How Sports Taught Me How to Navigate Situations and Handle People

Sean’s love for sports began in his formative years. “I was introduced to sports at a young age. It started off with family runs on the weekend, and as I grew up, I spent my evenings playing basketball in my neighbourhood. Sports has become an integral part of my life,” he shares.

This sports aficionado had taken on numerous sports during his school days—he represented St. Hilda’s Primary School in swimming, rock climbing and sailing in Tampines Junior College (TPJC), played handball and soccer, and was a lifesaver (yes, lifesaving is a sport!) in university. Besides playing on his respective teams, he also served as the Vice-Captain of his sailing team in TPJC and as a committee member of the National University of Singapore Sailing.

When we are asked to think about the advantages of playing sports, the physical benefits usually jump to the forefront of our minds. Yet, the mental values and life lessons that we can learn from it are not to be undermined.

Having to juggle studies and trainings made Sean realise the importance of prioritising and allocating his time wisely. He would block out his evenings for trainings, and work on other commitments before and after that.

“Sports also taught me how to handle different types of people, which was challenging, especially when there were people who were more skilled than me. I had a junior who was a national sailor… slightly more arrogant. I learnt how to manage such talent while teaching them structure within the team.”

There were also times where things did not go smoothly for his teams and he saw tempers fly. As a team member and leader, Sean learnt to manage his team’s expectations and points of view, with his somewhat different take on defeat. “I played for the love of the sport.  I didn’t play that hard to win, so defeat was not a big thing to me. I was usually the one telling the team after a loss that it was alright. To me, it is always better to lose graciously than to win viciously,” he explains.

More than about winning, the tough trainings taught Sean a lot about discipline and endurance. In his own words, “They made army seem like chicken feet!”—very unlike many other Singapore men who would say their years in the army were challenging. Beyond school and the army, his sports lessons have also extended to work. Sean’s father, the sportsman he looks up to, taught him an important life lesson—that if he did not want to drown, he had to learn how to swim. He applies this to his work now as he witnesses how one needs to constantly learn how to swim and navigate the new waters if they do not want to be left behind.

“…the tough trainings taught Sean a lot about discipline and endurance. In his own words, “They made army seem like chicken feet!”” 

To Sean, there is so much we can learn from sports, such as people and team management, communication skills, perspectives on defeat and success, discipline and endurance. He hopes that coaches, educators and parents can see the potential lessons, extend them beyond the game, and make them relevant to youths as lifelong skills.

That is an answer he hopes to provide here in Halogen. As he oversees curriculum development, he includes sports examples in Halogen’s Everyday Leadership modules where applicable.