Better Eight Than Never

By Nur Amyraa
Sports Editor

GAME FACE ON: Daniella and her other three teammates prepare themselves for their keelboat racing event.
PHOTO: Courtesy of athlete

Eight years after a debut silver at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), Daniella Ng went one better as she clinched not just one, but two gold medals at this year’s edition.

Motivated by her second place finish in the women’s Optimist Team Racing event in the 24th SEA Games in 2007, it was sweet redemption for Ng, who took home the top spot in the Women’s Match Racing Keelboat and Fleet Racing Keelboat.

Said the 23-year-old: “After losing to host-nation Thailand in 2007, this year’s Games was an opportunity for me to prove that I have grown over the eight years of hard work.”

However, Ng had her fair share of ups and downs during the eight years.

Ng participated in the international under-18 420 event in 2009 and 2010, but decided against competing in the Olympic class 470 the following year. It would have meant the hassle of sourcing for a different partner who weighed at least 70 kilograms, in order to meet the 470 class requirement of a combined weight of at least 110 kilograms between the two crew on board.

Taking a break from sailing, Ng went on to try other sports like rowing and archery, but realised that her heart was still set on her primary sport.

Come 2011, Ng enrolled in the Sports Science and Management (SSM) programme in Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where she met an NTU sailing alumni who invited her to sail for the varsity team.

She then picked up from where she left off, started sailing again, and underwent nine local training camps, which lasted between seven and 10 days.

She also participated in numerous overseas competitions in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and France, conducted by the Singapore Sailing Federation between February and June this year.

On days where she takes a break from sailing, Ng is at the Singapore Sports Institute’s gym working on her fitness, with one of her trainers Scott Vanderput.

“It just goes to show that hard work pays off,” said Ng.

Newly formed team

Despite her newfound success, the journey has not been all smooth-sailing for the final-year Sport Science and Management (SSM) undergraduate.

Having only met her teammates for the keelboat events in early February, Ng was left with little time to adapt to her new teammates’ sailing styles.

“Since everyone was set in their own way of sailing, it was challenging for us to gel together initially,” said Ng.

She added: “Our trainings started off with a lot of boat handling, working on team dynamics and finding a system that works best on board.”

However, the experience from two-time Olympian Dawn Liu proved useful for the team.

“Dawn made most of the tactical decisions such as the direction to steer the boat in, and an analysis of the race course,” said Ng.

Making sacrifices

Not only did Ng have to contend with the dynamics of a new team, she also had to juggle both her academic commitments and an intense training schedule. With training thrice a week, Ng knew that she had to put her studies on hold — therefore, she took a gap semester to dedicate her time fully to train for the SEA Games.

“My parents have always been supportive of my endeavors, but they were noticeably worried when they learnt of my semestral deferment,” said Ng.

“Furthermore I was not entirely sure if I would be able to complete my Final Year Project at a later date. Thankfully everything worked out for me.”

Getting into the sport

While Ng professes her love for sailing today, her first encounter with the sport stemmed from a chance encounter.

“I was actually in a track team during my upper primary years when it was closed down. Coincidentally, the teacher-in-charge of the sail team needed an additional team member to participate in the inter-school sailing competition, so I jumped at the chance,” said Ng.

Her accidental foray into the sport sparked an interest in Ng and since then, she has never looked back.

Everything seemed to fall into place when the Singapore Sports School opened in 2004 and offered her a spot on the sail team, opening up more doors for her.

“Although I was new to the sport, I was lucky to be able to train with the national squad and improve my skills,” said Ng.

Looking ahead

Ng is set to focus more on the women’s keelboat event and hopes to do Singapore proud in more of such events in future competitions.

Sailing aside, Ng aspires to be a physiotherapist and plans to enroll in a graduate programme once her term ends in December.