"The greatest amount of wasted time is the time of not getting started." - Dawson Trotman

The hardest part of doing anything is always when you are going to get started. There's so many doubts that flood through your head it makes it so difficult to decide if you should go ahead with your plans or withdraw and chicken out. Ultimately, what actually holds me or anyone back from doing something that they want is this:

Fear brings deception to the mind and brings about doubts. But once you break through this barrier and finally start on what you want to do, things begin to flow. This was just so the case today. I was fatigued from my long dreary week in army and all I yearned to do was to lie on my bed and sleep at home.

I could have stayed home for the day. I could have slept through and waited for the Arsenal match tonight. I could have watched Big Bang Theory the entire day. Instead, I dragged my legs out of bed and explored Sports Hub today. And I'm honestly thankful that materialised.

It was a tough day as I walked on foot for near 4hours just to cover the area and dug out information of the place to share. I scalded my fingers by accident at the claypot porridge place and got abrasion on my foot because of the havanna's slippers as I thought I would be helping my friends with beach volleyball training. Bad luck me but the details I've stockpiled more than made up for it! So here goes!

I've been to the Singapore Sports Hub a few times already mainly to play volleyball leisurely but I didn't really bother exploring the place as my friends and I always made haste away from the place after the games. It is true that most times, individuals are just focused on their main interest while being at the sports hub and overlook the other details. What I did today was to discover and know what interesting setups there really are in the sports hub.

 

When the National Stadium was torn down a few years ago, many Singaporeans especially the older ones felt sad that such a place with so much history was going to be gone and replaced. As the new Sports Hub was unveiled to us especially during the inaugural match in the new National Stadium between a Singapore Selection and Juventus, it dawned on us that we have a new darling to be proud of in our sunny island. Before the match even took place, the area was still quite serene and quiet as not many ventured into it. Slowly with publicity, the Sports Hub today is much more crowded than it used to be. Currently, the crowd is still not alot as compared to other much heralded places so it would be advisable to use the facilities while it is still in its infantile stages. Certain benefits are currently being offered just because it is new. More on that later. So how do you actually get there?

Directions:

MRT:

Picture from sportshub.com.sg

1) Stadium MRT(CC6) through Exit B

2) Mountbatten MRT(CC7) and

3) Kallang MRT(EW10) both 600m away

Kallang pathway to MRT

Cab:

Picture from sportshub.com.sg

1) Singapore Indoor Stadium Taxi Stand at Stadium Crescent

2) OCBC Arena Taxi Stand at Stadium Boulevard

3) Kallang Wave Mall Taxi Stand

Bus:

Picture from sportshub.com.sg

1) Bus 11 along Stadium Crescent, directly outside the Indoor Stadium

2) Buses 10, 14, 16, 70, 70M, 196 along Nicoll Highway

Bus stop view of the road
 

This is the map of Sports hub area:

Picture from sportshub.com.sg

Some of these information is taken from the webpage itself but I'm consolidating all into one post so as to make things easier.

Kallang Wave Mall：

As you make you way out of stadium MRT, this should be exactly how it looks like.

 View out of station

 

 View right outside the station

 

View on the left of the station

Kallang Wave Mall is right smack in front of the entrance and is slowly gaining popularity.

With the opening of this mall, it has managed to pull away most of the crowd from Kallang Leisure Park. It has a rock climbing wall within that is popular with the crowd. Still newly opened, many of the shops are still under renovation and are not open yet. The current set of stores include brands like Uniqlo and Cotton On and food places like the food fare at the top level. The itinery can be seen from below.

Picture from sportshub.sg

The mall has an area set aside for rock climbing. It stretches from Basement 1 all the way up to level 3. The pricing of the facilities are in the following picture.

Picture from sportshub.sg

 Rock Climbing Facility in Kallang Wave Mall

Most importantly, many of those specialised sports shops are found not just within the mall, but opposite the mall at the side with the Singapore Indoor Stadium as well. Those shops sell equipments catered for sports like Basketball, soccer and cycling,etc. These equipments are of great variety and quality and makes searching for relevant accessories and equipment much easier. The better shops within are the ones on the higher levels, namely:  

Bike shop right beside OCBC Sports Museum

OCBC Arena:

Opening Hours: 7am - 10pm

This building has got a total of 4 stories: Basement 1 to Level 3. Level 3 is linked to the entrance of the National Stadium by just walking along the perimeters at that level. Level 2 has a gym catered specially for elite athletes and also a cafe place.

 

Cafeteria

 

Hall 1 has a total of 4 courts for basketball and has stands that can be withdrawn during events.

Pardon the picture quality

Hall 2 has a total of 12 courts for badminton.

Badminton Action

 

Hall 3 is catered for volleyball/netball. A total of 3 courts can be set up in this hall. Hall 3 is located on the right of OCBC arena, beyond the restrooms and out of the building.

 

Some volleyball action at the court

 

 

Netball Courts

The pricing for the booking of the courts are as follows:

Picture from sportshub.com.sg

Curiously, basement 1 is filled with halls aplenty and on the day of my visit, held a kids sporting event. These halls seem like places where dances and yoga classes are able to be conducted as there are mirrors on the far side of the hall. Sports like fencing and judo are also conducted in this area.

OCBC Aquatic Centre:

Opening Hours: 7am - 10pm

This 3000 seater arena provides state of the art swimming facilities for swimmers competitive and leisure. Other than the selected dates with competition events, the lanes are available for booking. For such good facilities, the higher pricing is understandable and value for money.

This link will bring you straight to the booking page.

http://www.sportshub.com.sg/venues/Pages/ocbc-aquatic-centre.aspx

Splash N Surf:

This mini water playground is available for people of all ages and is a venue appropriate for family bonding. It is still more suited for kids 12 years and younger and they can be brought to try out the facilities which includes the Stingray, a surfing/skim-boarding half pipe ride, the Lazy river which is 1m deep and a water play area 0.5m.

It is currently not open yet but watch this space!

OCBC Water Park:

Opening Hours:

Mondays to Sundays 7am - 8pm

Public Holidays: 7am - 10pm

Canoeing and Kayaking enthusiasts can proceed to this venue to book kayaks and canoes at an affordable pricing.

Dragonboats graceful in the Kallang waters

The pricing of the rentals are as follows:

Sports Hub Skating Park and Basketball Court:
 

 

These 2 places are on either side of the pathway from the 3rd level of Sports Hub towards Kallang MRT. The skate park which is on the left of the pathway provides a nice alternative albeit a smaller one from the one at SCAPE for skate lovers to try out. It is quite limited in the amount of ramps it actually provides but it is actually a decent chilling out spot to rest after playing sports in the area.

 
Sports Hub Beach Volleyball Court:


For the moment, the beach volleyball courts and basketball courts are free of charge to book and use. It is highly unlikely that after a year or so, these courts will continue to be free. The beach volleyball court at Bishan active is $20 by timeslot and that court severely pales in comparison to the one at the Sportshub

 

OCBC Library:

Opening Hours:

Mon - Fri: 10am - 8pm

Sat - Sun 10am - 9pm

Public Holidays: 10am - 9pm

It is odd to see a library in the middle of nowhere at such an unexpected location like the sports hub. Here's the catch, it does have a distinct purpose there. In a bid to make the area a complete sporting hub, this library is there to provide books with tips for athletes and histories of a variety of sports. It is a small area but ultimately, conducive for people to have a short read or to have a nice rest in. Every noon, there would be videos showed on the 2nd level mainly for yoga enthusiasts.
 

The first level houses 2 interesting spotlights. The first being a chess setup in the middle of that level that is akin to the one you see in a Harry Potter movie, the second being Subbutteo, a soccer table and I'm not talking about a futsal one.

 

You have to be a Singaporean or a PR to be able to have the benefit of a free membership just so you can borrow the books there as well as the Subbutteo set. Non-Singaporeans would have to pay $50 to attain the membership

Singapore Sports Museum:

Currently not open yet as the area is being sealed away. From the outside, it looks like the place would be information-filled with exhibitions for the public and tourists to look at.

Resting spot:

1) Beyond the beach volleyball courts and the OCBC Water Sports Centre, there is a bridge and a lighthouse owned by the government. The bridge offers a romantic spot for couples to admire the scenery and breeze especially so at night when the area is replete with lightings. I thought I chanced upon a really good spot which is the lighthouse but unfortunately, it is blocked off by a gate and 2 people were caught trespassing into that government owned area not too long ago. Seats are available right outside the gate and provides a good gathering spot after a meal or sport.

 Resting spot near the lighthouse

The pictures really doesn't do the place justice, does it?

 

 

What are your memories of the old National Stadium and the current new one? Type in your comments and share these experiences!