Gary Wong

Discover SIM GE Gary Wong (in red) in action at the World Floorball Championships 2016. As he gears up to captain the national side in the Asia-Oceania Floorball Cup (AOFC), Gary Wong is hoping that the team replicates its success of the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, having clinched gold at the tournament. While the defensive lynchpin has his sights set on conquering the courts, he is also focused on scaling to greater heights of academic success as he pursues his part-time degree in Management at the SIM-University of Manchester. Gary shares about the important life lessons he’s learned, both as a sportsman and student. Discovering His Passion “I started out playing hockey and floorball in primary school but floorball was more of a recreational sport compared to hockey. However, when I moved on to secondary school, I started focusing on floorball as hockey wasn’t offered at my school. My passion towards the sport grew from there and I have been playing it for more than 10 years.” Lessons Learned In Floorball “One of the things that you have to learn to overcome as an athlete is injury. I recall times that I’ve had to sit out games and watch my teammates play. Those times were rather depressing. There are times that I wanted to give up but I had to persevere and recover well. Each time I got injured, I came back stronger and this has taught me an important lesson in perseverance.” “Another lesson I’ve learned is on teamwork. Playing in a team sport taught me to be a team player and to work with people, despite our differences.” “We should also never be afraid of making mistakes and be ready to learn from them. At some point in time, the best of us will make a mistake and the most important thing is that we learn from it and become a better person.” Why A Management Degree? “Taking a Management degree allows me to be exposed to different areas of specialisations in the industry. I personally prefer this approach as it equips me with the knowledge of different aspects of management and gives me the opportunity to eventually narrow down to what I would like to focus on in the future.” “The curriculum offered by the University of Manchester was also ideal for me, given my schedule. Unlike other similar courses, this curriculum allowed me to focus on one module at a time.” Of Priorities And Time Management “One of the challenges that I’ve had to overcome during my university studies was juggling between work, studies and floorball. However, I learned to prioritise and decide what was more important at different points of time. More importantly, you have to able to manage your time well.” New Perspectives “Being a sports scholar at SIM GE, I’m also involved in school events such as the Project 1095 and Social Awareness campaigns, We also take part in Community Involvement Programmes (CIP) to help those in need. “Being involved in such activities allowed me to look at things from different perspectives as well as meet people from different walks of life. I felt especially privileged to be involved in the CIP activities as I was able to do my part in helping the less fortunate in various communities.” Posted online, 23 June 2017