Late bloomer Reagan Joe discovers joy in sport

SINGAPORE – Throughout his formative years, Reagan Joe was not a physically active kid – he played the saxophone in his primary school’s symphonic band.

It was football that first sparked his passion for sport – his friends introduced him to it in Secondary 3 but he did not try out for the school team as he felt he lacked experience.

After enrolling in St Andrew’s Junior College, he chose to play ultimate frisbee but made the school team only in his second year. They went on to win a bronze in the inter-JC competition after beating Raffles Institution in the third-place play-off.

Beyond a medal, the sport also gave the 18-year-old much more. Through his weekly training sessions, Reagan found respite from his caregiving duties for his younger brother Duncan, who is 16 and has autism.

The teenager requires some supervision as he often has temper outbursts and his caregivers have to help calm him down.

Due to the unpredictable nature of Duncan’s emotions, Reagan can sometimes get caught between his responsibilities in his home and school life.

The brothers come from a single-parent family and their mother, who is the sole breadwinner and works as an exercise therapist, is often not at home.

He said: “The home and school life are definitely much harder to balance and it is a very fine line that often has conflict. I care for my brother and sometimes I can’t focus that much at home but I was determined to just focus on my academics first, everything else comes after.

“There were times when I had to miss training once or twice because I had to take care of my brother. My dad left the family in 2015 and my mum has to work and at times she cannot take care of him. He needs a lot of care and personal attention, you can’t just leave him alone.”

Despite the lack of a conducive home environment for Reagan to study, he still managed to achieve an A, two Bs, a C and D when he collected his A-level results on Feb 23.

He hopes to read law or the social sciences when he is done with his national service, and to be able to provide for his family in the future.

For now though, Reagan is enjoying basic military training (BMT) and sport has been put on the back-burner.

He said: “Sport has been put on hold because right now the objective is to excel in BMT and my unit life.

“I will still try to go out to play, organise games with my friends but not as much as I would have liked as compared to last time.”

Battling depression, Janelle Ng finds peace in football

For most Singaporean students, the transition from secondary school to fast-paced junior college life is a stressful experience.

The move to tertiary education was particularly challenging for Janelle Ng, who struggled with feelings of inadequacy and anxiety throughout her early teenage years at Anglican High School.

The 18-year-old said: “Most of my stress come from myself. I live by this quote – you are your worst critic – and while I may be good in other people’s eyes, to me it’s never enough.”

Her condition worsened when she was a JC1 student at Victoria Junior College (VJC), as she found herself struggling to balance a busy schedule that includes studies, rigorous football training and forming new friendships.

As a result, she spiralled further into self-loathing behaviour, which prompted her to see a doctor.

She was then diagnosed with dysthymia – a milder but longer-lasting form of depression.

“The feeling of being happy, it doesn’t really stay for long. But when I’m sad, I’m really, really sad,” Ng explained.

After identifying the cause of her negative feelings, she saw a therapist to manage her overthinking tendencies and reached out to her football teacher-in-charge, Tan Yew Hwee, who would check in on her from time to time.

For Ng, who also played basketball in secondary school, football was what kept her going in junior college.

She said: “Playing football feels like a relief to me. It is an avenue for me to release stress from my studies and just focus on my football, because it is fun and something I excel at. Even if it was just for two hours, at least I was able to connect with other people.”

Playing as a centre back, she was instrumental in helping the VJC team win both the 2022 and 2023 A Division titles – they did not concede a single goal in 2022. Although she is a defender, Ng also netted seven goals across both campaigns.

Tan said: “She (Ng) is the mountain at the back for us and the assurance for the rest of the team to keep on attacking.

“Over the years, she is definitely one of the better defenders. What’s so special about her is we also play her in the forward line when we find it difficult to crack our opponents. She has a very powerful shot.”

While she does not intend to pursue football more seriously, Ng noted that it was a guiding light during a dark period of her life.

Although her battle with dysthymia is far from over, Ng said she is better equipped to manage her condition. She now focuses on her mental health by setting realistic expectations and taking sufficient breaks.

Her future will see her reading business or psychology in a local university after she received her A-level results on Feb 23, though she declined to reveal her grades.

For now, she is relishing the “nice change of pace” and plans to obtain her driver’s licence and pursue hobbies such as going on mission trips before university begins.

Love for ultimate frisbee, pole vault keeps Syaza going

At the height of the inter-school sports season, Syaza Kurnia Azza Zulikram trained six days a week in her co-curricular activities (CCAs) – ultimate frisbee and pole vault.

Her two years at Raffles Institution (RI) were both physically and mentally demanding, and she often returned home exhausted. On her day off, all she could do was sleep.

The 19-year-old said: “It was definitely taking a toll on me mentally and physically, but I was so determined to go on with it that I just didn’t really notice it.”

Training and competing in two sports was not initially on the cards for Syaza when she enrolled in RI. Having done pole vault for the past four years at Cedar Girls’ Secondary School, she wanted to try something different in junior college.

She got into RI’s ultimate frisbee team but soon realised that she missed pole vaulting. So when the RI pole vault coach, who was also Syaza’s coach in secondary school, asked if she wanted to take part in the National School Games, she jumped at the chance.

Her parents were initially apprehensive as they were worried about whether she could juggle the commitments of two CCAs.

In addition to the rigorous schedule, the two sports required very different skills – pole vault is strength-intensive while ultimate frisbee requires stamina.

Juggling both CCAs was also a mental challenge. She said: “I felt a bit like a traitor because I was in a new sport but still pursuing my old sport from secondary school. I felt bad as I was diverting my attention when I was in a different CCA and that stressed me out for a while, especially at the beginning.”

But her teammates were a key source of support when she found it difficult to balance both sports with her studies.

In her second year at RI, she put her studies on the back-burner and her grades began to slip. As the A levels approached, Syaza recalled how she started to panic and felt anxious because she thought that she did not have enough time to catch up.

With the help of her friends, teachers and parents, Syaza managed to pull through. While she declined to reveal her A-level results, she is considering pursuing a computing-related course at university.

Even though her passion for ultimate frisbee and pole vaulting kept her going through her junior college days, Syaza is stepping away from the competitive scene for now.

She said: “The funny thing I learnt about myself from being in two demanding CCAs is that ironically, even though I was into two such intensive, competitive sports, I realised that I’m not a very competitive person.

“I just like to do things that I like, so moving on, I’m hoping that after I take a break, I can pursue pole vault externally for fun, to keep enjoying the sport.”