Written by Wong J-min; Artwork by Tanya Shroff.
This article is part of Active Parents’ Meet the Coaches series, brought to you in collaboration with Republic Polytechnic, School of Management and Communication.
Jason Wong, 53, is a coach with ActiveSG Athletics Club. He has been coaching for nine years, while being a competitive hurdler at the same time. Jason won gold at both the short and long hurdles events at the 2019 Asia Masters Athletics Championships.
Jason’s Masters Hurdling experience has influenced the ways he coaches. He credits his passion for coaching to his late coach, who also inspired him to compete in hurdling at the Masters level. Hurdling is a challenging sport, he shared, as it involves overcoming the fear of crossing physical barriers, requires having mental fortitude and polished techniques to excel. Jason relishes his personal sporting journey where he and his coach grew and overcame obstacles continuously as a team.
At ActiveSG Athletics Club, Jason works with children aged 7 to 14. He deeply enjoys helping them channel youthful energy into sport through exposing them to a variety of movements, improving their fundamental movement skills and basic athletics skills. Not only that, he hopes to see his students learn through setbacks. “One of my favourite moments in coaching is seeing kids come back every week, very excited to learn more,” he says. “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, physical sessions were suspended and coaching was done over ZOOM. I am glad that my students’ excitement and eagerness to learn was sustained and were not dampened by the challenges.”
Jason also shared that his son, Daryl, picked up bowling when he was young. “No matter what sport he is in, I will encourage him the same way as I do for my students,” Jason says. “The most important thing is how you learn and grow continuously, in spite of challenges and fears.”
With many obstacles posed by the pandemic, Jason remains positive and stands by his duty and responsibility. He said, “I hope to inspire the new generation of young athletes to always able to overcome their fear and whatever challenges that come their way, to achieve greatness in both sport and life.”