How My Passion Towards Sport Incredibly Changed My Life

Throughout my life, I have been engaged with a lot of sports activities. I have played football every now and then for years and have participated in other sports such as rugby, volleyball, athletics, etc. My dream throughout my youth was to become a professional athlete or to build my career out of it.
Having lived in Singapore for six years, I had the opportunity to compete at a very competitive level and this has led me to have a bigger passion for sports and led to my biggest achievement.

During my eighth grade, I was fortunate enough to be selected to play for U14, U16, and U19 football team at school along with a club team called “JSSL Football Club”. Even being only thirteen, fourteen years old at the time, I had the opportunity to compete in so many tournaments and championships around the world, and meet different types of people. My parents were very supportive of me playing sports, yet, they were worried about my school work and planned to forbid me from doing so many sports. In order to satisfy them, I had to work hard with my school work to prove them I was capable of balancing my time with both school work and football.

My passion for football and sports in general was fostered by the people who taught me what sports is really about. When I was sixteen years old, I was selected as a team captain for the first time. Although being the captain was not necessarily something that I was looking forward to becoming, it taught me a lot of things about building relationships and leading a team. Besides, being the captain was different from being the best player on the team. It is not only about the physical matter of the sport but also the emotional side of it. It is about being capable of making the best decisions even in the most terrible of situations and to ensure that the team functions as a unit and continues to work as a team. The responsibility to take care of my team both on and off the pitch has improved my ability to lead people and reduce unwanted tension between individuals, as well as leading the team during practices and contacting the facilitators to organise events.

Being the captain was like being a manager who knows how to work with the team, and ensures every player has a stake in the team. He or she anticipates what the needs of the team are and motivates it by encouraging them to believe in their strengths, even in the moments when everything seems lost. Over numerous matches, I have had many opportunities to practice these essential skills and have viewed the sport from various perspectives.

My passion for football was fostered by the people and coaches who taught me what sport is really about and all of these experiences sum up to be a significant part of my life. This is because it allowed me to have a different perspective towards sports in general as well as in life. I am interested and have the desire to build a career in the sports industry, and study in its motherland, UK. UK has been famous for its funding towards sport through the national lottery and does an excellent job in terms of the Paralympics which also shows that the UK has an inclusive environment which allows people from different nationalities, shapes, sizes and abilities to come together and perform.

Sport is now a big part of my life because it allowed me to mature and change my view on life. It gave me the opportunity to learn how to be with people. Without sports, I believe that I would not be who I am now. By taking the responsibility of my learning and development, as well as, understanding that success comes from hard work, it has given me the determination and desire to be my career choice and become who I want to be.