“I found out that I had a lot of interest in it, and then I started doing wakeboarding seriously,” Foong told CNA earlier in September.
“I got my first board when I was in Primary Six. Slowly from there, I started getting into it and the coaches here saw that I had potential; and when they started a national team, I started training with them.”
The Tanjong Katong Girls’ School student said determination was the common ingredient needed to succeed in both of her sports.
In football, learning how to control the ball under pressure may seem very basic but requires skill that takes time and effort to master, she said.
With wakeboarding, Foong had to persevere in overcoming a phobia of launching herself into the air, after sustaining a bad crash early on.
She is also sitting for her O-Level examinations this year, with her last paper ending on Nov 10, a month before the Games start in Thailand.
It has thus far been a balancing act of carefully managing her time in both commitments.
During the September school holidays, for instance, she headed to the wake park every morning to ride for an hour before returning home to continue studying. But once the exam period starts, training comes to a halt – mostly.
“Or I will go like once in a while,” Foong said. “If I’m bored or I get stressed, I’ll come back here again just to release some stress.”
She also shared with CNA her considerations behind choosing to represent Singapore at the SEA Games in cable wakeboarding instead of football.
“Football at the national level requires a significant amount of commitment, particularly with centralised training and the intensive schedule that comes with being part of the team,” said Foong.
“Wakeboarding has offered me a bit more flexibility to manage both my training and academic responsibilities. Wakeboarding is also a more self-directed sport, where I can progress at my own pace and adjust my training around my other commitments, which has made it a good fit given my current circumstances.”
But she also said football “has and will always be a passion of” hers.
“If given the opportunity in the future, I would definitely love to try out for the SEA Games in the football category.”
FOR HIS FATHER
Her teammate Clarence Batchelor meanwhile will be heading to his second Games, after debuting in 2019.
Much has changed since for the 22-year-old freelancer in the events industry, including the death of his father four years ago. That has now become Batchelor’s primary motivation to excel in his sport, as a tribute to his dad.
