraged me to think critically and look at issues from multiple perspectives.”
It's a sentiment that was echoed by another former mentee, Mr Andy Loe. Dr Sofyan mentored him during his strength and conditioning coaching internship at the Singapore Sports School in 2008. Their mentor-mentee relationship continued through his subsequent stint as a junior coach until last year when he was studying for his MBA. Learning under Dr Sofyan’s guidance had motivated him to acquire expertise and critical knowledge to become a leader in his field.
Said Mr Loe: “He always goes beyond the traditional academic learning model by exploring different coaching, testing and research methods to help athletes perform better in sports and academics.”
For Dr Sofyan, professional growth has meant challenging himself to learn more in order to contribute to the development of his field and the athletes he works with. Having completed his PhD, he hopes to continue nurturing a high level of academic rigour and critical thinking in Singapore’s strength and conditioning community.
Being awarded the SkillsFuture Fellowships in 2018 gave Dr Sofyan the opportunity to observe and learn from strength training coaches in Australia. Reflecting on his journey thus far, he said: “If you’ve put in the effort, don’t let anything hold back your growth.
Send in your application or nomination for the SkillsFuture Fellowships 2023. Applications close on Mar 20.
