Effective Coaching Practices from an Athlete’s Perspective

It’s amazing what a coach can learn from our athletes’ feedback!

Joan Hung was recently invited to share what effective coaching practices look like from an athlete’s perspective, at the recent Youth Coaching Conference (YCC) 2022.

I have been coaching Joan since 2015 and am proud to share her candid and light-hearted stories about her Goalball journey, and my coaching practices. There are many lessons here on resilience that can be generalized to any sport and anyone.

Joan and I are also grateful to the National Youth Sport Institute (NYSI) for providing us with an opportunity to share about disability sports, and to Brenda for helping Joan put the presentation deck of slides together.

“I did not choose to be blind but I can choose how to live with it…”
Joan Hung, National Goalball Player and recipient of Goh Chok Tong Enable Awards 2021

Check out the presentation below!

A Positive Force Fueled by Adversity

Really enjoyed this local documentary #TheSongsWeSang #Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/81310409 about Xinyao.

Xinyao was a movement that evolved from a period of major reforms to “align” chinese education into the national syllables. The Chinese educated bore the brunt of these reforms and the ensuing discrimination – the extent of this was denoted by a Straits Times headline in 1978 – ‘Nantah graduates are worth only $300 per month’ and the closure of Nantah University in 1980.

A positive force fuelled by adversity…

Xinyao was an outlet for the Chinese-educated to assert their identity against these changes. Instead of being destructive, it became a unifying force between Chinese and English speaking Cinaporeans. Xinyao also became a catalyst for the development of international Mandopop stars such as Eric Moo, Kit Chan and Stephanie Sun.

“Adversity introduces a man to himself”

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“What if the tables were turned?”

I borrowed this title from Joan’s Facebook post. Joan’s a visually impaired athlete and the top scorer for the women’s national Goalball team. She was reflecting on a 1 v 3 modified Goalball game where she competed and won against three sighted athletes. This happened just before the circuit breaker.

She was pondering about who would be considered “disabled” should the tables be turned – in a context where the sighted athletes had to operate in a “blind” environment instead. You can read about her thoughts and watch the game here. While you are at it, do send her a friend request!

“Is disability a result of one’s condition, or the result of the physical and social environment?”

I thought that Joan’s sharing connected really strongly with the Social Model of Disability and there is an important message here to be shared with my fellow coaches and the public.

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