Squash: Two national junior players take gap year to train full-time

SINGAPORE – For five years, national junior squash player Lee Zi Fang had been unable to beat one of her younger teammates in a competition after playing against her at least five times.

Zi Fang, who turns 17 on Saturday, finally broke that duck in a local tournament earlier in 2022. Around the same time, her parents had suggested she train full-time after watching her struggle to balance squash and studies.

That victory was a confidence booster and Zi Fang started to seriously consider her parents’ proposal. In July, she took a leap of faith and dropped out of Anglo-Chinese Junior College to pursue squash full-time for potentially two years. She will review her progress after a year.

Joining her is teammate Au Yeong Wai Iynn, 15, who will take a year off her International Baccalaureate programme at the Singapore Sports School in 2023 before returning in 2024. Zi Fang, meanwhile, has started researching business and finance courses in private universities to enrol in.

Zi Fang, who joined the national junior squad in 2018, said: “I enjoy the sport and I really want to excel in it. But it was a bit hard for me to balance training and studying at the same time, so I struggled a bit and I wasn’t seeing much improvement.

“After that win, I thought I had a chance, so that pushed me to make the decision to come out of school so I can focus only on squash.”

On why he and his wife encouraged Zi Fang to take the gap year, Lee Shih Mean noticed that she seemed more tired since starting junior college in 2022 and often fell asleep in the car on the way to training or tuition classes.

The metrologist, 54, said: “When JC1 started, that’s when the stress and struggles came in, so it was around (April or May) that we started looking for other options she could consider. It pains us to see her struggle.”

His wife Trishia Tan noted Zi Fang’s training schedule meant she occasionally missed school to compete, making it difficult for her to catch up on schoolwork.

Tan, 54, added: “We thought that instead of struggling to (juggle both) and not really (be able to) do well in either one, she should consider coming out of school to focus on training and let studies wait.

“It’s her dream to play for the national team. She wanted to play more intensively, so we thought she should go for it to make full use of her junior years. She’s still young and has a lot of capacity to grow.”

Zi Fang now trains 10 times a week, up from four to six, and has the flexibility to play in more overseas tournaments as she no longer has to take time off school – one of the reasons she wanted to train full-time.

She also had her first taste of competing on the Professional Squash Association (PSA) circuit at the Marigold Singapore Squash Open last Tuesday.

She said: “I’ll have more experience and more exposure to different players from different countries and I’ll be able to watch more matches and learn from different players.

“Playing (in the Singapore Open) and watching the players made me feel a lot more motivated to train harder and put in a lot more effort.

“They also made me realise that I really need to keep working if I want to become like them.”

It was a similar story for Wai Iynn, who was also inspired by older sister Wai Yhann. World No. 87 Wai Yhann, 23, had taken a gap year before starting university and now studies and trains in Bristol.

Wai Iynn, who hopes to be selected for next year’s Asian Junior Squash Individual Championships and the World Junior Squash Championships, said: “My sister has been doing well and I’ve seen a lot of women play on the PSA circuit and I really want to be able to play like them.

“I spoke to my sister a lot and she shared her experience during her gap year.

“She really had more time to train, and it was more effective, so I know that, with a good programme, you can do really well.”