Growing from cot to court: NTU squash player’s best coach is his dad

By Khairul Anwar

NTU squash player Austin Ong (pictured in red) still receives training from his father, Mr Vincent Ong, despite having a number of school coaches. PHOTO: ZHENG JUNCEN

Austin dropped a number of sports to pursue competitive squash in 2008 under the guidance of Mr Ong. PHOTO: ZHENG JUNCEN

WHENEVER Mr Vincent Ong sees his son Austin don the NTU jersey before squash matches, he sees a semblance of his younger self.

After all, Mr Ong, 53, had pulled on the same jersey 32 years ago.

In fact, both Mr Ong and his wife, Mrs Ong Sau Wan, 50, played for NTU’s squash team back when they were students in National Institute of Education (NIE).

But eight years ago, Austin, 21, was switching between sports almost every month. It was not easy for him to pick a sport to pursue competitively as he had been invested in a number of them, including football and golf.

“I was fickle-minded back then and my dad didn’t want me to back out of my decision,” said the first-year Sports Science and Management student.

While squash seemed like the natural option, Mr Ong, who is Head of Youth Coaching at the National Youth Sports Institute (NYSI), insists that neither he nor his wife forced Austin into his decision.

“I left it to him to decide,” said Mr Ong. “I knew (the passion) has to come from the athlete, and not (pressure) from me.”

So when Austin chose to focus on squash, Mr Ong decided to take him under his wing and has been coaching him ever since.

Mr Ong himself is an established squash player, reaching a B-Grade status by the time he graduated from NIE — the peak of his playing years. In squash, the grading system ranges from Novice for beginners, to A-Grade for professionals. A player would have to play in a tournament recognised by the Singapore Squash Rackets Association (SSRA) to be promoted from Novice to F-Grade.

On average, it takes a year to advance to the next grade.

But Mr Ong soon realised that playing and coaching are two different ball games, and especially so when his student is also his son.

“When I notice an instruction I give isn’t getting through to him, I take a step back (and) tell him to ask his school coach,” said Mr Ong, who taught physical education at Methodist Girls’ School for 15 years before moving on to NYSI.

He added: “I don’t want to risk the father-son relationship we have getting strained by my coaching.”

Mr Ong’s coaching allowed Austin to develop a strong foundation in basic squash techniques.

“My father was always drilling me on (getting the right) technique before moving on to more advanced plays,” Austin explained.

As he did not have formal training until he was 13, Austin had certain bad habits that caused him to lose unnecessary points during his games.

Mr Ong said: “I had to constantly remind him to keep his racket up. At his age, a habit like this was very hard to kick.”

Despite having school coaches, Austin considers his father as his main coach.

“He’s there for almost all of my competitive games and he’s more analytical than any of my other coaches,” said the former vice-captain of the Anglo-Chinese Junior College squash team.

Austin added: “He even reviews video footage of me playing, and constantly gives me pointers on how to improve my game.”

Under his father, Austin excelled in the local squash scene. When Austin was 15, he was selected for the Combined Schools team, which was made up of top players in his age group around the country. In the following year, he was made captain of the National “B” team.

Austin also participated in the Penang Junior Squash Open with the Combined Schools team, playing against Iranian, Korean, Australian and British opponents.

He was knocked out in the early stages of the tournament. The standard was “much higher than what I was used to”, he said.

But getting knocked out so early in the competition fuelled his passion for the sport even more.

“I learnt that I cannot be contented in my small pond in Singapore. There are many bigger fishes outside Singapore and I must work to continuously improve myself,” he added.

Austin was promoted to D-Grade when he was 17. But he has yet to participate in any SSRA-sanctioned tournaments since his junior college days due to the lack of time.

For Mrs Ong, although Austin and her husband spend a lot of time on the court together, she does not feel left out. The Head of Department for physical education at Peirce Secondary School regularly attends Austin’s competitive squash games when she has time.

“I don’t feel left out because I’m too busy sometimes, and if I wanted to join in, I could always do so,” she said.

Besides recording down his games and preparing his meals, Mrs Ong is also Austin’s “development coach.”

“Most importantly, she reminds me about having good sportsmanship,” said Austin. “In the heat of competitions, she constantly reminds me to show good character.”