Athlete's Grit: From Sports to Life: Recent Episodes
Alex Loh
This is a podcast interview series where I speak to current and ex high performance athletes in Singapore on their sport, and how the skills learnt, acquired and trained in competitive sport, have translated into their professional and personal life.
I hope that their true stories of grit in overcoming adversity, will inspire and motivate others.
Hearing stories of local athletes' journeys closer to home, helps us relate better, and makes each story even more meaningful.
More about Alex Loh --> https://linktr.ee/alexlohsengyue
My guest today is Yip Ren Kai, ex-National Water Polo Vice-Captain and multiple SEA Games Gold Medalist, Entrepreneur, and Grassroots Contributor.
One of the best centreback specialist and all-rounded player I have ever known. I knew Ren Kai since he was a young player and he donned National Colours only after I retired from the sport. But very privileged to have played with him in many other competitions as a teammate and also against him as a competitor. A great leader and highly respected, in and outside of the pool.
I hope you enjoy the session as much as I did.
Timestamp:
- 0.30 Renkai introduces himself and his businesses
- 3.00 2009 was his last SEA Games
- 4.45 Contributing back to the sports industry
- 5.30 Was being involved in work that involved sports something he always knew he wanted to do?
- 7.30 Signing up for the organizing committee for the Youth Olympics Games (YOG) 2010
- 8.00 Sports brings everyone together
- 9.00 Reason for retirement
- 10.00 Stepping aside to let the younger ones take it further
- 10.30 How do you know that you’re at your peak?
- 11.30 Be a contributor and not a liability
- 13.00 Setting goals for sport are the same as setting goals for work
- 14.00 Moving on too next phase of life for the shift in priorities
- 17.00 Most memorable highs in Water Polo career
- 21.00 What were the sort of emotions that came out of that?
- 23.45 Water Polo was the bond and nationalities and medal colour didn’t matter
- 25.25 Making rivals in the pool but becoming buddies outside of it
- 28.00 Most difficult period in Water Polo
- 30.55 Lowest points in life in sport happened at the young age of 13
- 32.45 Bouncing back after 12 months of preparation work
- 34.30 Visualisation on risk management of multiple scenarios used outside of Water Polo
- 36.40 How high performance sport has influenced his professional and personal life currently?
- 37.00 Learning to work with different personalities
- 38.18 Goalsetting and time management
- 39.00 Task oriented and setting priorities for maximum productivity
- 41.20 Complimenting business partner with different skillsets
- 44.00 What would he tell his younger self
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Yip Ren Kai, ex-National Water Polo Vice-Captain and multiple SEA Games Gold Medalist, Entrepreneur, and Grassroots Contributor.
One of the best centreback specialist and all-rounded player I have ever known. I knew Ren Kai since he was a young player and he donned National Colours only after I retired from the sport. But very privileged to have played with him in many other competitions as a teammate and also against him as a competitor. A great leader and highly respected, in and outside of the pool.
I hope you enjoy the session as much as I did.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Yip Ren Kai, ex-National Water Polo Vice-Captain and multiple SEA Games Gold Medalist, Entrepreneur, and Grassroots Contributor.
One of the best centreback specialist and all-rounded player I have ever known. I knew Ren Kai since he was a young player and he donned National Colours only after I retired from the sport. But very privileged to have played with him in many other competitions as a teammate and also against him as a competitor. A great leader and highly respected, in and outside of the pool.
I hope you enjoy the session as much as I did.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Yip Ren Kai, ex-National Water Polo Vice-Captain and multiple SEA Games Gold Medalist, Entrepreneur, and Grassroots Contributor.
One of the best centreback specialist and all-rounded player I have ever known. I knew Ren Kai since he was a young player and he donned National Colours only after I retired from the sport. But very privileged to have played with him in many other competitions as a teammate and also against him as a competitor. A great leader and highly respected, in and outside of the pool.
I hope you enjoy the session as much as I did.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Yip Ren Kai, ex-National Water Polo Vice-Captain and multiple SEA Games Gold Medalist, Entrepreneur, and Grassroots Contributor.
One of the best centreback specialist and all-rounded player I have ever known. I knew Ren Kai since he was a young player and he donned National Colours only after I retired from the sport. But very privileged to have played with him in many other competitions as a teammate and also against him as a competitor. A great leader and highly respected, in and outside of the pool.
I hope you enjoy the session as much as I did.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Michelle Sng, National High Jumper, SEA Games Gold Medalist, Adidas Creator, and Comms Specialist.
I first met Michelle at an Adidas Runners Singapore event and again when she was seeking treatment for plantar fasciitis at my red-light therapy wellness studio. Those casual chats would have never revealed the dark periods and troubled times that Michelle underwent as Singapore’s number one high jumper, a label that actually worked against her performance and the hanging up of her spikes in 2010. I am thankful for her time as guest on the podcast as she shares the journey of coming full circle, winning a SEA Games Gold Medal, and continuing to represent Singapore since.
I hope you enjoy the session as much as I did.
Welcoming Michelle Sng.
Timestamp:
- 0.30 Michelle introduces herself
- 1.00 How she started with High Jump
- 3.40 How she progressed to train at a higher level
- 5.30 Retiring from the sport because of an injury
- 6.32 What was the difference competing pre and post early retirement?
- 7.00 Injury with surgery lead to early retirement
- 8.00 The pain might have been psychological
- 9.30 Moving away from the label of “Michelle Sng the High Jumper”
- 10.00 18-months of solo travel and self-discovery
- 12.15 Being called up for “National Service”
- 14.54 Lowest moments
- 15.37 Moving to Kuala Lumpur to train
- 18.00 Living a different life and Moving On
- 21.00 Speaking about things helped with the moving on
- 22.00 Most significant highs
- 22.45 Emotional journey of going back to the stadium where she first hung up her spikes
- 24.00 Competition day felt really good physically and mentally and that led to the Gold Medal victory
- 25.20 Being in the zone and closing that chapter of her life
- 26.00 To enjoy your journey and not be too fixated the expectation of the outcome
- 28.40 Setting specific and SMART goals
- 29.55 How high-performance sport has shaped her professional and personal life
- 31.45 Sport teaches that not everything is under your control
- 35.20 Piece advice for youth athletes
- 36.55 How to identify patience vs knowing when to throw in the towel
- 38.40 One thing you would tell your younger self
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Michelle Sng, National High Jumper, SEA Games Gold Medalist, Adidas Creator, and Comms Specialist.
I first met Michelle at an Adidas Runners Singapore event and again when she was seeking treatment for plantar fasciitis at my red-light therapy wellness studio. Those casual chats would have never revealed the dark periods and troubled times that Michelle underwent as Singapore’s number one high jumper, a label that actually worked against her performance and the hanging up of her spikes in 2010. I am thankful for her time as guest on the podcast as she shares the journey of coming full circle, winning a SEA Games Gold Medal, and continuing to represent Singapore since.
I hope you enjoy the session as much as I did.
Welcoming Michelle Sng.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Michelle Sng, National High Jumper, SEA Games Gold Medalist, Adidas Creator, and Comms Specialist.
I first met Michelle at an Adidas Runners Singapore event and again when she was seeking treatment for plantar fasciitis at my red-light therapy wellness studio. Those casual chats would have never revealed the dark periods and troubled times that Michelle underwent as Singapore’s number one high jumper, a label that actually worked against her performance and the hanging up of her spikes in 2010. I am thankful for her time as guest on the podcast as she shares the journey of coming full circle, winning a SEA Games Gold Medal, and continuing to represent Singapore since.
I hope you enjoy the session as much as I did.
Welcoming Michelle Sng.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Michelle Sng, National High Jumper, SEA Games Gold Medalist, Adidas Creator, and Comms Specialist.
I first met Michelle at an Adidas Runners Singapore event and again when she was seeking treatment for plantar fasciitis at my red-light therapy wellness studio. Those casual chats would have never revealed the dark periods and troubled times that Michelle underwent as Singapore’s number one high jumper, a label that actually worked against her performance and the hanging up of her spikes in 2010. I am thankful for her time as guest on the podcast as she shares the journey of coming full circle, winning a SEA Games Gold Medal, and continuing to represent Singapore since.
I hope you enjoy the session as much as I did.
Welcoming Michelle Sng.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Michelle Sng, National High Jumper, SEA Games Gold Medalist, Adidas Creator, and Comms Specialist.
I first met Michelle at an Adidas Runners Singapore event and again when she was seeking treatment for plantar fasciitis at my red-light therapy wellness studio. Those casual chats would have never revealed the dark periods and troubled times that Michelle underwent as Singapore’s number one high jumper, a label that actually worked against her performance and the hanging up of her spikes in 2010. I am thankful for her time as guest on the podcast as she shares the journey of coming full circle, winning a SEA Games Gold Medal, and continuing to represent Singapore since.
I hope you enjoy the session as much as I did.
Welcoming Michelle Sng.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Michelle Sng, National High Jumper, SEA Games Gold Medalist, Adidas Creator, and Comms Specialist.
I first met Michelle at an Adidas Runners Singapore event and again when she was seeking treatment for plantar fasciitis at my red-light therapy wellness studio. Those casual chats would have never revealed the dark periods and troubled times that Michelle underwent as Singapore’s number one high jumper, a label that actually worked against her performance and the hanging up of her spikes in 2010. I am thankful for her time as guest on the podcast as she shares the journey of coming full circle, winning a SEA Games Gold Medal, and continuing to represent Singapore since.
I hope you enjoy the session as much as I did.
Welcoming Michelle Sng.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Michelle Sng, National High Jumper, SEA Games Gold Medalist, Adidas Creator, and Comms Specialist.
I first met Michelle at an Adidas Runners Singapore event and again when she was seeking treatment for plantar fasciitis at my red-light therapy wellness studio. Those casual chats would have never revealed the dark periods and troubled times that Michelle underwent as Singapore’s number one high jumper, a label that actually worked against her performance and the hanging up of her spikes in 2010. I am thankful for her time as guest on the podcast as she shares the journey of coming full circle, winning a SEA Games Gold Medal, and continuing to represent Singapore since.
I hope you enjoy the session as much as I did.
Welcoming Michelle Sng.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Charmaine Soh, Singapore Netball Captain & Shooter, Netball Academy Founder, and Corporate Warrior,
I have known Charmaine for many years now, but I never knew that behind that bubbly Netball shooter and skipper, lay dark periods of self-doubt and an episode of possible premature retirement. With more than a decade representing Singapore in Netball and the last five years in leadership, Charmaine has hundreds of international caps and is literally THE face of Singapore Netball.
Enjoy Charmaine’s candid and very cheerful personality through this episode and hear how she puts believe into action and pushes through failures and setback in the team sport of Netball and applies these values to her professional life.
Welcoming Charmaine Soh.
Timestamp:
2.30 Charmaine introduces herself
3.30 How she started with Netball
4.50 Won Most Valuable Shooter in the local league
5.20 Always had been her dream to play for Singapore since she started playing Netball
6.25 Why she started her Netball Academy
9.00 How has sport helped her professionally as an auditor and management consulting
10.45 Any challenges at work that were overcomed by skills learnt at high performance sport
13.15 Most significant highs in Netball career
15.00 What was the winning formula in 2015?
17.35 How to replicate the “in the zone” moments?
19.20 What does it mean to “give it your all”?
20.54 Most significant lows
22.30 Dealing with self-doubt and wanting to retire from Netball
26.30 Another setback and bad moment in her Netball career
28.43 It makes a difference to your performance and stress response when the stakes are higher
29.45 Remember the good to have gotten you where you are and not just that one bad moment
30.20 Getting over psychological trauma from sport
31.30 What it means to play, function and support as a team
32.00 What was the turning point for her to climb out of the cycle of doubt?
36.00 Don’t think so much, just shoot the ball and get it over and done with
38.30 Finding the middle ground between being cautious and overtly cautious
39.05 Piece of advice for young netballers
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Charmaine Soh, Singapore Netball Captain & Shooter, Netball Academy Founder and Corporate Warrior.
I have known Charmaine for many years now, but I never knew that behind that bubbly Netball shooter and skipper, lay dark periods of self-doubt and an episode of possible premature retirement. With more than a decade representing Singapore in Netball and the last five years in leadership, Charmaine has hundreds of international caps and is literally THE face of Singapore Netball.
Enjoy Charmaine’s candid and very cheerful personality through this episode and hear how she puts believe into action and pushes through failures and setback in the team sport of Netball and applies these values to her professional life.
Welcoming Charmaine Soh.
📷Richard Seow
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Charmaine Soh, Singapore Netball Captain & Shooter, Netball Academy Founder and Corporate Warrior.
I have known Charmaine for many years now, but I never knew that behind that bubbly Netball shooter and skipper, lay dark periods of self-doubt and an episode of possible premature retirement. With more than a decade representing Singapore in Netball and the last five years in leadership, Charmaine has hundreds of international caps and is literally THE face of Singapore Netball.
Enjoy Charmaine’s candid and very cheerful personality through this episode and hear how she puts believe into action and pushes through failures and setback in the team sport of Netball and applies these values to her professional life.
Welcoming Charmaine Soh.
📷Richard Seow
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Charmaine Soh, Singapore Netball Captain & Shooter, Netball Academy Founder and Corporate Warrior.
I have known Charmaine for many years now, but I never knew that behind that bubbly Netball shooter and skipper, lay dark periods of self-doubt and an episode of possible premature retirement. With more than a decade representing Singapore in Netball and the last five years in leadership, Charmaine has hundreds of international caps and is literally THE face of Singapore Netball.
Enjoy Charmaine’s candid and very cheerful personality through this episode and hear how she puts believe into action and pushes through failures and setback in the team sport of Netball and applies these values to her professional life.
Welcoming Charmaine Soh.
📷Richard Seow
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Charmaine Soh, Singapore Netball Captain & Shooter, Netball Academy Founder and Corporate Warrior.
I have known Charmaine for many years now, but I never knew that behind that bubbly Netball shooter and skipper, lay dark periods of self-doubt and an episode of possible premature retirement. With more than a decade representing Singapore in Netball and the last five years in leadership, Charmaine has hundreds of international caps and is literally THE face of Singapore Netball.
Enjoy Charmaine’s candid and very cheerful personality through this episode and hear how she puts believe into action and pushes through failures and setback in the team sport of Netball and applies these values to her professional life.
Welcoming Charmaine Soh.
📷Richard Seow
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Charmaine Soh, Singapore Netball Captain & Shooter, Netball Academy Founder and Corporate Warrior.
I have known Charmaine for many years now, but I never knew that behind that bubbly Netball shooter and skipper, lay dark periods of self-doubt and an episode of possible premature retirement. With more than a decade representing Singapore in Netball and the last five years in leadership, Charmaine has hundreds of international caps and is literally THE face of Singapore Netball.
Enjoy Charmaine’s candid and very cheerful personality through this episode and hear how she puts believe into action and pushes through failures and setback in the team sport of Netball and applies these values to her professional life.
Welcoming Charmaine Soh.
📷Richard Seow
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Sidney Kumar, former Singapore Rugby Player, Educator, Coach, Husband, Father and Podcast Host.
Even though we’ve known each other a short time and I am 7 years older, the fact that he plays a team sport and that we share the same alma mater, makes everything so much more relatable.
Sidney shares how not one knee injury but 2 knee severe injuries left him almost not being able to fulfil his dream of representing Singapore at the SEA Games. An excellent narration of his life in the sport of Rugby and how this has not just shaped him as a player, but also as a teacher, coach, father and husband.
Welcoming Sidney Kumar.
Timestamp:
- 3.00 Sidney introduces himself
- 6.00 Tough times playing rugby in secondary school with no achievements
- 7.30 Looking at playing rugby at a higher level after junior college
- 8.00 Took it upon himself to go for trials even though was not called up
- 9.15 Fueled by desire to play more and to play for Singapore
- 10.40 Made is to the under 19 Singapore team at 17 years old
- 12.10 Eye opening experience with first international experience
- 13.22 National exam and National Service was a break from rugby
- 15.45 Playing club level rugby from post-army university and drafted into the National team
- 19.10 Broke his leg during a game
- 22.15 Extent of injury
- 23.45 Fell into a depressive state of loss and reflection
- 26.40 Being optimistic about the injury recovery period to prepare for the 2015 SEA Games
- 29.30 The road to recovery entering a new work environment as well
- 32.20 Resigned to the fact that he would not make the team but stayed on to support the team
- 34.45 Set goal to play in the 2017 SEA Games
- 37.00 Tore MCL on the “good” leg
- 39.00 Played well in competition and knee held up
- 40.10 Devastated because was told that he would not make the 2017 SEA Games team
- 42.00 Training camp overseas despite not making the team
- 44.00 Suddenly got called up to fly in to join the team in Malaysia
- 48.00 Finished with a silver medal and happy ending
- 49.00 Multiple rejections
- 50.10 Having a goal made that defining difference
- 53.00 Discipline in a team sport helped spread the load and responsibility
- 54.00 Growth mindset which allows the mind to explore possibilities being endless despite challenges and setbacks
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Sidney Kumar, former Singapore Rugby Player, Educator, Coach, Husband, Father and Podcast Host.
Even though we’ve known each other a short time and I am 7 years older, the fact that he plays a team sport and that we share the same alma mater, makes everything so much more relatable.
Sidney shares how not one knee injury but 2 knee severe injuries left him almost not being able to fulfill his dream of representing Singapore at the SEA Games. An excellent narration of his life in the sport of Rugby and how this has not just shaped him as a player, but also as a teacher, coach, father and husband.
Welcoming Sidney Kumar.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Sidney Kumar, former Singapore Rugby Player, Educator, Coach, Husband, Father and Podcast Host.
Even though we’ve known each other a short time and I am 7 years older, the fact that he plays a team sport and that we share the same alma mater, makes everything so much more relatable.
Sidney shares how not one knee injury but 2 knee severe injuries left him almost not being able to fulfill his dream of representing Singapore at the SEA Games. An excellent narration of his life in the sport of Rugby and how this has not just shaped him as a player, but also as a teacher, coach, father and husband.
Welcoming Sidney Kumar.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Sidney Kumar, former Singapore Rugby Player, Educator, Coach, Husband, Father and Podcast Host.
Even though we’ve known each other a short time and I am 7 years older, the fact that he plays a team sport and that we share the same alma mater, makes everything so much more relatable.
Sidney shares how not one knee injury but 2 knee severe injuries left him almost not being able to fulfill his dream of representing Singapore at the SEA Games. An excellent narration of his life in the sport of Rugby and how this has not just shaped him as a player, but also as a teacher, coach, father and husband.
Welcoming Sidney Kumar.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Sidney Kumar, former Singapore Rugby Player, Educator, Coach, Husband, Father and Podcast Host.
Even though we’ve known each other a short time and I am 7 years older, the fact that he plays a team sport and that we share the same alma mater, makes everything so much more relatable.
Sidney shares how not one knee injury but 2 knee severe injuries left him almost not being able to fulfill his dream of representing Singapore at the SEA Games. An excellent narration of his life in the sport of Rugby and how this has not just shaped him as a player, but also as a teacher, coach, father and husband.
Welcoming Sidney Kumar.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Sidney Kumar, former Singapore Rugby Player, Educator, Coach, Husband, Father and Podcast Host.
Even though we’ve known each other a short time and I am 7 years older, the fact that he plays a team sport and that we share the same alma mater, makes everything so much more relatable.
Sidney shares how not one knee injury but 2 knee severe injuries left him almost not being able to fulfill his dream of representing Singapore at the SEA Games. An excellent narration of his life in the sport of Rugby and how this has not just shaped him as a player, but also as a teacher, coach, father and husband.
Welcoming Sidney Kumar.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Joscelin Yeo, Olympian, former National Swimmer, former Nominated Member of Parliament, Mother, and Sports Administrator.
I have known Joscelin’s brother since secondary school days when we were playing water polo as rival in different schools, but I never really had a chance to get to meet and know Joscelin on a personal level. But I believe that it’s never too late for things to happen, and in fact this podcast interview could not have happened at a better time.
Joscelin talks about how sport is a lifestyle choice and not a sacrifice; the ability to understand one's internal drive to push pass the most physical, emotional and psychologically difficult times; and about growth and how community is key to making that happen.
Welcoming Joscelin Yeo.
- 0.05 Joscelin introduces himself
- 1.50 How she handled a full-time intense routine all 17 years she was swimming for Singapore
- 2.40 The golden girl of the 1980s
- 3.00 Journey of pushing pass the many times of giving up
- 3.30 Growth came from having to juggle so much at a time
- 6.00 Desire from within and fire in your belly
- 6.20 Her first retirement at 12 years old
- 8.55 Go out there and enjoy what you’re doing
- 9.10 How a coach helped her change her mindset
- 9.50 Dealing with media was a key resilience building exercise
- 11.00 Swimming is a one-shot-one-kill sport
- 11.54 How to get into the right mindset pre-race?
- 14.18 Learning to deal with unplanned things on the spot
- 15.00 Prep work is all done way before the competition
- 16.15 How should parents motivate their children in high performance sport?
- 17.17 How a parent can help their children push through a difficult period of wanting to give up to build resilience?
- 18.58 Is a child doing the sport because they enjoy it or because that’s what the parent enforces?
- 19.18 Internal drive to have longevity in sport
- 20.00 What was her internal drive?
- 20.38 You have to enjoy what you’re doing. From the training to the racing. And having different motivations at different life stages.
- 21.26 Progression builds confidence
- 22.09 She was a student of the sport
- 22.40 Sport helped her also apply skills to school work
- 26.00 Most significant sporting high
- 28.30 Most significant sporting low
- 32.29 Everything she planned and trained for could not happen due to unforeseen externalities
- 33.17 The need to re-evaluate why she was swimming and what for
- 35.14 Trying for the next Olympics with the transition of graduating from college to finding work and being a semi-pro athlete
- 37.52 Retiring after the 2006 Asian Games
- 38.25 Having the self-awareness to know that she didn’t have the internal drive to keep at the same intensity to give 110%
- 40.39 How she decided to move on because she knew that her internal drive would not take her for another 2 years to the next Olympics
- 41.30 Being an athlete is not about sacrificing something else for sport but its about choosing one lifestyle over another
- 44.15 Most enjoyable phase of 17 years in high performance swimming
- 45.40 How even though swimming is an individual sport, she leant more about teamwork when training in the US
- 46.00 Learning the culture and power of competing with each other and not against one another
- 48.00 How she has taken this skill and applying it as an Exco with the Singapore Swimming Association
- 50.20 Have fun, go out there and enjoy yourself and don’t be too concerned about what others think about you
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Joscelin Yeo, Olympian, former National Swimmer, former Nominated Member of Parliament, Mother, and Sports Administrator.
I have known Joscelin’s brother since secondary school days when we were in the water polo pool playing against each other as rivals, but I never really had a chance to get to meet Joscelin and speak to her about her life. But I believe that it’s never too late for things to happen, and in fact this podcast interview could not have happened at a better time.
Joscelin talks about how sport is a lifestyle choice and not a sacrifice; the ability to understand one's internal drive to push pass the most physical, emotional and psychological difficult times; and about growth and how community is key to making that happen.
Welcoming Joscelin Yeo.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Joscelin Yeo, Olympian, former National Swimmer, former Nominated Member of Parliament, Mother, and Sports Administrator.
I have known Joscelin’s brother since secondary school days when we were in the water polo pool playing against each other as rivals, but I never really had a chance to get to meet Joscelin and speak to her about her life. But I believe that it’s never too late for things to happen, and in fact this podcast interview could not have happened at a better time.
Joscelin talks about how sport is a lifestyle choice and not a sacrifice; the ability to understand one's internal drive to push pass the most physical, emotional and psychological difficult times; and about growth and how community is key to making that happen.
Welcoming Joscelin Yeo.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Joscelin Yeo, Olympian, former National Swimmer, former Nominated Member of Parliament, Mother, and Sports Administrator.
I have known Joscelin’s brother since secondary school days when we were in the water polo pool playing against each other as rivals, but I never really had a chance to get to meet Joscelin and speak to her about her life. But I believe that it’s never too late for things to happen, and in fact this podcast interview could not have happened at a better time.
Joscelin talks about how sport is a lifestyle choice and not a sacrifice; the ability to understand one's internal drive to push pass the most physical, emotional and psychological difficult times; and about growth and how community is key to making that happen.
Welcoming Joscelin Yeo.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Joscelin Yeo, Olympian, former National Swimmer, former Nominated Member of Parliament, Mother, and Sports Administrator.
I have known Joscelin’s brother since secondary school days when we were in the water polo pool playing against each other as rivals, but I never really had a chance to get to meet Joscelin and speak to her about her life. But I believe that it’s never too late for things to happen, and in fact this podcast interview could not have happened at a better time.
Joscelin talks about how sport is a lifestyle choice and not a sacrifice; the ability to understand one's internal drive to push pass the most physical, emotional and psychological difficult times; and about growth and how community is key to making that happen.
Welcoming Joscelin Yeo.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Lim Tong Hai, former Singapore Football Team Captain, Educator, Coach, and Coach Developer.
I first got to know Tong Hai in 2008 when he was a lecturer at the Institute of Technical Institution (ITE) College East, and my school’s water polo team was renting the pool inside the campus for training sessions. And even more opportunity for interaction in 2011 when he enrolled his daughter in my school, Temasek Junior College, where she was directly under my charge representing the swimming team.
This episode is slightly longer because we need time and space as Tong Hai shared his worse sporting moment, and very openingly tells us about the two own goals he put in at the 1993 SEA Games when Singapore was playing in the football semi-finals. This resulted in the team not progressing to the finals, despite having been favourites to win the championship on home ground.
Tong Hai talks about self-blame, guilt, humiliation, public shame and hate, and how even today that memory still haunts him. Listen as he opens up on the acts and display of resilience and mental toughness for him to not quit, walk with his head held high, skipper the team five years later in 1998, and now contributing to character building and values education for coach development in Singapore.
Timestamp:
- 3.40 Tong Hai introduces himself
- 5.10 Been involved in multiple team sports since a young age
- 6.57 Coaching and development for SportSG
- 8.48 Progression from being a professional footballer into an administrator role
- 9.40 Equipping with necessary skills to stay relevant to prepare for life after football
- 11.15 Sharing significant highs from 10-year professional football career
- 13.49 What was he feeling and what was going on in his mind… when he put in that first and then second goal and how he coped?
- 18.30 Dealing with the guilt that many hopes and dreams were dashed because of the errors
- 22.30 Support from family, teammates and team officials
- 24.15 So many other life lessons from this experience – being receptive and non-judgmental to come to conclusions
- 25.20 Build resilience and belief of your own self-worth, and your conscience is clear
- 26.30 True hardship shows who your real friends are
- 28.45 Have always wanted to do something to atone for the bad that he had done towards the team and Singapore
- 30.45 It takes time for anyone to come out of an error and setback. It is progressive.
- 33.25 Regaining the trust of the team, team officials, the public and himself
- 37.10 Teaching others to put themselves in others shoes for mistakes that are made and how we can learn from failures
- 38.55 Tips on how someone can come out of a failure and mistake resulting in a lot of guilt
- 39.55 Accept the responsibility and be positive to move forward
- 41.00 Understanding what you can control and what you cannot control
- 40.30 Sports is also about teaching values
- 42.40 Learning humility through the battles of wins and losses through football
- 43.30 Translation into work, life and interaction with colleagues, and guides parenting decisions
- 44.15 Retirement
- 46.15 Sport has taught him to be reflective
- 46.55 Being a role model when you are a coach and in a leadership position
- 46.46 If you fail to plan, you plan to fail
- 49.40 What is the legacy he’s always wanted to leave
- 53.32 Nothing ventured nothing gained
- 54.25 Looking within yourself and being self-reflective first before coming together with the team
- 55.14 How camaraderie and kinship is built on trust
- 55.44 How having post-mortems in sports directly translates into how we lead our professional and personal lives
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My guest today is Lim Tong Hai, former Singapore Football Team Captain, Educator, Coach, and Coach Developer.
I first got to know Tong Hai in 2008 when he was a lecturer at the Institute of Technical Institution (ITE) College East, and my school’s water polo team was renting the pool inside the campus for training sessions. And even more opportunity for interaction in 2011 when he enrolled his daughter in my school, Temasek Junior College, where she was directly under my charge representing the swimming team.
This episode is slightly longer because we need time and space as Tong Hai shared his worse sporting moment, and very openingly tells us about the two own goals he put in at the 1993 SEA Games when Singapore was playing in the football semi-finals. This resulted in the team not progressing to the finals, despite having been favourites to win the championship on home ground.
Tong Hai talks about self-blame, guilt, humiliation, public shame and hate, and how even today that memory still haunts him. Listen as he opens up on the acts and display of resilience and mental toughness for him to not quit, walk with his head held high, skipper the team five years later in 1998, and now contributing to character building and values education for coach development in Singapore.
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My guest today is May Ooi, Olympian, Former ONE Championship MMA fighter, Speaker and Business Owner.
Extremely valuable lessons learnt with May talking about what she went through as an Olympic Swimmer and taking a decade off before training and competing as a professional MMA fighter. Hearing that values and skills trained in sport - consistency, processes, patience, embracing failure, and the “never quit” attitude, are all reflections of life.
A very powerful session where she also shares about championing women’s leadership in sports organisations.
Timestamp:
- 2.20 Since she retirement from high performance swimming
- 4.00 Why she came back to Singapore after 16 years abroad
- 5.43 The 10-year gap between retiring from high performance swimming to competing in MMA
- 6.35 How was the transition into another sport competing at the highest level
- 7.30 Specific skillsets honed and trained as a high performance swimmer that allowed for the easy transition into combat sports
- 7.45 Following consistency and processes are key to the success from one sport to another and to life as well
- 8.10 You cannot hurry the process
- 8.17 Being able to stay on long enough to experience the positive changes, significant improvements and eventual breakthrough
- 8.40 You need patience to live through the bad days and frustrations
- 9.50 Understanding how long to stay long enough before deciding to move on to the next adventure or next stage of life
- 11.00 What are you willing to give up to achieve your goals you’ve set for yourself
- 11.34 Translation of skills acquired from sport to professional and personal life
- 11.45 Sport and martial arts is a reflection of life
- 12.23 Constant growth all throughout her career as a high performance athlete with new skills and with experience and maturity be able to link different skillsets
- 13.15 Not done growing and still learning
- 13.25 Athletes have an advantage
- 14.00 Think, act or make a decision a certain way because of having been a high performance athlete
- 14.58 You can do and have everything perfect and still not win16.00 Understanding that there’s only so much you can do within your power
- 17.30 Overcoming the pandemic with a similar mindset
- 19.25 Seeing the good in the bad
- 20.45 Stopped having “low points” when it came to competition to have that professional mindset and move on
- 21.10 Overcoming a bad race in 1993 and coming back with strategic thinking
- 23.09 Swim each race even though its not perfect
- 24.00 Mindset is key to be able to turn things around
- 24.36 To build resilience, you need to “shock” the system
- 26.50 Learn, evolve, and adapt, to not shortcut the process
- 28.40 Setting a deadline to achieve a goal and if it doesn’t happen, move on
- 29.35 Retirement after the 2018 Asian Games
- 29.52 Best highs from high performance career
- 30.52 Continuing to be challenging herself with learning new martial arts skills
- 32.00 What would she say to her younger self?
- 32.33 No matter how devastating the losses there will be other opportunity, but you must be able to stay in the game
- 34.00 Being an advocate for women to be able to make an impact in leadership roles within sports organisations
- 36.43 Experiences and professionalism are important to be able to put oneself in a position of authority to influence and impact
- 37.00 Constantly learning, even to be a team manager and administrator/official
- 39.00 Even successful people who seemed to have all the best going are also struggling and learning daily
- 39.39 Takeaways
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My guest today is May Ooi, Olympian, Former ONE Championship MMA fighter, Speaker and Business Owner.
Extremely valuable lessons learnt with May talking about what she went through as an Olympic Swimmer and taking a decade off before training and competing as a professional MMA fighter. Hearing that values and skills trained in sport - consistency, processes, patience, embracing failure, and the “never quit” attitude, are all reflections of life.
A very powerful session where she also shares about championing women’s leadership in sports organisations.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is May Ooi, Olympian, Former ONE Championship MMA fighter, Speaker and Business Owner.
Extremely valuable lessons learnt with May talking about what she went through as an Olympic Swimmer and taking a decade off before training and competing as a professional MMA fighter. Hearing that values and skills trained in sport - consistency, processes, patience, embracing failure, and the “never quit” attitude, are all reflections of life.
A very powerful session where she also shares about championing women’s leadership in sports organisations.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is May Ooi, Olympian, Former ONE Championship MMA fighter, Speaker and Business Owner.
Extremely valuable lessons learnt with May talking about what she went through as an Olympic Swimmer and taking a decade off before training and competing as a professional MMA fighter. Hearing that values and skills trained in sport - consistency, processes, patience, embracing failure, and the “never quit” attitude, are all reflections of life.
A very powerful session where she also shares about championing women’s leadership in sports organisations.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is May Ooi, Olympian, Former ONE Championship MMA fighter, Speaker and Business Owner.
Extremely valuable lessons learnt with May talking about what she went through as an Olympic Swimmer and taking a decade off before training and competing as a professional MMA fighter. Hearing that values and skills trained in sport - consistency, processes, patience, embracing failure, and the “never quit” attitude, are all reflections of life.
A very powerful session where she also shares about championing women’s leadership in sports organisations.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Desmond Koh, Olympian, Sustainability and Innovation Lead, Compassionate Capitalist and Private Banker.
My first interactions with Desmond were in 1998 when we were both representing Singapore at the Asian Games. It was my debut international competition and from this podcast interview, I understood from Desmond that it was actually his last competition before retiring as a high performance swimmer.
Desmond talks about self-compassion to give time to heal; understanding that man is not infallible; learning to work within the limited resources available; and sharing that if he could tell his younger self something, it would be to be less self-focused and to invest more in the people around him to make friends and build relationships.
Timestamp:
- 3.18 Retirement from swimming in 1998 at age 26
- 3.30 Felt the physical limitations and also a new life-stage starting in banking
- 4.50 Living a life as authentic to myself as possible in all areas of his life
- 8.25 Swimming in the past with adrenaline and anxiety versus swimming today for flow and meditation
- 10.00 To be able to optimize life the best he can with daily recovery techniques which includes swimming
- 10.55 What he has carried with him from high performance swimming days till today
- 11.57 Debut at the 1987 SEA Games
- 12.07 You cannot always be at the top of your game
- 13.30 Lesson learnt at that young age with perceived failure and whether or not to give up or push on
- 13.55 Not afraid to try and mindset of setbacks being part of the learning journey
- 16.00 You have to know what you want and what your objectives/goals are and sticking to them
- 18.00 Listening to cassette tapes for visualization
- 19.00 Highest moments in high performance swimming career
- 20.30 Qualifying for the Olympics at 15 years old
- 23.14 Having been a high-performance athlete played a big part in him getting his first job
- 24.18 Dealing with all the failures builds character and resilience
- 24.43 To be a high-performance athlete there is a lot of strategy and smart implementation involved
- 25.03 More than 50% of performance at work attributed to training as a high-performance athlete
- 25.25 Hearing about his biggest failure and handling reaching a plateau as an athlete
- 27.00 Going to the 1998 Olympics with euphoria and anxiety
- 27.28 Not being mentally ready for his Olympic 400m Individual Medley event
- 28.17 Being disqualified for the race despite breaking the National record
- 30.45 Injuries affect the mental psyche a lot emotionally and psychologically to the lows
- 31.45 Another mistake at another international competition
- 33.05 Coping strategies to come out of a cycle of negativity to hustle out to see the light at the end of the tunnel
- 35.42 The ability to feel and have that self-awareness
- 36.25 Nutrition is important to fuel your body with what you think and know your physical self needs to function well and perform
- 37.00 Taking time to calm himself and ensuring that he is in a state that is not frazzled
- 37.43 Having the right tribe around me to manage myself emotionally
- 39.45 Bouncing back doesn’t mean that you’ve healed from the trauma or failure
- 41.05 Recognise that you are infallible and that you have limits in resources
- 42.00 Learning to allocate these limited resources (like time)
- 45.00 To be less self-focused and self-centered by investing more time in the people around him in his younger days and building relationships
- 46.35 His wellbeing and happiness today correlates to the tribe and people around him
- 47.00 Takeaways
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Desmond Koh, Olympian, Sustainability and Innovation Lead, Compassionate Capitalist and Private Banker.
My first interactions with Desmond were in 1998 when we were both representing Singapore at the Asian Games. It was my debut international competition and from this podcast interview, I understood from Desmond that it was actually his last competition before retiring as a high performance swimmer.
Desmond talks about self-compassion to give time to heal; understanding that man is not infallible; learning to work within the limited resources available; and sharing that if he could tell his younger self something, it would be to be less self-focused and to invest more in the people around him to make friends and build relationships.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Desmond Koh, Olympian, Sustainability and Innovation Lead, Compassionate Capitalist and Private Banker.
My first interactions with Desmond were in 1998 when we were both representing Singapore at the Asian Games. It was my debut international competition and from this podcast interview, I understood from Desmond that it was actually his last competition before retiring as a high performance swimmer.
Desmond talks about self-compassion to give time to heal; understanding that man is not infallible; learning to work within the limited resources available; and sharing that if he could tell his younger self something, it would be to be less self-focused and to invest more in the people around him to make friends and build relationships.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Desmond Koh, Olympian, Sustainability and Innovation Lead, Compassionate Capitalist and Private Banker.
My first interactions with Desmond were in 1998 when we were both representing Singapore at the Asian Games. It was my debut international competition and from this podcast interview, I understood from Desmond that it was actually his last competition before retiring as a high performance swimmer.
Desmond talks about self-compassion to give time to heal; understanding that man is not infallible; learning to work within the limited resources available; and sharing that if he could tell his younger self something, it would be to be less self-focused and to invest more in the people around him to make friends and build relationships.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
My guest today is Judith Sim, Former National Climber, 3x Bronze Medalist at the SEA Games 2011, National Speed Champion in 2016 and 2018, Educator and PE Teacher.
Judith shares the difference between competing in a team sport and individual sport. She also talks about being in the state of flow in sports, and experiencing first-hand what she learnt in theory in Sports Psychology. Judith shares her strategies on preparing for being in the state of flow; strategies on coping with stress and anxiety on competition day; and adopting a growth mindset to overcoming her lowest moments.
- 2.50 Playing netball in secondary school and junior college
- 2.58 Picked up climbing in university
- 3.10 Picked up triathlon in 2018
- 3.25 Currently a PE Teacher at Victoria Junior College
- 3.40 Been a teacher for just over 6 years
- 3.25 How she was introduced to climbing
- 4.10 Being athletic to begin with as a netballer gave her the advantage to progress more easily
- 5.58 Core skills that make a good climber
- 6.10 Number 1 speed climber in Singapore
- 6.25 Having good body awareness just like in dance
- 6.52 Timeline of accelerated progress as a climber
- 7.28 Training hard and identifying quickly what skills were needed to be good at the sport
- 7.50 How vigorous the training is for climbing
- 9.20 The differences and similarities between climbing and netball
- 9.51 Ability to express herself more in climbing
- 10.00 Having more initiative and taking charge of training and her own performance in an individual sport
- 10.10 A team sport has many more factors that are not within your control
- 10.25 Learning to let go of things she is not in control of
- 10.40 How has sport has influenced the way she leads her life
- 10.55 Learning to be confident about herself
- 11.10 Knowing her capabilities and value
- 11.50 Share good experiences with students and to guide them
- 12.05 Guiding high-performance youth athletes in school
- 12.25 Main struggles of high-performance youth athletes
- 13.05 Prioritising, scheduling, recovery, motivation levels and injury prevention
- 13.50 Memorable moments in high-performance sport
- 14.40 Mental state was at its optimum
- 15.16 Getting into the state of flow
- 15.30 What work goes in to achieve that state of flow?
- 15.55 Visualisation
- 16.25 Competition format
- 17.55 Dealing with the stress from competition
- 18.32 Self-talk during the competition
- 18.55 Breathwork to calm down
- 19.10 Combining breathwork with visualization
- 20.00 Describing the state of flow
- 20.35 Creating the environment for optimum performance
- 21.00 When you’re in the state of flow everything seems effortless
- 21.10 The magic happens when you’re in the flow
- 21.30 Capturing the flow on video
- 21.50 Difficult to compare flow from sports to professional work
- 22.59 Momentum from getting things done at work
- 23.12 Experiencing flow at work
- 23.45 Low moments and struggles
- 24.55 Strategies coming out of low moments
- 26.10 Reasons for retirement from high-performance climbing
- 27.20 Admiration for those who can juggle work with training and competiting in high-performance sports
- 27.50 Other skills, values of traits from high-performance sports that have translated into life
- 28.10 Taking pride in wanting to be good at everything she does
- 29.27 Having the growth mindset to be successful
- 29.40 Advise for younger self
- 29.55 Don’t stop training
- 30.10 Coming out of the lows means growth
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
Former National Climber, 3x Bronze Medalist at the SEA Games 2011, National Speed Champion 2016 and 2018, Educator and PE Teacher.
Judith was my ex-student in 2007, when I was still teaching PE at Temasek Junior College. In fact, Judith was from one of the first batches of sports student leaders I mentored since my teaching career started in 2005. I am extremely proud of her success and achievements and I hope that it was partly my influence in her younger days that helped Judith choose the path she did and helped fuel her passion for participation in high performance sports.
Judith shares the difference between competing in a team sport and individual sport. She also talks about being in the state of flow in sports, and experiencing first hand what she learnt in theory in Sports Psychology. Judith shares her strategies on preparing for being in the state of flow; strategies on coping with stress and anxiety on competition day; and adopting a growth mindset to overcoming her lowest moments.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
Former National Climber, 3x Bronze Medalist at the SEA Games 2011, National Speed Champion 2016 and 2018, Educator and PE Teacher.
Judith was my ex-student in 2007, when I was still teaching PE at Temasek Junior College. In fact, Judith was from one of the first batches of sports student leaders I mentored since my teaching career started in 2005. I am extremely proud of her success and achievements and I hope that it was partly my influence in her younger days that helped Judith choose the path she did and helped fuel her passion for participation in high performance sports.
Judith shares the difference between competing in a team sport and individual sport. She also talks about being in the state of flow in sports, and experiencing first hand what she learnt in theory in Sports Psychology. Judith shares her strategies on preparing for being in the state of flow; strategies on coping with stress and anxiety on competition day; and adopting a growth mindset to overcoming her lowest moments.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
Former National Climber, 3x Bronze Medalist at the SEA Games 2011, National Speed Champion 2016 and 2018, Educator and PE Teacher.
Judith was my ex-student in 2007, when I was still teaching PE at Temasek Junior College. In fact, Judith was from one of the first batches of sports student leaders I mentored since my teaching career started in 2005. I am extremely proud of her success and achievements and I hope that it was partly my influence in her younger days that helped Judith choose the path she did and helped fuel her passion for participation in high performance sports.
Judith shares the difference between competing in a team sport and individual sport. She also talks about being in the state of flow in sports, and experiencing first hand what she learnt in theory in Sports Psychology. Judith shares her strategies on preparing for being in the state of flow; strategies on coping with stress and anxiety on competition day; and adopting a growth mindset to overcoming her lowest moments.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
Former National Climber, 3x Bronze Medalist at the SEA Games 2011, National Speed Champion 2016 and 2018, Educator and PE Teacher.
Judith was my ex-student in 2007, when I was still teaching PE at Temasek Junior College. In fact, Judith was from one of the first batches of sports student leaders I mentored since my teaching career started in 2005. I am extremely proud of her success and achievements and I hope that it was partly my influence in her younger days that helped Judith choose the path she did and helped fuel her passion for participation in high performance sports.
Judith shares the difference between competing in a team sport and individual sport. She also talks about being in the state of flow in sports, and experiencing first hand what she learnt in theory in Sports Psychology. Judith shares her strategies on preparing for being in the state of flow; strategies on coping with stress and anxiety on competition day; and adopting a growth mindset to overcoming her lowest moments.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
Former National Boxer, 2x SEA Games Representative, Boxing Trainer, and Entrepreneur.
Leona was my ex-boxing trainer and running buddy. In this episode, Leona talks about what having a dry spell of wins, and consecutive losses in her boxing career meant to her. She also shares how she learnt from each experience and bounced back from each loss to become smarter, wittier and more resilient. These skills trained in boxing have inevitably translated into her professional life as an entrepreneur in the events space, and now also a one-on-one boxing personal trainer.
Timestamp:
- 2.40 Introduction
- 3.30 Running own events company
- 4.55 Entry into the sport
- 10.20 Getting back on track with life with Boxing
- 10.42 Left events job to upgrade skills
- 11.14 First International Debut
- 14.00 Started training for SEA Games 2015
- 14.10 Training with the boys
- 14.45 Realising that there is a large gap to be closed on an international standing
- 15.30 Goal setting
- 15.50 Don’t be scared
- 17.00 Just go do it mindset
- 17.50 Don’t try never know
- 18.15 Comparing to being in the ring to performing a business pitch
- 19.15 Role models
- 20.10 Most significant moment - Getting to fight her boxing idol
- 20.35 What she did to remind herself about being a female boxer
- 21.15 Other significant moments training in Indonesia
- 22.40 Appreciating the facilities in Singapore
- 23.00 The takeaways from boxing
- 23.30 Boxing as a hobby vs boxing as the only way up and out
- 24.05 Grateful for the opportunities she has
- 24.45 Sport is a do or die situation for athletes in other countries
- 25.20 Losing for 1 year straight and wanting to give up
- 26.00 The feeling of having prepared and trained so hard and yet losing by half a point
- 26.15 Heartache and self-doubt
- 26.30 Advise for bouncing back from failure
- 27.10 Being adaptable and dealing with uncertainty
- 27.50 Being nimble
- 28.15 Dealing with the minor losses
- 29.20 Being physically conditioned and mentally ready
- 30.00 Discipline from sports to life
- 30.30 Focus and prioritizing what is important
- 31.30 Boxing kept her focused on the necessary even until today
- 32.17 Time is a commodity and time is energy
- 33.15 Pivoting to PT with the pandemic
- 33.45 Adopting the Just do it mindset
- 34.12 Being reminder of her own form and technique
- 34.45 Have heart and invest time
- 35.35 Goals for respective businesses
- 36.54 Intrinsic value from PT work
- 38.00 What would she tell your younger self
- 38.21 Don’t be afraid to step into the ring and dream big
- 38.45 Find a mentor
- 39.42 Never stop learning
- 40.00 Takeaways
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
Former National Boxer, 2x SEA Games Representative, Boxing Trainer, and Entrepreneur.
Leona was my ex-boxing trainer and running buddy. In this episode, Leona talks about what having a dry spell of wins, and consecutive losses in her boxing career meant to her. She also shares how she learnt from each experience and bounced back from each loss to become smarter, wittier and more resilient. These skills trained in boxing have inevitably translated into her professional life as an entrepreneur in the events space, and now also a one-on-one boxing personal trainer.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
Former National Boxer, 2x SEA Games Representative, Boxing Trainer, and Entrepreneur.
Leona was my ex-boxing trainer and running buddy. In this episode, Leona talks about what having a dry spell of wins, and consecutive losses in her boxing career meant to her. She also shares how she learnt from each experience and bounced back from each loss to become smarter, wittier and more resilient. These skills trained in boxing have inevitably translated into her professional life as an entrepreneur in the events space, and now also a one-on-one boxing personal trainer.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
Former National Boxer, 2x SEA Games Representative, Boxing Trainer, and Entrepreneur.
Leona was my ex-boxing trainer and running buddy. In this episode, Leona talks about what having a dry spell of wins, and consecutive losses in her boxing career meant to her. She also shares how she learnt from each experience and bounced back from each loss to become smarter, wittier and more resilient. These skills trained in boxing have inevitably translated into her professional life as an entrepreneur in the events space, and now also a one-on-one boxing personal trainer.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
Former National Boxer, 2x SEA Games Representative, Boxing Trainer, and Entrepreneur.
Leona was my ex-boxing trainer and running buddy. In this episode, Leona talks about what having a dry spell of wins, and consecutive losses in her boxing career meant to her. She also shares how she learnt from each experience and bounced back from each loss to become smarter, wittier and more resilient. These skills trained in boxing have inevitably translated into her professional life as an entrepreneur in the events space, and now also a one-on-one boxing personal trainer.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
Former National Water Polo Player, 4x SEA Games Gold Medalist, Entrepreneur and Managing Director of his own agency Splash Productions.
Jerome Lau is an ex-teammate of mine, drinking buddy, and dear friend. Hear from Jerome as he talks about the tremendous pressure every Water Polo player faced from having to maintain the then undefeated SEA Games Gold medal; the important support he received from his parents and how this has shaped his parenting style with his son who now also plays the sport; and how water polo has given him important skills to build and lead his team as an entrepreneur.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
Former National Water Polo Player, 4x SEA Games Gold Medalist, Entrepreneur and Managing Director of his own agency Splash Productions.
Jerome Lau is an ex-teammate of mine, drinking buddy, and dear friend. Hear from Jerome as he talks about the tremendous pressure every Water Polo player faced from having to maintain the then undefeated SEA Games Gold medal; the important support he received from his parents and how this has shaped his parenting style with his son who now also plays the sport; and how water polo has given him important skills to build and lead his team as an entrepreneur.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
Former National Water Polo Player, 4x SEA Games Gold Medalist, Entrepreneur and Managing Director of his own agency Splash Productions.
Jerome Lau is an ex-teammate of mine, drinking buddy, and dear friend. Hear from Jerome as he talks about the tremendous pressure every Water Polo player faced from having to maintain the then undefeated SEA Games Gold medal; the important support he received from his parents and how this has shaped his parenting style with his son who now also plays the sport; and how water polo has given him important skills to build and lead his team as an entrepreneur.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
Former National Water Polo Player, 4x SEA Games Gold Medalist, Entrepreneur and Managing Director of his own agency Splash Productions.
Jerome Lau is an ex-teammate of mine, drinking buddy, and dear friend. Hear from Jerome as he talks about the tremendous pressure every Water Polo player faced from having to maintain the then undefeated SEA Games Gold medal; the important support he received from his parents and how this has shaped his parenting style with his son who now also plays the sport; and how water polo has given him important skills to build and lead his team as an entrepreneur.
Timestamp:
- 1.05 Introduction of Splash Productions
- 2.05 Expansion plans for the business
- 2.55 Water Polo career
- 3.21 More about his journey into the sport of water polo
- 7.03 Why did he stay on when his friends stopped training
- 7.45 What sort of support did he get from people around him
- 8.55 Motivation from support from parents
- 9.30 Emotional moment
- 10.00 Bonding with parents over them coming to support at training sessions
- 11.15 How this has translated to the way he support his son in sport
- 12.35 What is the sort of pressure from sport?
- 12.45 Personal pressure
- 14.10 Pressure from Singapore
- 14.36 Applying understanding of pressure to other areas of life
- 15.00 Pressure comes everyday
- 15.30 No stress from work can compare to the stress from the SEA Games
- 16.29 Being able to identify stress in teammates
- 16.39 What you can control and what you cannot control
- 17.25 Parallels of handling the team at work the same way as the water polo team
- 17.55 Identifying what is affecting teammate’s performance
- 18.30 Showing empathy
- 19.09 Translate empathy from sport to managing a team at work
- 19.44 What spending much time with teammates helps build and nurture
- 20.53 Having a headstart at corporate life having been in a team sport
- Like training. Want to train. Enjoy the sport. Just play and play and play. And it was one of the things he could do fairly well then.
- 21.30 The momentous highs
- 21.45 The next best high
- 22.10 11 year old son was inspired to play the sport after his 2015 home ground Gold Medal win
- 23.05 Proud daddy moment
- 24.00 Sacrifices from being a high performance athlete
- 24.39 Lowest point was when he retired
- 25.28 Experiencing withdrawal symptoms
- 25.46 Discovering what was missing in his life
- 27.07 How else has water polo shaped him as a person
- 28.11 Why he spent so much time training in the sport of water polo
- 28.32 What drives him to keep doing it
- 31.45 Secret sauce to how Singapore was able to maintain the Gold Medal at the SEA Games
- 32.00 Talking about burnout and how to prevent it
- 32.50 Network of water polo teammates
- 34.00 How families have been brought together as well
- 35.15 Overcoming adversity in professional and personal life
- 36.30 Not taking eye off the ball
- 37.33 Understanding stress threshold
- 37.55 Testing your limit
- 38.27 Mindfulness at this age now
- 39.10 Playing in the same team as his son
- 39.10 Understanding injury prevention
- 40.45 Understanding limits of mind over matter
- 41.50 What would you say to your younger self?
- 42.15 Single minded approach to attain your goal
- 43.30 What is the value of the time put in to developing his passion?
- 44.00 Staying focused and not being distracted from the goal
- 46.09 Takeaways
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What do the following have in common? Journalist Presenter, Entrepreneur, Former National Triathlete and Fencer, Pentathlete, Sport administrator and Former Nominated Member of Parliament... They all tie back to an extremely driven and multi-talented individual.
Hear from my guest Nicholas, as he shares with us how being a high performance multi-sport athlete has helped him manage and juggle the different roles and hats he wears in his professional and personal life.
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What do the following have in common? Journalist Presenter, Entrepreneur, Former National Triathlete and Fencer, Pentathlete, Sport administrator and Former Nominated Member of Parliament... They all tie back to an extremely driven and multi-talented individual.
Hear from my guest Nicholas, as he shares with us how being a high performance multi-sport athlete has helped him manage and juggle the different roles and hats he wears in his professional and personal life.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
What do the following have in common? Journalist Presenter, Entrepreneur, Former National Triathlete and Fencer, Pentathlete, Sport administrator and Former Nominated Member of Parliament... They all tie back to an extremely driven and multi-talented individual.
Hear from my guest Nicholas, as he shares with us how being a high performance multi-sport athlete has helped him manage and juggle the different roles and hats he wears in his professional and personal life.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
What do the following have in common? Journalist Presenter, Entrepreneur, Former National Triathlete and Fencer, Pentathlete, Sport administrator and Former Nominated Member of Parliament... They all tie back to an extremely driven and multi-talented individual.
Hear from my guest Nicholas, as he shares with us how being a high performance multi-sport athlete has helped him manage and juggle the different roles and hats he wears in his professional and personal life.
Timestamp:
- 2:05 Nicholas introduces himself.
- 5.05 Talking about starting out as a swimmer as a child.
- 5.48 Starting the sport of triathlon at 16 years old.
- 7.11 Started competing for Singapore int triathlon in 2009.
- 7.30 Taking up Modern Pentathlon in university.
- 8.55 How did Nicholas juggle so many different sports and activities in university?
- 9.35 Love doing everything he is doing.
- 9.50 About being a jack of all trades and master of none.
- 11.25 A magic formula to cope with juggling sports and studies?
- 11.45 Transferrable skillsets of conditioning and periodization in sports to academics
- 12.00 Transferrable skillsets to balancing career and family.
- 12.25 How being a multisport athlete has resulted in having multi-faceted roles and titles.
- 13.00 Personality also played an important role in choice of sports, which also translated to other domains of life.
- 14.40 What were the high moments from sports?
- 16.00 Decision to travel to Eastern Europe for fencing competitions.
- 16.40 How he coped when his passport was stolen.
- 17.55 Having friends help him through this difficult period.
- 19.31 Learning more about life and resilience through experiences overseas.
- 20.20 What were his fears and concerns at that time of duress?
- 20.25 Learning from his peers to be calm and not panic.
- 22.31 Figuring things out himself.
- 25.26 What were the lows?
- 25.45 Realised he was too far from his Olympic dream and goal and had to downplay his dream.
- 27.40 Realising core limitation as a fencer. Struggles in high-stress limitations. Both sides to impose will on each other. And his mental would always cave first.
- 30.50 Regret that was not able to overcome it.
- 31.40 Learning self-awareness and decisiveness from sports to have applied to life.
- 33.00 The drive and thirst for knowledge to want to continue having that edge. Even in life now.
- 34.23 What is important is what you know of yourself to be true; What you can do; What you are willing to do and deliver. The rest is bullshit.
- 34.51 Focusing on the things that really matter now in life.
- 35.32 Why did he retire and does he miss high performance sport?
- 35.34 His transition into sports management.
- 38.30 Giving back to the sports community in any way he could.
- 39.00 Still active in sports and developing veteran fencing scene in Singapore.
- 41.10 Sports has a lot to give and teach to people from his journey since 1993 leading into his sports career.
- 42.40 One thing to distil – Resilience. Sports teaches you that life is never linear.
- 44.00 How you perform in sports is how you deal with adversity.
- 45.15 A lot of how he does things in life is learned through sports.
- 45.25 What is the one thing you would tell your younger self? Start training earlier in the sport of fencing.
- 46.40 Burning the candle at both ends and also in the middle.
- 48.00 Emphasis on sleep and recovery to lengthen longevity in the sport.
- 48.45 My takeaways from the session.
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You might know someone who has competed in the Ironman World Championships in triathlon. You might even know of someone who has competed and won the championship in his or her category. But how many people do you know has broken a femur, kneecap and ankle, and still competed in the Ironman distance and won.
Hear from my guest Ling, as she shares with us how she overcame that near-death experience, and how training for and competing at a high performance level in the sport of triathlon, has instilled leadership, drive and purpose.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
You might know someone who has competed in the Ironman World Championships in triathlon. You might even know of someone who has competed and won the championship in his or her category. But how many people do you know has broken a femur, kneecap and ankle, and still competed in the Ironman distance and won.
Hear from my guest Ling, as she shares with us how she overcame that near-death experience, and how training for and competing at a high performance level in the sport of triathlon, has instilled leadership, drive and purpose.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
You might know someone who has competed in the Ironman World Championships in triathlon. You might even know of someone who has competed and won the championship in his or her category. But how many people do you know has broken a femur, kneecap and ankle, and still competed in the Ironman distance and won.
Hear from my guest Ling, as she shares with us how she overcame that near-death experience, and how training for and competing at a high performance level in the sport of triathlon, has instilled leadership, drive and purpose.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/athletesgrit/message
You might know someone who has competed in the Ironman World Championships in triathlon. You might even know of someone who has competed and won the championship in his or her category. But how many people do you know has broken a femur, kneecap and ankle, and still competed in the Ironman distance and won.
Hear from my guest Ling, as she shares with us how she overcame that near-death experience, and how training for and competing at a high performance level in the sport of triathlon, has instilled leadership, drive and purpose.
Timestamp:
- 2.05 How long have you been doing triathlon?
- 2.55 With no races planned in sight, what have you been keeping busy with?
- 4.18 How do you approach unpredictability in life and in a 10hr race?
- 5.40 What are your feelings and emotions associated with uncertainty?
- 7.00 What have been the challenges faced being an employee again, after 6 years being a full-time athlete?
- 8.15 What learnings from your new job are now applicable to being a triathlete?
- 10.55 How has being a high performance athlete helped with leadership?
- 12.35 How do you see yourself fairing side-by-side with a professional Ironman triathlete?
- 15.05 What was your most significant high - Winning the Ironman 70.3 in Da Nang in 2017, against your best friend and strongest opponent?
- 18.23 How did you celebrate that momentous win?
- 19.10 What was the most significant low - When your life paused for 8 months?
- 21.30 How was the recovery process like? What was going on in your head?
- 22.40 How did you get through? What was the game plan?
- 26.10 What was your motivation for continuing to train and compete in triathlon?
- 27.20 How did you get back on track to see the light at the end of the tunnel, with failure and having everything seemingly been lost and taken away from you?
- 30.26 Have you thought about retirement from the sport?
- 31.40 Are there any other skillsets honed from having been a high performance athlete?
- 33.26 What is a piece of advice you would tell your younger self?
- 35.40 My takeaways from the session.
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