Start them younger: Feng Tianwei wants to get pre-schoolers playing table tennis

Former national table tennis player Feng Tianwei interacting with New Life pre-school children during the launch of “Little Paddles, Big Potential”, a two-year partnership between Preschool Market and Feng Tianwei International Table Tennis Academy (FTTA), at The Sports Arina @ Jalan Kayu on Oct 21.

Published Oct 21, 2026, 06:00 PM

Updated Oct 21, 2026, 06:00 PM

Feng Tianwei wants to give Singapore pre-schoolers an early start in table tennis, like she had at age five, through her new FTTA academy.

FTTA and Preschool Market launched “Little Paddles, Big Potential” with 35 New Life Preschools children, three sessions, and $10,000 in funding and in-kind support.

The two-year plan may grow into other sports and a nationwide mini-olympiad for pre-schoolers in 2027, with a target of 10,000 children.

SINGAPORE – Feng Tianwei was just five when she first picked up a table tennis bat in her hometown in Harbin, China.

Three Olympic medals later, the 40-year-old credits her foundation years with giving her a head start in a career that took her to the pinnacle of the sport.

Once ranked as high as world No. 2, she also won a world championship team gold and multiple medals at the SEA, Asian and Commonwealth Games.

Now, the former national athlete wants to give Singaporean youngsters the same opportunity.

“I started playing at five and we hope to get kids exposed to table tennis at a younger age to cultivate their interest in the sport,” said Feng, who founded the Feng Tianwei International Table Tennis Academy (FTTA) in April.

“We hope to create a pathway for these kids and this will be a long-term project. We will have small games for kids aged between three and six and most importantly, we also want them to feel the joy of playing table tennis.”

On Oct 21, FTTA penned a two-year partnership with Preschool Market, an educational consultancy and social enterprise in the early childhood sector, to introduce pre-schoolers to structured sports training.

The initiative, Little Paddles, Big Potential, will kick off with 35 children from New Life Preschools who will train under FTTA coaches at the academy’s headquarters at The Sports Arina @ Jalan Kayu. They will attend three 90-minute familiarisation sessions to gauge their interest.

The two organisations have also committed a combined $10,000 in funding and in-kind services for the pilot launch.

On developing kids with potential, Feng added: “We have more advanced courses here catered to children aged between five and seven and even up to those in the higher age-groups (12 to 14).

“If we find that the child has the aptitude and potential to be nurtured, or if their parents are keen for them to pursue the sport further, then of course they can extend their lessons with us and we will provide them with a curated curriculum.”

While the partnership begins with table tennis, organisers Preschool Market hope to expand it to other sports like football, basketball, badminton and swimming in the future.

Preschool Market founder Cheong Sufen said the aim is to introduce children to sport at a younger age, and it is targeting 10,000 children over two years.

She said: “On the early childhood side, we have all along been doing non-sports programmes and when I attended Tianwei’s academy launch earlier this year, we discussed (instilling an interest) in young children.

“We work with almost 1,200 pre-schools through our ‘Start Small, Dream Big’ movement, and also there are good values in this programme that we want children to learn about and we will extend the invite to all our pre-schools.

“We will then talk to the schools to gauge the kids’ interest, we want to support them and so we are still hoping to find sponsorships to fund this.”

It also hopes to launch a nation-wide mini-Olympiad for pre-schoolers in 2027.

Preschool Market’s chief strategy officer David Loh said that the mini-Olympiad will feature three to five sports in both individual and team events.

He added: “We will have zonal events and the zone champions will compete in a grand finale and hopefully in one year’s time, more people, not just the preschoolers, but also their parents will be involved.”

Melvyn Teoh is a sports journalist at The Straits Times.

前国家乒乓球运动员冯天伟于 10 月 21 日在 Jalan Kayu 体育馆与新生活幼儿园的孩子们互动，共同启动了“小球拍，大潜力”项目。该项目是学前市场与冯天伟国际乒乓球学院 (FTTA) 为期两年的合作项目。

发布于2026年10月21日下午6:00

更新于2026年10月21日下午6:00

冯天薇希望通过她新创办的FTTA学院，让新加坡的学龄前儿童像她五岁时一样，从小就开始接触乒乓球。

FTTA 和 Preschool Market 联合发起了“小桨，大潜力”项目，共有 35 名 New Life Preschools 的儿童参与，开展了三期课程，并获得了 10,000 美元的资金和实物支持。

这项为期两年的计划可能会扩展到其他体育项目，并于 2027 年举办面向学龄前儿童的全国性迷你奥运会，目标是吸引 10,000 名儿童参加。

新加坡——冯天薇五岁时，在她家乡中国哈尔滨第一次拿起乒乓球拍。

这位40岁的运动员在获得三枚奥运奖牌后，将自己职业生涯的成功归功于早年的训练，正是这些训练让她在职业生涯中取得了领先，最终登上了这项运动的巅峰。

她曾排名世界第二，还获得过世界锦标赛团体金牌，并在东南亚运动会、亚洲运动会和英联邦运动会上获得多枚奖牌。

现在，这位前国家队运动员希望给新加坡的年轻人提供同样的机会。

“我五岁就开始打乒乓球，我们希望让孩子们从小就接触乒乓球，培养他们对这项运动的兴趣，”冯天伟说道。他于今年四月创办了冯天伟国际乒乓球学院（FTTA）。

“我们希望为这些孩子创造一条发展道路，这将是一个长期项目。我们将为3至6岁的孩子们提供一些小型比赛，最重要的是，我们也希望他们能感受到打乒乓球的乐趣。”

10 月 21 日，FTTA 与 Preschool Market（一家专注于幼儿教育领域的教育咨询和社会企业）签署了一项为期两年的合作协议，旨在向学龄前儿童介绍结构化的体育训练。

这项名为“小桨，大潜能”的计划将首先邀请来自新生命幼儿园的35名儿童，在FTTA教练的指导下，于位于Jalan Kayu体育馆的学院总部进行训练。他们将参加三节90分钟的体验课，以评估他们的兴趣。

这两个组织还承诺为试点启动提供共计 10,000 美元的资金和实物服务。

冯补充道：“我们这里有更高级的课程，适合 5 到 7 岁的孩子，甚至也适合年龄更大的孩子（12 到 14 岁）。”

“如果我们发现孩子有天赋和潜力可以培养，或者他们的父母热切希望他们继续从事这项运动，那么他们当然可以继续在我们这里学习，我们会为他们提供精心设计的课程。”

虽然合作最初是从乒乓球开始的，但组织方 Preschool Market 希望未来能将其扩展到足球、篮球、羽毛球和游泳等其他运动项目。

Preschool Market 的创始人张素芬表示，其目标是让孩子们从小接触体育运动，并计划在两年内让 1 万名儿童参与其中。

她说：“在幼儿教育方面，我们一直都在开展非体育类项目。今年早些时候，我参加了天威学院的启动仪式，我们讨论了如何培养幼儿的兴趣。

“我们通过‘从小做起，梦想远大’运动与近 1200 所幼儿园合作，而且这个项目中也蕴含着我们希望孩子们学习的良好价值观，我们将邀请我们所有的幼儿园参与。

“接下来我们会与学校沟通，了解孩子们的兴趣，我们希望支持他们，所以我们仍在寻找赞助商来资助这个项目。”

它还希望在 2027 年推出面向学龄前儿童的全国性小型奥林匹克运动会。

Preschool Market 的首席战略官 David Loh 表示，小型奥运会将包括三到五个体育项目，涵盖个人和团体项目。

他补充道：“我们将举办区域性赛事，各区域冠军将参加总决赛，希望一年后，不仅学龄前儿童，他们的父母也能参与其中。”

Melvyn Teoh是《海峡时报》的体育记者。