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| Photo by Lawrence Ang |
Name: Wang Shao Ing
Age: 33
Occupation: Legal Counsel
Sport before rugby?
I played a bit of table tennis and spent afternoons catching tadpoles and butterflies in school but otherwise had very unatheletic pursuits. I was in AVA right up to junior college because apart from the being drinks stall uncle, it was the only way to escape the morning mandatory mass exercises.
How and Why Rugby?
I picked up rugby when I was at Kings College London. As part of my efforts at cultural immersion I thought I'd learn an English game and the idea of running into a bunch of people without having to give up the ball seemed rather appealing. Plus, the post game activities involved a fair bit of merry-making and moonshine. Suffice to say after the first training session, I was hooked. I joined Blacks RFC when I returned and was selected for the National Team in 2001.
How does rugby differ from your previous sport?
The game demands power, agility, strength and speed. One is required to run, kick, pass, tackle to get past an opponent or rob them of possession. You're constantly dealt with situations in which you have to make swift decisions. Most of all, rugby is incredibly layered, there's the mastery of individual skills, unit skills and team skills, all of which you have to execute in concert with a bunch of other nutters - your teammates.
So why did you make the change to rugby?
I think the main draw is the adrenalin rush which is inextricably linked to the physicality of the game. This calls for aggression, yet the laws demand such discipline at the contact area - for a player it's a fine balance to strike but an interesting one. People who watch and play the game will know that it is not just a very physical sport but also a very cerebral one. I have played the game for 13 years but still feel like I am learning every time I get on the pitch.
Do you agree when people say that rugby is a men's game?
Sure. Before 1900s maybe, when women were still considered bondservants of their husbands. Today even countries like Iran and Uganda play women's rugby. Any one who watches the women’s game would be hard-pressed to agree with that statement. Just like in tennis where the speed of the women’s serves are incomparable to the men’s. But the beauty of the game is very much evident in the women’s game where the same skills are performed as in the men’s game. It's all relative.
What did you find the hardest to adapt to, when you took on rugby?
Being physically conditioned to really enjoy the sport. I'm an accidental athlete. I was not particularly fit or sporty when I picked up rugby and I still don’t think of myself as an “sportswoman" especially when compared with some of my teammates - I just love playing rugby. So whilst I relish the contact elements of the sport, to play at a competitive level and to stay in one piece long enough to have a "career" requires a serious commitment to a certain degree of strength and conditioning.
Can you describe your first experience with rugby?
It’s difficult to put into words but after my first rugby training I knew I would be back. Each game feels like living out an accelerated lifetime. You have to take hits and may fall but you pick yourself up and with the help of your team mates, have another go. You have to find the courage within yourself to literally fight on when the stakes are down. It's like living life. The game requires an all-out attitude and passion, you have to go out there and make things happen. And if you play like living a life less ordinary, it's addictive.
The lowest moment of your rugby experience...
Was when I tore my ACL in 2004. Rehabilitation can be an incredibly lonely journey and any one who is a competitor will understand the anguish of being sidelined. When it's happening to you, you're almost inconsolable.
On the field, the lowest moment was missing out on the gold medal for the SEA Games in 2007 in the finals against Thailand. We walked away SEA Games silver medalists but knew the gold was there for the taking as we had drawn against Thailand in the pool stages.
The proudest moment of your rugby career...
There are many (Bangkok 7s 2003, Blacks Midnight 7s in 2006, 15s game against Hong Kong in 2005 and Japan in 2007, 2008, Captaining the 15s team and belting the national anthem). Some were national games and some were club games and not all were necessarily wins but in my mind all are epic and they are shared experiences which I, and those who were there, will remember for a long long time.
But I will never forget being selected for the first time for national squad in 2001. I walked around with a skip in my step for weeks and after I received my first team training T shirt (we only got 1 T-shirt a year in those days), I was so proud to wear it and yet resentful that we had to for fear of damaging it. I still have that T shirt and would rather risk it being moth-fodder than, god forbid, I wreck it by wearing it at rugby training.
How much do you love rugby? If you had a choice to represent Singapore in another sport, what would it be?
I love rugby so much that when I'm not training, I'm coaching! (so that younger players may have the wonderful experiences and memories that rugby has given me).
I can’t think of myself in any other sport, maybe contract bridge? I hear it's an Olympic sport, it'll keep the mind sharp and best thing of all is that the worst damage I can do is get a finger cramp.
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