The Short Story of Mr, Mrs and Ms Wong

Mr and Mrs Wong had met while they were working in England. Then, Mr Wong was working in the navy in Portsmouth, while Mrs Wong was a nurse in a hospital not too far away from Chelsea. They later shifted back here to Sitiawan. Currently Mr Wong is the project manager at the Lumut dockyards in charge of ship repairs. I didnt manage to ask about Mrs Wong though.... They have a daughter, Su Ling (not sure of the spelling) who was born in Singapore.

Su Ling picked up badminton at age 12 and started going for training. Her coach remarked at the potential she had to be a great player. In Form 1, she was entered in the under-18 category (yes, Under-18) of the MSSD Badminton competition. Not surprisingly, she lost in the early rounds. However, the Perak coach, Mr Chong, was impressed with her capabilities and decided to train her. He was based in Ipoh, and his training was held every weekend. Mr and Mrs Wong made a lot of sacrifices to make sure she would be able to attend training each time, whilst keeping up with her studies. When she returned to the U-18 category for real, she won the MSSPK Ladies Doubles title and was a semi finalist in the Ladies Singles. She also scored well in her SPM exams (8As I think) Now she is in Sarawak studying Electrics and Electronics. She represents her university in inter-uni competitions and has won a few times.

Mr Chong's training started to dwindle to the point that he had to quit, and Mr and Mrs Wong then took over in 1999, and set up here in Sitiawan. Mr Chong had been training players since the late 1980s - early 1990s. I joined Mr and Mrs Wong just one year later along with my brother. He left in 2006 when college life beckoned upon him in KL, and that left me (and eventually the only one) to continue training with them right up until today, the last day, from start to finish.

Without their training it would be hard to imagine what I'll be today. I write this short story to show how much gratitude I have for them after coaching me for 9 long years, because they will not continue their training next year onwards. And when you think about it, I've joined a training class that has been running for almost 30 years. That's really something. Their impact on my life is immeasurable. The possibilities of my life's outcome without meeting them in the first place are endless. Just thanking them isnt enough. Neither is writing this short story. I'll definitely be looking forward to their return in the future.