Discovering New Strengths: How Sports Transformed My Life

During my school days from UPSR until SPM, I never achieved straight A's.

Even my extracurricular activity book was empty, I felt too shy to apply anywhere because I felt I had no strengths.

I had no achievements.

I wasn't good at communicating.

I liked to be alone.

I had no confidence.

Finally, I got the opportunity to continue to diploma and then a degree, eventually getting first class and multiple achievements in academics and sports.

At that time, I chose all engineering because I was confident I could do well and I got an A- in additional maths.

Thus began my journey as a student.

My first-year results were average because I was having too much fun. Every week I was experiencing culture shock because I was staying up all night.

It was only in my second year that I became aware.

At that time, there were only two ways to earn money to cover my study costs: either start a business or join a club that offered a stipend and then chase scholarships.

It was strange at that time, I wasn't eligible for a full PTPTN.

Even though my friends got full PTPTN even though their parents had higher salaries.

I survived only on the salary I earned from part-time work at KFC after my SPM. Even during semester breaks, I worked hard at KFC.

This was a turning point in my life.

Because I dreamed of having a muscular body and had no talent for business, I joined the rowing club despite not having any fitness background.

Those who were powerful had the opportunity to get sports scholarships at that time.

This made me more motivated to train hard and seize the opportunity to get a sports scholarship!

At the same time, my responsibilities as a student and wanting to make my parents proud could not be ignored.

Even though grades are not everything, they are the hope of our parents when they send us to university.

Thankfully, I received 2 scholarship offers at that time.

A sports scholarship and a JPA scholarship.

Life at that time was just about studying and rowing.

My schedule was different from my classmates because I had a different mission to pursue.

Honestly, I had no talent for rowing at all.

I was skinny, had no muscles, and had no stamina because I had no athletic background.

The most I've ever done was complete a cross-country race in school.

But because I was passionate about joining the Johor SUKMA team at that time and receiving a monthly stipend, I trained hard and always did extra training.

Others started training at 6 p.m.

I started doing circuit training on my own at 4:30 p.m. and had my training clothes ready in my bag.

As a result of this, my boat won gold while representing Johor in SUKMA.

My nickname even changed to "bicep" because my biceps got big from going to the gym a lot.

But now I'm a bit shy to show them because they've shrunk.

During my active rowing days, I learned a lot of soft skills.

? Learned to communicate with the team to keep the boat balanced and fast.

? Learned discipline by waking up at 5 a.m. every day for extra training.

? Learned to work together to make the team champions.

? Learned leadership to lead by giving directions and strategies to win races.

? Learned responsibility in organizational work.

At the same time, my diploma and degree CGPA managed to get first class and I even received a Royal Award at convocation due to my achievements in rowing and good academic results.

I noticed that when I started being active in sports, and took care of my diet and sleep.

My brain became smarter and it was easier to understand when I studied.

Before, understanding one question took days and I had to ask other people for help.

But as my brain became smarter, many questions could be solved much quicker.

I had to be very strict with time management at that time because I had to focus on both rowing and studying.

Assignments and projects had to be completed early by the group.

Otherwise, we wouldn't have time to submit them because we were busy with tournaments.

I was very fortunate at that time to have a functional group that could keep up the pace to complete assignments as early as possible.

Choosing a functional group is very important if you want to score.

But you yourself also need to be functional for quality people to want to team up with you.

Tests and exams also had no concept of last-minute studying.

If possible, two weeks before the exam I would have finished studying and made notes on all the topics without waiting for tips from the lecturer.

As a result of my experiences during my studying days, I indirectly built a more positive character.

If I hadn't forced myself to join rowing and do all these things, it would have been difficult to get a job because I wouldn't have the character that companies want.

Everyone thinks I got into the company I'm in now because I'm smart and have connections.

In reality, I started with an average SPM and applied for jobs through the proper channels, having to go through 3 stages of interviews without any connections.

I focused on showing the abilities I had developed at university and highlighting what problems I could help solve during the interview.

In conclusion, our lives have the potential to be more successful and change our fate if we find the right circle during our study and work days.

Continuing studies is important for us to have the opportunity to build a more positive character so that we are better prepared and can go further in life for the long term.

It doesn't matter what course we study as long as we focus on becoming useful people.

Use the strengths and resources available at your place of study to upgrade yourself.

Continue learning and apply the mindset to always learn new things from university onwards.

Whether we learn

? Sports knowledge

? Health knowledge

? Business knowledge

? Financial knowledge

? Religious knowledge

? Even parenting knowledge.

That is all knowledge that will never run out for us to learn.

If you don't want to continue studying, you need to ensure that your character is improving.

Just be careful to choose the right people to associate with, and don't end up following the wrong crowd.

However, not everyone succeeds and usually quickly gives up if they don't have a supportive circle and environment.

So whether you need to continue your studies depends on your life goals.

It's a waste if you consider continuing studies to be a waste of money because it's hard to get a job, when in fact, you can get more than that if you really know how to take advantage of opportunities.