For some young Singaporeans, the love for sport begins as either an after-school activity or a weekend hobby. But for the team behind Project 95 (P95) Basketball Academy and AiRENA, it’s something far more significant: An opportunity to shape character, build relationships, and create a community.
"The gap wasn't simply a lack of facilities. It was the need for a place where people could train, learn, connect, and feel part of a shared purpose." – Alfred Chua
That belief has guided P95 since its inception. What began as a basketball academy has gradually evolved into AiRENA, a purpose-built sports hub that combines coaching, technology, and partnerships to support athletes throughout their development. While features like AI-powered performance analytics and international collaborations distinguish the facility, its core team members are clear that these are merely tools in service of a much bigger goal: Bringing people together through sport.
"We never intended P95 to be just a place to learn basketball," shares co-founder Alfred Chua. "From the beginning, our goal was to use sport to develop young people as players and as individuals."
For Chua, the greatest lessons sport offers have little to do with technical ability. Discipline, resilience, teamwork, and learning to embrace setbacks are qualities that cannot be developed overnight, nor can they be taught in a classroom. They are earned through consistent effort, shared experiences, as well as a willingness to keep improving.
As the academy grew, another realisation followed. An athlete's journey is not something done in solitude. Parents, coaches, schools, mentors, and community partners all play important roles, making it clear that building better athletes also meant building a stronger support network around them.
"The gap wasn't simply a lack of facilities. It was the need for a place where people could train, learn, connect, and feel part of a shared purpose," reveals Chua.
Alan Lim
That philosophy has informed every aspect of AiRENA's development. More than a sports venue, it has been designed as a gathering place where athletes, families, and organisations can interact beyond scheduled training sessions.
For director Alan Lim, creating that sense of belonging requires deliberate effort. "Sports has always been about bringing people together. We never wanted AiRENA to be a place where athletes simply turn up, train, and leave."
Regular competitions, workshops, overseas camps, and events are intended to strengthen those relationships, while technology offers another way to support players' development. AI-powered performance analysis and digital training records provide coaches with deeper insights into each athlete, while giving parents greater visibility into their child's progress. Yet, Lim is quick to emphasise that technology remains secondary. "It cannot replace the relationship between a coach and a player."
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Mitchell Folkoff
This balance between innovation and human connection also shapes AiRENA's approach to partnerships. Collaborations with schools, overseas academies, sporting organisations, and brands help expand opportunities for young athletes while ensuring the organisation remains financially sustainable. Recent initiatives, including its collaboration with Under Armour to introduce the UA Next Combine performance benchmarking programme to Singapore, illustrate how partnerships can broaden opportunities without overshadowing the academy's core mission.
"The business needs to stand for something," says Lim. "Growth should allow us to run better programmes, reach more young people and give them opportunities they might not otherwise have."
For head coach Mitchell Folkoff, however, the most meaningful outcomes often reveal themselves even before a player wins a championship. "Our coaching philosophy is built on being an effective communicator, putting the team before yourself and understanding that there are no shortcuts to meaningful growth," he says. Talent, he believes, is only part of the equation. Accountability, humility and the willingness to learn from failure are qualities that endure long after competitive careers end.
This balance between innovation and human connection also shapes AiRENA's approach to partnerships. Collaborations with schools, overseas academies, sporting organisations, and brands help expand opportunities for young athletes while ensuring the organisation remains financially sustainable. Recent initiatives, including its collaboration with Under Armour to introduce the UA Next Combine performance benchmarking programme to Singapore, illustrate how partnerships can broaden opportunities without overshadowing the academy's core mission.
"The business needs to stand for something," says Lim. "Growth should allow us to run better programmes, reach more young people and give them opportunities they might not otherwise have."
For head coach Mitchell Folkoff, however, the most meaningful outcomes often reveal themselves even before a player wins a championship. "Our coaching philosophy is built on being an effective communicator, putting the team before yourself and understanding that there are no shortcuts to meaningful growth," he says. Talent, he believes, is only part of the equation. Accountability, humility and the willingness to learn from failure are qualities that endure long after competitive careers end.
Basketball may be the common language that brings these different groups together, but it is trust, shared values, and a genuine sense of belonging that ultimately holds the community together. In a connected yet often fragmented world, that may prove to be AiRENA's greatest achievement.
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