SINGAPORE — Former SEA Games gold medal-winning floorball coach Jaime Cheong has joined Singapore Athletics (SA) this week as its new manager of sports development and performance — a position that the association described as a “missing link”.

A national floorball player (1999-2009) and head coach of the women’s team that won a historic SEA Games gold last August, the 34-year-old brings her vast knowledge and experience in coaching, performance, strength and conditioning, and nutrition, to national track and field athletes. She will head a team of four in the sports development and performance department in SA.

“Right now, what the Singapore sports system is lacking is the adequate use of sports science,” said SA’s vice-president (training and selection), C Kunalan, who will work closely with Cheong along with national head coach Luis Cunha.

“We have some of the best brains in sports science, with the Singapore Sports Institute working with our high-performance athletes. But that knowledge is not filtered down fast enough to the various National Sports Associations (NSA). We have the people, the sports scientists, and we have no shortage of sporting talents with the Sports School and the National Youth Sports Institute grooming young talents.

“So now we need that sports science link to help our athletes to do well at the regional level — such as next year’s SEA Games and the 2018 Asian Games — and Jaime is the person to help us make that link with her background in sports science and also sports administration.”

Cheong, who studied applied science with a major in sports coaching at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, also had a stint with Sport Singapore as its relationship manager in 2012, where she worked with various NSA in budgeting and sports development.

She said she will spend the next week getting herself up to speed with the athletics scene, and already has some plans in place for SA.

Cheong, along with Portuguese Cunha, will soon conduct sports science modules for the coaches of all track and field disciplines.

“I also want to work towards having a team of sports scientists supporting athletes from each track and field discipline,” she told TODAY.

“All-rounded coaching led by the head coach alone is not enough, and a supporting team needs to back up each coach.

“With all these tailored and targeted supports, my goal would be to get more athletes to qualify by merit for the major Games, such as the next SEA Games, Asian Games and the Olympics.”

Meanwhile, SA general manager Damon Yong has decided to leave the association to pursue other interests. He has been with SA for close to a year.

TODAY understands SA is currently working with Sport Singapore to identify possible replacements for the position.