Opinion | Left Field: Study is not sole road to success
Could Jack Wong, who's quit school to try to become a tennis professional, be a role model for some Hong Kong families?
Study or sport? For most athletically gifted Hong Kong kids, the obvious choice is to devote time to both. Parental and peer pressure dictates that. In a city where academic pursuits are revered and are the foundation for a good job and a solid income, it would be crazy to swap books for boots.
Sport can actually provide a career path for the younger generation and a financial lifeline
But Jack Wong Hong-kit, 16, has chosen to buck this trend. The up-and-coming tennis ace - the Hong Kong Tennis Association has earmarked him as a real prospect - took the rather drastic step to give up school and take up his racket full-time.
"If I study now and wait until my exams are over I will be 20 and it will be too late," said Wong who left La Salle College to pursue his dream of becoming a professional. "My only chance is now. I can always go back and study, but I can never get back this opportunity to turn professional. If I don't take it, it will be gone forever." There is less chance of making the grade if you wait until you have acquired a degree. The make-or-break years are in your late teens to early 20s. And Wong admits he never got good grades in school anyway.
This does not mean I'm advocating that every teenager give up school. On the contrary, if you can handle both, then it is swell, just like champion swimmer Siobhan Haughey who is juggling both as she pursues her Olympic dream.
But it also does not mean Wong should be looked upon as a failure. In this regard the HKTA must be lauded for backing him all the way and have already assured him that if he fails in his professional pursuit then they would have a place for him as a coach in the future. This guarantee will give Wong some confidence.
The main question here is if our school system places too much pressure on students to deliver academically? Wong's younger sister Cody, who is also a tennis player, reveals her gruelling timetable trying to balance studies with training. Cody, 13, says she is dead-tired every night when she goes to bed having given most of her day to both goals.
