Top Hong Kong Athletes Share Path to Success

Harvest Sky, a sports management and education company in Hong Kong focused mainly on the support of athletes, aims to promote the concept of ‘corporate athleticism'. “Our goal is to bring sport to the community. The living environment nowadays is not quite good, especially when global warming and pollution problems are getting serious. There’s a need to promote healthy living.” says Esther Ma, founder of Harvest Sky. “Athletes are often associated with discipline, positive thinking, motivation and goal-setting. These are actually main factors driving employees’ peak performance as well, so that companies can be more effective and productive.”

Having athletes as ambassadors, Esther gives careful consideration when recruiting athletes to her company. “Our athletes need to be positive and compassionate so that people can be inspired by them from their sharing.” Esther believes that athletes generally have positive images and are good role models especially for the next generation. “To promote their healthy image, we continuously work with different retail brands using our athletes to endorse their brands. This is not limited to sportswear, but also lifestyle brands in various categories like fashion, watches, automotives and skincare. We’ll also let our ambassadors participate more in kids’ activities, such as volunteering in coaching kids, and being guest speakers for primary schools.”

On the topic of sportsmanship in Hong Kong, Esther invited her athlete ambassadors share their personal journeys with us.

Kevin Chow, a former Hong Kong competitive swimmer: “I got involved in different kinds of sports since I was young. At the age of 8, I joined a swimming club and started to have some sort of training, but I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not. Until the age of 12, since my performance was quite good, I felt like I should start to develop my athlete journey. I like swimming not only because it’s a healthy sport, but it’s also an individual sport. It’s all about a race against time and I enjoy doing this a lot.”

Camille Cheng, a Hong Kong competitive swimmer: “I always love being in the water. When I was younger, I enjoyed being active in the water. I started swimming competitively when I moved to Beijing at 9 years old. At first, it was just a sport giving me confidence. It meant something different when I got older. Swimming gives me all the opportunities. It helped me to get to a good university. It helps me relax when I’m stressed. The 2016 Summer Olympics was like a dream come true to me.”

Ivan Lo, a former Hong Kong triathlete: “When I was young, I was diagnosed with ADHD and my family made me do many types of activities like swimming, ballet dancing, drawing. However, these are not the things I like. I started running and cycling at primary six, and later on competed in triathlons. I knew this is the sport that I like. I even applied to study abroad in New Zealand as they’re very good at triathlons. 7 years ago, I started to teach kids doing sports. I’m now a full time coach and a motivational speaker.”

Viewing Hong Kong’s sports culture differently from other countries, Kevin, Camille and Ivan all think that parents should not push their children too hard to do a particular sport as it could make them dislike the sport. “Say swimming for an example, especially in Hong Kong, swimmers are actually very good at a young age. But when they get older, academics seem to be more important,” Camille said.
Ivan added “That’s the problem in Hong Kong. Kids who have talent in a particular sport are pushed too hard when they are young. This makes them hate the sport and not want to be an athlete.”
“It’s totally different in foreign countries. Sport is like a lifestyle thing. They’re not doing it for competition, but they enjoy doing it,” says Kevin.

All three ambassadors believe that it is important for kids to try different sports rather than just focusing on one sport. By giving children more choices and letting them engage in various types of sports, they may find out what they love. Esther said “The government should do more to promote sportsmanship. To outstanding athletes, the support is there. However, for those who haven’t reached the top level, and for the general public, the government should build more sports facilities for their usage.” Ivan also pointed out “competition is definitely needed. Through hosting more competitions, people’s involvement is higher, thus they’d be more passionate about sports.”

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