Back to news
The Ah Ma Flippa Ball Team Is a Sign of Singapore’s Aging Population
@Source: nytimes.com
Tussling for the ball on a recent Tuesday, two players attempted to wrestle it from Lee Fong Nam. As she gripped it to her chest, she demanded intervention from the coach. “Are you still not going to blow the whistle?”
He chuckled and said: “You all are playing rugby!”
Actually this is Singapore’s Ah Ma Flippa Ball team — Ah Ma is grandmother in several Chinese dialects. They are a group of women mostly in their 60s, 70s and 80s who play a modified version of water polo designed for children. It is also a microcosm of how this wealthy city state is changing.
As Singapore has prospered, life expectancy here has soared to 84 and now nearly a fifth of the population is over 65. In recent decades, the government has raised not only the retirement age but also what it calls the re-employment age, or how long employers are required to extend jobs for people after they reach retirement age.
It is also giving more benefits, like cash payouts, to some older citizens, as well as those in their 50s and 60s, whom it calls “young seniors.” It has dispatched “Silver Generation Ambassadors” to conduct door-to-door visits with seniors who live alone to encourage them to exercise, play games like Rummy-O, and learn robotics and other languages. Older residents are now part of a cheerleading squad, an e-sports team and the flippa ball outfit.
Related News
18 Mar, 2025
Independence Armwrestling Challenge: Gha . . .
12 Jun, 2025
Barbados off European Union blacklist
18 Jun, 2025
'I can't tell you how many doors we've k . . .
28 Feb, 2025
Shedeur Sanders seems to throw Colorado . . .
14 May, 2025
FTE boost tourism market
20 Apr, 2025
I was planning my funeral after stage 4 . . .
02 May, 2025
Manchester City vs Wolves - Premier Leag . . .
01 Jun, 2025
Ford unveils a wild-looking Mustang to t . . .