Category: Feature
The Singapore Premier League (SPL) is set for an imminent restart, and the Lion City Sailors have been training on the pitch striving to be in the best shape to challenge for the title this season.
But one Sailor has been conspicuously absent from these sessions – full-back Ho Wai Loon.
Instead of being out on the pitch with his teammates, the 27-year-old has been forced to stay at home in a cast, after he sustained a right ankle fracture early last month.
The injury, which occurred during our second full training session, was severe enough that Wai Loon had to undergo surgery on his ankle the very next day.
“We were having possession training, and during one passage of play, I slid in to try and block a goal. But my right ankle got stuck in the ground, while the momentum carried me forward, and I suddenly heard a loud crack,” said a disappointed Wai Loon, recalling the painful incident.
“I knew immediately then that it was a bad injury, and that I’d be out for a long time.”
His recovery is estimated to take about four to six months, and the Singapore international will very likely miss a large chunk of the coming season, if not all of it.
After close to seven months without football due to Covid-19 measures, the left-footed Wai Loon was naturally upset at suffering such a serious injury, especially now with the season about to restart.
“It was a devastating blow for me,” said a candid Wai Loon. “Frankly, this year has not been a good year for me, football-wise. We only managed to play two games at the start of the season before circuit breaker started.
“Then just when things were picking up and we got back to full training, I suffered this injury, and will now have to miss another four to six months of football.”
Despite the ill-timed setback, Wai Loon is determined to maintain a positive mindset throughout his rehabilitation.
After all, he believes that the key to a better and faster recovery is to stay positive – something he learnt while recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in 2015.
“When I had my ACL injury, I realised that your mindset plays a very important role in your recovery,” said Wai Loon. “You have to be mentally strong, and stay optimistic. It is hard, but you cannot wallow in self-pity because it is what it is, and there’s nothing you can change.
“So, instead of focusing on the injury, focus on the recovery. That’s why I’m choosing to look at the positives of my injury now. I believe that things happen for a reason, and maybe because of this injury, it’ll allow me to reset, recharge, and come back a stronger player.”
As part of Wai Loon’s rehabilitation, he continues to work with the club’s trainers to keep active in order to maintain fitness.
“I had just one week of rest after the operation,” Wai Loon revealed. “Since then, I’ve been going for treatment and working with our trainers to keep my quadriceps and hamstrings active so that my fitness levels don’t go down too drastically.
“Thankfully, the recovery process isn’t as tough as when I suffered the ACL injury, and doctors say I can probably begin cycling in a month, which will help with my cardio fitness.”
It helps, too, that Wai Loon’s friends and family, as well as his teammates and coaches, have been hugely supportive and encouraging.
“After the injury, my teammates have been checking up on me often, and of course it helps knowing that they care and that I’m not alone in this,” said Wai Loon. “Their encouragement, along with the support of the coaches and the trainer who’s helping me with my treatment, makes me extra determined to work hard.
“I know they’re all waiting for me to come back, so I shouldn’t disappoint them. Having said that, I won’t rush my recovery too or I might risk getting another injury.”
And while we will be without Wai Loon – who was set to play a key role in our charge for the SPL title this season – for the majority of the campaign, the full-back is optimistic in the team’s ability to achieve success on the pitch.
“I’m confident that the direction we’re going is the right one,” Wai Loon declared. “The coach, the staff, the players are all pulling in the same direction, and everyone is doing well.
“I believe the team will perform well this season, and we will soon be able to show everyone our way of playing football. The morale is high among the boys, and everyone is putting in a lot of effort in training. So even for me, while I’ll be sidelined, I’ll still be there to support the team throughout the season.”
It was past 8pm on a Wednesday at HYFA, and most of the young players from the Lion City Sailors Football Academy had already left for home after their training session.
Five of the academy trainees, however, remained behind on the pitch – sat in a semi-circle around Sailors centre-back Abdil Qaiyyim, eyes focused on the 31-year-old, hanging on to every word that came out of his mouth.
Abdil, one of the most experienced players in the Sailors squad, was sharing with them the valuable lessons that he had learnt – both on and off the pitch – throughout his illustrious career to date.
And the academy trainees – all centre-backs – were enraptured.
Abdil revealed that the one thing he wanted to get across to the five young players was that there was no escaping hard work and grit if they wanted to succeed at the top level of the game.
“My message to them was that even if you have a lot of talent, if you don’t work hard, your talent is going to be wasted. You need to put in the work,” said Abdil. “I told them to look at Cristiano Ronaldo, or Lionel Messi – they’re not the players they are simply because they were born like that. They had to put in a lot of time and sacrifice to perfect themselves.
“Even for me, when I was younger, I wasn’t a first team player. There were a few other players who were a lot better than me, but I did not give up. I knew that I had to put in the work, and that’s what I did. After training, if I had to stay back to do extra work, I would do it.”
Abdil’s impromptu sharing came after he, along with nine other Sailors, had donned their coaching hats and put the LCS Football Academy trainees through their paces in a special training session.
The session saw each Sailor personally conduct training for a group of up to five academy players who played in the same position as they did.
And Abdil, who taught his group about defensive positioning, as well as the art of defending corners, remarked that he was very “impressed” with what he saw of the young players.
“I was actually quite impressed with my group of kids because they showed me that they have a good mentality and the right traits in them despite being still so young,” explained Abdil.
“There was this boy, Jack, and he’s still in Primary School, but the determination that he showed, and his willingness to learn, really blew me away. He was also quite a fighter for his size, and that sort of spirit is very important for a centre-back.”
Abdil, however, was keen to emphasise that these young players had to not just hone their talent on the pitch, but also develop themselves in the right way when they stepped off it.
Reflecting on his own development as a player, Abdil said: “I’ll be honest, when I was younger, I made a lot of mistakes in my career. But I’ve learnt from these mistakes, and I can now share my experience with the kids so they don’t make the same mistakes I did.
“So, I think it’s great that such sessions have been organised for the academy players. Sometimes as players, there are some things that you want to ask your coach, but you’re afraid to do so because they think the question might sound silly.
“But now, these kids acknowledge me as a (fellow) player, so we’re sort of on the same level. I think it’s easier for them to interact with us, because it’s on a player to player basis. This gives us senior players the opportunity to impart our knowledge and experience, and guide the next generation of players for Singapore football.”
But while Abdil described his time with the academy players as “refreshing”, he remained coy on the possibility of going into coaching once he hangs up his boots.
“I don’t know if coaching is in my future, to be honest,” he said with a wry smile. “But I have friends and ex-teammates who went on to become coaches, and I actually look up to coach Noh (Rahman).
“After all, he was once a player, and I even played with him, but he’s now our coach. He’s a person who I look up to, so maybe I can follow his footsteps. But whether I really want to go down this (coaching) path is still unclear to me. Let’s just say I’m keeping my options open!”
It has been a strange couple of months for our Lion City Sailors custodian Hassan Sunny.
After all, since starting his professional career at Geylang United (now called Geylang International) in 2003, the 36-year-old has hardly ever been away from a football pitch for such a long period of time, injuries notwithstanding.
But, with the Covid-19 pandemic putting a temporary halt to all sporting activities in Singapore in March, Hassan has had no choice but to stay at home – away from the familiar surroundings of the Bishan Stadium – and wait for the virus to blow over, so that things can return to normal.
And, while Hassan fully understands the need to be cautious when it comes to the virus, he admits that it has not been easy for him to live without football these past two months.
“I don’t see anyone, or any athletes, having a good time at the moment,” said Hassan. “I watch the news closely every day, hoping for when it’s finally announced that we’re allowed to train again. Even if it’s in small groups of three or four, all of us just can’t wait to be back out on the pitch.
“Because football is in our blood, and we have been playing football since we were young, and this virus is like a huge block to stop us from doing what we love. In fact, it’s not just us professional athletes. I’m sure most people out there have ‘itchy legs’, and can’t wait to exercise or play sports as well.”
Nonetheless, Hassan acknowledges it is imperative that the SPL resumes only when it is safe to do so. And he expressed his confidence that the authorities in Singapore would make the right call at the right time.
“We as Singaporeans have to be thankful and we have to appreciate the things going on in Singapore,” Hassan mused. “Everything is about health. I’m sure when football resumes, all the necessary measures and checks will come first before football.
“I think it’s safe to say that us players don’t need to worry that much, because if any of us don’t pass the checks, we won’t be allowed to train or play with the team. So, if you talk about fears in terms of health, I’m sure everything will be detected early, and I think there’ll be no worries on that end.”
In the meantime, to keep himself focused on football, Hassan reveals that he has taken to watching his past matches, while also ensuring that he remains in tip-top shape physically.
The Sailors ‘Superman’ explained: “I’m sure all of us athletes and football players have been doing a lot of individual work at home or at our neighbourhood parks. On the football side, however, what I do is watch my matches from previous years…just to keep my brain on football and help me stay in the game.”
Hassan, however, will have to remain patient for a while longer – the return date for the Singapore Premier League (SPL) remains up in the air, even as the country slowly but surely moves towards the easing of restrictions.
But even after the SPL is given the all-clear to resume, the veteran Singapore international believes that there will be changes that clubs and players will have to adapt to.
“As much as people in Singapore would love to see football again, I’m sure things won’t go back to normal,” said Hassan. “Case in point – I recently watched the Bundesliga and the Korean league, and they don’t have fans watching them. I’m sure that affects those players, and it would be the same thing for us as well.”
Since its official launch on June 10, our Lion City Sailors Football Academy – along with the announcement of an elite development programme scholarship worth S$1 million for promising young players – has been the talk of the footballing community in Singapore.
Modelled after some of the leading academies in Europe, our LCS Football Academy programme is geared towards grooming young talent in local football by creating a holistic environment to help them to grow and develop to the best of their potential.
This includes providing youth players access to a whole suite of professional services critical to the development of footballers, including nutritionists, sports psychologists, video analysts and sports doctors.
Our LCS Football Academy and its elite development programme has since been hailed by several local football observers as a boost for Singapore football, with Sailors midfielder Saifullah Akbar hailing this latest development as a step in the “right direction” for the local game.
Speaking to the official LCS website, the 21-year-old said: “The launch of the LCS Football Academy shows that our chairman is trying to build a youth set-up which is very similar to what they have in Europe, where they have not only football training sessions, but also cater time for students to focus on their studies.
“I personally think that’s the right strategy to develop youngsters, because it also ensures that they have a good educational background. So, I think the launch of the LCS Football Academy, as well as the elite development programme is a really positive thing, not only for our club, but for Singapore football as a whole.”
Having come through an academy as a young footballer, Saifullah understands first-hand how important it is for youth players to develop in a professional and well-rounded environment like the one offered by the LCS Football Academy.
“Being in a well-run academy like I was, helped a lot in my development,” he shared. “During my time as a trainee, we had things like motivational and nutritional talks…it had a positive impact on me because as a young kid, I needed all that knowledge. And when I grew up, this knowledge stayed with me, and I now apply it in my professional career, and it’s been going well so far.”
With our LCS Football Academy charting a viable career pathway into professional football – either through the senior squad of our Lion City Sailors, or through our vast contacts with overseas clubs – Saifullah believes it will provide an impetus for youth players in the academy to raise their game and work even harder to improve themselves.
“As a young player, if you have that kind of motivation to make it in professional football, you’ll work extra hard every day to try and achieve those goals,” said Saifullah.
“So, this career pathway is good because now everybody will be fighting for that goal, and will put on their A-game every single time. It drives players to push one another, which can bring the best out of them. This can help to produce very good footballers for Singapore.”
Nonetheless, while our LCS Football Academy will strive to provide the best for our players, Saifullah insists that one’s success in the game is really down to one’s own hard work, discipline and determination.
“There are no shortcuts for wanting to achieve your goals,” he declared. “So, my advice to the players coming through the LCS Football Academy would be to take note of the little things…to achieve your professional career goals.
“For myself…I would have very good sleep, eat good meals, and make sure my body is always in shape to bring out the best in me on the pitch.”
