SINGAPORE — It is a win-win situation for Singapore swimming, with two of the Republic’s most successful and storied swimming clubs — Swimfast Aquatic Club (SAC) and Chinese Swimming Club (CSC) — working to unearth the Republic’s next swim star.

Both clubs also share a leader in their drive to nurture young talents: ex-national swimmer David Lim. SAC, which was founded by Lim in 1995, has produced the likes of top athletes Joseph Schooling, Tao Li, Quah Zheng Wen, Quah Ting Wen, and Amanda Lim, and the SAC boss is aiming to help CSC replicate that success after taking on the role of technical director in January last year.

The 49-year-old says they will be able to talent-spot and groom the next Schooling in the next five years.

“At CSC, we want to develop a broad base of young swimmers, so more can rise up to the national team,” said Olympian Lim, who was speaking to TODAY on the sidelines of the launch of the CSC Super Junior Swimming Invitational.

“I’m sure we can produce the next Joseph Schooling, Amanda Lim and Quah Ting Wen if we have the right processes and systems in place to train the swimmers from a young age. These current batch of swimmers all came from somewhere too, which is the local clubs.”

While Lim has proved his mettle at SAC — the club has been a dominant force on the local swimming scene since the 2000s — he is keen to lend his expertise and experience to CSC, and help build a pipeline of young swimmers for the national team.

To that end, he has recruited a strong team with a number of familiar faces, including ex-national assistant swimming coach Eugene Chia, Aloysius Yeo, who was previously high performance manager at the Singapore Swimming Association (SSA), and ex-national swimmer Mylene Ong.

“There are two main things that I did when I came on board the CSC, and one was to revamp the coaching programme,” said Lim. “We cannot apply training methodologies for elite swimmers to young swimmers. To produce a good swimmer, it is not just about getting him to pile on the mileage in the pool. Each swimmer needs training suited to his age group, and also to not specialise early.”

Lim’s first major project with the club will be the CSC Super Junior Swimming Invitational on Sep 3 and 4, which will see some 800 swimmers aged 12 and under competing across 11 events.

Organised to give young swimmers more competitive races in the calendar year, the meet will also complement the Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships held by the SSA in March. Eight foreign clubs from seven countries such as Australia, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand have already registered their interest for the meet.

Aside from the Super Junior meet, Lim — a former CSC swimmer — wants to help the club recapture its glory days. The club boasts an impressive track record in nurturing the Republic’s top swimmers, including Patricia Chan, Ang Peng Siong, Mark Chay, and Gary Tan.

He added: “I believe CSC can relive its past glory days in the 1980s and 1990s. The club can produce Olympians and swimmers who will be remembered as part of the Singapore sporting scene for a long time.”

CSC Super Junior Swimming Invitational:

When: Sep 3 - 4

Where: Chinese Swimming Club

How much: Registration fees are priced at $32 (early bird) and $40 (regular)

Email aloysius_yeo [at] chineseswimmingclub.org.sg for more information