Coming off a prolific basketball career at Kranji Primary School where her team won the National Championship in 2017, Tanya Tan is no stranger to basketball. She started playing basketball in Primary 1 and she remembers her first game being a P1 vs P5 game played during school recess. Since then, Tanya has always adored the game and entered her school training team in Primary 2. Where most players are just picking up the basics, Tanya is a talented baller who has a natural flair for the game. 

With her talent, Tanya soon became an integral part of her school team. She continued to mature in her team game, learning the hard way when her Coach once benched her to help her understand certain team concepts. She grew from the experience and eventually helped to lead her team to win the National title in the same year.

Currently at 13 years old and 165cm, Tanya has a physical advantage that gives her plenty of flexibility as a player, able to play any position from guard to centre. As she continues to hone her skills, Tanya made the decision to enter SG Basketball Academy where she is striving to achieve her goals of becoming a National Player and in the long run, a basketball coach.

As we welcome Tanya into the SG Basketball family, we conducted a short interview with her to understand more about her. 

Editor: What is your most memorable moment in basketball?

Tanya: I was elated when my team clinched the national championship title not only because it shows our skills as basketball players, it was a clear recognition of the hard work and dedication each member of the team put in and the strong bonds we forged in the process of our training.

E: You mentioned the huge respect you have for your Coach. Can you share more about what you think about him?

T:  He is very strict during training and pushes us to our limits so that we can perform our best during matches. At the same time, he is very approachable outside training. He is a dedicated coach who strives to build camaraderie within the team. Without his efforts, our team would not be where it is today.

E: What were your thoughts when your Coach invited you to consider joining an established basketball academy like SG Basketball?

T: Initially I was apprehensive as to whether I would be able to cope with the extra work load but I decided to try it out an take it as a personal challenge to improve my playing skills, and I also felt very honoured that my coach wanted to groom me into becoming a better basketball player.

E: How do you feel SG Basketball can help you to reach your personal goals?

T: Through SG Basketball, I will be able to improve my skills to be able to qualify for the national team. I will also get the opportunity to interact with other players of different backgrounds so that I can continually improve my interpersonal skills that would pave the way to becoming a Basketball Coach in the future.

Coach Victor Tan is a familiar face to many in the Singapore basketball scene. Known as a strict mentor on court with a no-nonsense attitude, Victor is at the same time down-to-earth and approachable, widely respected by his students and peers for the effort he has put into basketball coaching.

Over his 18 years of coaching, Victor’s teams have won a total of 17 national titles, 34 zone titles and 3 district titles. This, by no means is an easy feat, considering how competitive the school basketball scene is, increasingly so in the past few years.

 Here are some highlights from Victor’s coaching career: 

1. Victor’s teams met in the National Finals against each other on 3 separate occasions: 2013, 2007, and 2006
2. As a coach, Victor has won all primary school titles, including all four Division Zonal titles in West, North, and South Zones
3. In 2011, Victor’s teams won 3 National titles out of 4 available with 2 different schools

Put simply, Victor’s list of accolades is one that most coaches could only dream of in the Singapore coaching scene. His first batch of students would already be in their adulthood, possibly even with children of their own!

Amazingly, it is not just Victor’s staggering coaching achievements that are tough to match, but it is more so the intrinsic values that he has imparted to his students that most, if not all of them would have carried into the rest of their lives.

SG Basketball is immensely honoured to welcome Coach Victor Tan to our growing family and we look forward to working closely together with Victor to reach higher and rise as one.