Valentine’s Day with Team Singapore: Eric Yee and Michelle Sng
In a Valentine’s Day special, The Straits Times’ sports desk talks to four athlete couples about their relationship, lovey-dovey moments and shared love for sport. The pairs are Pang Sheng Jun (swimming) and Yeo Jia Min (badminton), Jowen Lim and Vera Tan (wushu), Eric Yee and Michelle Sng (athletics), Delvin Goh (basketball) and Chelsea Sim (taekwondo).
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High jumper Michelle Sng with her bronze medal alongside husband and discus thrower Eric Yee at the Cambodia SEA Games in 2023.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF MICHELLE SNG
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Q: How did you two meet?
Yee: We first crossed paths at the World Athletics Level 1 coaching course in Singapore in 2018.
Q: When did you know he/she was the one?
Sng: It wasn’t some grand romantic revelation. We sat down, mapped out our individual short- and long-term goals, and essentially ran a compatibility test on paper. We even charted our sporting milestones year by year to see if our ambitions aligned. When we saw that our personal and shared goals could coexist, the decision was easy.
Q: What is the most romantic thing he has done for you?
Sng: We’re not really into grand, over-the-top gestures, so it’s hard to pinpoint just one thing. But what I appreciate most is how he wholeheartedly supports me in pursuing what makes me happy even when my choices aren’t the most conventional or logical. To me, that kind of unwavering belief and encouragement is the ultimate romance.
Q: What are you doing this Valentine’s Day?
Sng: Resting (for Eric), and I will be training and working before having dinner with a friend because we don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day and prefer keeping things low-key.
Q: What are the advantages of being married to an athlete?
Sng: We both understand the sacrifices required. Early mornings, brutal training sessions and the occasional existential crisis. We can talk about our training, injuries and performances without needing to explain every little detail. And of course, we have built-in cheerleaders for life.
Yee: Because she’s gone through all the same problems as I have and she’s a far more accomplished athlete than I am, she understands all the struggles I face and all the experiences I have in the sport. I get to tell her all about my daily struggles or any exciting stories and she’ll fully understand so we get to bond over the sport too. She’s very supportive about my throwing.
Q: What do you like about each other’s event?
Sng: I have a deep appreciation for the technical precision in discus. It’s not just about brute strength, it’s about biomechanics, timing and getting every tiny detail right.
Yee: High jump is a very elegant event. There’s a lot of finesse and it’s a beautiful discipline to watch.
Q: Is your event more difficult than his/hers?
Sng: Discus is objectively harder. Stand on the field and look at the distances those throwers hit, it’s mind-blowing. Hitting those marks takes a ridiculous combination of strength, technique and physics-defying coordination.
Yee: Hers is way more difficult. There are so many things that go into being a good high jumper. You have to have good technique, speed, flexibility, yet be light. She has to watch her diet and weight, while I just need to be strong and I get to eat whatever I like.
Q: What is the one piece of advice he/she gave that was important for you in sport?
Sng: In a sport where self-doubt can creep in after a bad competition or tough training session, having someone who sees my potential even when I don’t is invaluable.
Q: How do you separate your personal lives when Eric is your coach during major competitions? What are the best and worst parts about it?
Sng: We try our best to set clear boundaries. To be honest, it isn’t easy and it’s not always perfect, but we try not to bring training frustrations home. The best part is having someone who truly understands the process and wants to see me succeed. The worst part is that sometimes feedback can feel a little too honest – but that’s what makes me better.
Yee: It intertwines a lot, which is bad and good. On one hand I get a first-hand view into what she does all the time: All the recovery, rest, training. These are things that other coaches don’t get to see their athletes do.
It makes it a lot easier to track why performance changes and how to adjust training. There are times when there are difficult comments that need to be made, but I hesitate to say these things because of how I know she will react outside of training. Training ends but the impact the words have doesn’t just end once training ends.
