SINGAPORE – Stepping away from a sport that you love is never easy, and after spending over two decades on the bowling lanes, former national captain Jazreel Tan was ready to take the next big step.
For months, she had been thinking of hanging up her bowling ball and shoes, but after a few sleepless nights, it was only at the start of 2024 that she decided to call time on her “roller-coaster” career.
Tan, 34, finally announced her retirement via an Instagram post on Jan 27, noting that her 21 years with the national women’s team have been a “dream”.
In an interview with The Straits Times, Tan said: “I’ve done this for so many years already, it’s kind of like an identity. It’s always difficult to leave something that you know, you’ve just been doing for so long.”
A former school and club swimmer, Tan’s fairy-tale start in bowling began in 2003, when the then 14-year-old was crowned Singapore’s youngest national champion.
Her trophy cabinet continued to fill up in the ensuing years, as she picked up a team gold, two silvers and a bronze at the 2014 Asian Games, seven medals (1-5-1) at the SEA Games (2005, 2011, 2015) and a Masters silver at the World Women’s Championship in 2007. In 2010, she was also named collegiate Rookie of the Year and was a four-time collegiate first-team All-American in the United States.
Her last victory was in January 2023, when she clinched a silver and a bronze at the Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships in Hong Kong.
But with those triumphs also came dry spells, with her last individual international title coming at the Singapore Open in 2018. Tan admitted that she struggled on and off the lanes, noting on social media that “I cried, I got depressed. I hated life, I hated myself”.
She finally decided that it was time to quit, saying: “I’ve had some issues, I was getting very tired mentally and I started to feel things I have never felt before like panic and anxiety, so with all that, it naturally affected me physically too.
“Health-wise, bowling-wise. Just physically it was getting bad too.”
When asked about her regrets, Tan said: “There were many tournaments or medals that I wish I got, there’s always going to be a regret. But now there’s no more chance for that and these dreams, sometimes they end, the results and the medal or the colour of medal is not everything.”
Tan, who will continue in her role as programme manager and organiser at Sonic Bowl – a job she has held for the last three years – will also miss travelling the world with her teammates, the majority of whom she has known for over a decade.
She said: “I think the joy of being able to travel and getting to know so many people from all over the world, getting to bowl with so many teammates and experiencing all these different highs and lows with them for so long, it’s something that without bowling, I will never be able to experience and I’m definitely thankful for all it has given me.
“I’m still trying to take time to digest that I’m never gonna be competing at that level again, but the journey and meeting all these fantastic people really made it worth it.”
Laughing as she recounted her favourite moment, Tan said it was in 2004, when she was hit on the head with a bowling ball by a teammate when she was attempting a practice throw during a tournament.
Paying tribute to Tan, Valerie Teo, president of the Singapore Bowling Federation, said: “I remember Jazreel from when she was 14, the new kid on the block who blazed the lanes and won her first national open title. She and the national team went on to start a solid tradition of consistency and of being world class which has anchored our successes today.
“Beyond her achievements on the lanes, Jazreel has been a mentor to young athletes and has contributed to the bowling community in many other ways... It is very heartening to see our athletes continue to contribute to our community and be part of our village that is essential for our continued success. A big thank you to Jazreel and I wish her all the very best.”
