{"id":12145,"date":"2012-03-23T22:48:47","date_gmt":"2012-03-24T02:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/?p=12145"},"modified":"2012-03-23T23:20:41","modified_gmt":"2012-03-24T03:20:41","slug":"the-sporting-life-at-wyk__wong-hak-kwong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/?p=12145","title":{"rendered":"The Sporting Life at WYK__Wong Hak Kwong"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Interview with Eddie H. K. Wong\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Eddie H. K. Wong (1961 to 1968) was active in track and field, football and other sports at WYK.\u00a0 He was recently interviewed by Tim Kwan (1961 to 1969) on his track and field experience at WYK.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Eddie, which were your events at track and field?
\nI mostly ran 100, 200 meters and 4 x 100 relay, but also did triple jump at our school\u2019s track meet because we were required to have both track and field in the three events we participated.\u00a0 I guess it was meant to encourage us to try both.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 How did you get started?\"\"<\/a>
\nI think I inherited my love for sports from my father.\u00a0 As a little boy he often took me and my brothers to see a football game.\u00a0 The stadium was always packed and I was thrilled at seeing the players in colorful jerseys running around in the green field.\u00a0 I started to read about the game on newspapers and then I got interested and read the whole sports page, enjoying the analyses and the stories of the players and their achievements.
\nOn entering Wah Yan and like everyone else, I spent a lot of time after school playing football in the sand field, and on the way I often noticed the school\u2019s track team practicing in the grass field.\u00a0 They looked so smart in their green track suit that I wished I could be like them one day.
\nI participated in the school meet but did not do well in the early years.\u00a0 And then in the summer of 1964, a classmate and I joined a track and field youth training camp organized by South China Athletic Association, and it opened the door for me.\u00a0 Returning to school after that summer I collected my first medals in the school meet in all three events I took part.\u00a0 My third place finish in 100 meters also landed me a spot in the school\u2019s B grade relay team.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Did you run every year?
\nYes, I enjoyed all kinds of sport activities and we were fortunate that our school had a variety to offer as well as excellent facilities for our training and development.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 How did you practise?
\nI have to say practicing track and field is rather monotonous and even lonely at times.\u00a0 We did a lot of sprinting drills mostly dashing the length of the grass field. \u00a0We had to run laps also to develop endurance but not so much as required for long distance runners.\u00a0 Occasionally to spice up the practice we ran all the way up the sloped car-way adjacent to the grass field or climbed the steps to the church to further build our strength and stamina.\u00a0 We also practiced baton passing which was a key part of the relay race.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 I still remember you were the fastest coming off the block.\u00a0 That is, you almost always lead in the first 30 metres.\u00a0 How did you do it?
\nI don\u2019t really know.\u00a0 I guess I was quick reacting to the gun.\u00a0 My lower body strength probably made it easier for me to stay low coming out of the block so that I could gather momentum faster. \u00a0However, I usually didn\u2019t have the strength to last the full distance and tended to drop off towards the end of the race.<\/p>\n

6. Which events did you represent WYK on the school track team?\"\"<\/a>
\nMostly 4 x 100 meters relays.\u00a0 We won gold medals in this inter-school event for two consecutive years in B grade but were not strong enough when we moved up to A grade and had to settle for third and second place finish in my last two years with the school.\u00a0 I also got a silver medal in the inter-school B grade 100 meters and that was my best individual effort.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0 Where did those meets take place?
\nOur own school meets used to take place at the Mong Kok stadium, I think where the current Mong Kok football \"\"<\/a>stadium is located.\u00a0 When I was in Form 4 the meet was held at the school for the first time and we had lanes chalked up on the grass field.\u00a0 The annual inter-school event in those years was held at the old Hong Kong stadium.\u00a0 It has been pulled down and replaced by the current modern stadium that no longer has a track running around it.\u00a0 The A grade relay team got to represent the school in invitation relays hosted by other schools so we had the opportunities to run on the grounds of DBS, KG5 and HKU.\u00a0 We did quite well one year winning six out of eight races and placing second in the other two.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0 Who were your teammates?
\nOur star performer in those years was Peter Yuen Kwong.\u00a0 He initially ran 100 and 200 meters and later extended \"\"<\/a>to 400 meters which proved to be his strongest event.\u00a0 He was only a Form 2 boy when he first made a name in the inter-school circle.\u00a0 Peter was one year my junior. \u00a0I was lucky to be on the same relay team with him for four years.
\nIn my first year with the school B grade relay team, the team also included Lam Kin Ping and Chu Kin Cheung.\u00a0 That year we won the inter-school race quite easily with a time of 47.5 seconds.\u00a0 Yuen Kwong started the race because he was not good at receiving the baton.\u00a0 I ran second leg, the straight line.\u00a0 Chu was the more senior and experienced and he did the curve on third.\u00a0 Lam, the most muscular of us, ran the anchor leg.
\nThe next year Chu and Lam were replaced by Lau Po Kwong (hence we were dubbed the three Kwongs of Wah Yan) and Siu Sin Por.\u00a0 We won the same event a second year with even better time equaling the B grade record of 46.8 seconds.\u00a0 Yuen still started, Lau and Siu did second and third leg and I had the honor to cross the finish line.
\nThe same team moved up to A grade the next year and we also had Philip Chan on the team.\u00a0 We finished third in the inter-school event.\u00a0 Three of us were in Form 5 that year and we had to prepare for the school certificate examination and had less time for practice.
\nSomewhere along, we also made a change in our rotation.\u00a0 We decided that Yuen should be our anchor with his\"\"<\/a> strong finish and I should start instead.\u00a0 We practiced hard on the new baton change order and our efforts were rewarded.\u00a0 In my final year we were second behind DBS in the inter-school race but clocked in a time of 45.4 seconds which was WYK\u2019s best ever at the time.
\nI should mention that when I was in B grade we also had a very strong A relay team comprising of Lee Kwok Yui, Tang King Shun, Kwok Siu Tong and Johnny Ng Yat On. \u00a0They were all multi-talented athletes representing the school in many sports, and were the big brothers I looked up to when I was in lower forms.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0 What did you enjoy most in track and field?
\nThere are plenty, obviously the winning moments and the medals we collected.\u00a0 But the most memorable was my last inter-school relay race. \u00a0We only finished second but everyone was ecstatic as we never thought a sub 46 second race was ever possible for us.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure that record has been broken many times since.
\nI also have vivid memories of our cheering schoolmates at the stadium spectator stand and the thunderous \u201cWAH YAN KING\u201d coming from them as we crossed the finish line.\u00a0 They were not the biggest group but to our ears their chanting came through loud and clear.
\nIn the spring of 1966 we were invited to run before Princess Margaret during her visit to Hong Kong.\u00a0 I felt like I was\"\"<\/a> running an Olympic race in front of a capacity crowd at the Hong Kong Stadium.\u00a0 We finished second on that day.
\nOne year after winning an invitation relay hosted by St. Joseph College, we were each awarded a lovely golden statuette but I accidentally dropped and broke mine.\u00a0 Philip Chan was so kind to give me his, saying he already had the same prize from the previous year.\u00a0 I still have that statuette today, as well as the memory of kindness and generosity from a teammate.\u00a0 We saw each other again after many years in a recent dinner gathering of fellow old boys.<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0It is more than forty years later.\u00a0 Do you still participate in sports?
\nI played football quite regularly until about two years ago when I found it increasingly straining on the body.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Also most friends that I used to play with have one by one retired from the game.\u00a0 I think I can still enjoy some minutes of leisurely paced football if I get a chance to play.\u00a0 I am also starting to learn tennis and hope to get to a level that I can play regularly with some friends.\u00a0 Regardless of age we all need to find ways to continue exercise both body and mind to keep on enjoying life.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Interview with Eddie H. K. Wong Eddie H. K. Wong (1961 to 1968) was active in track and field, football and other sports at WYK.\u00a0 He was recently interviewed by Tim Kwan (1961 to 1969) on his track and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,117],"tags":[115],"class_list":["post-12145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous","category-sports","tag-tim"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12145"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12169,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12145\/revisions\/12169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}