As the son of a former Hong Kong National Karate team member and coach, Tang Yu Hin fell in love with the sport at a young age. From 2010-2018, Tang was the champion of the Hong Kong Youth Games 8 years in a row. Tang was also awarded 8 times the Junior Outstanding Athletes Award organized by the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI).
From a young age, Tang has always excelled in his studies. However, as he reached secondary school, he started struggling at school due to the increase in training intensity. When he was in Secondary 4, Tang made the decision to transfer to Lam Tai Fai College (LTFC) to participate in the Partnership School Program (PSP). The program aims to provide student athletes with tailormade courses and support. This gave Tang more time and energy to fully immerse in training.
Under the PSP, student athletes are grouped into one class and are provided with tailormade lesson timetables. According to Tang, 'My new lesson timetable is more flexible. I only have to attend full-day lessons on Wednesday and half-days on Monday, Friday and Saturday. I can use the rest of my time to focus on training. Although it sounds like our lesson time is less than others, our summer holidays are shortened as well. We only get around 10 days. We also have less school holidays. Basically, we only get days off on public holidays. The school understands that student athletes have little time to finish their homework and that is why the school provides extra tutoring to individual students to help them balance between school work and sports. Our class teacher once told us that we had to complete all the homework given on the same day. If not, once they started piling up, it would be a lot more difficult to do so.'
Furthermore, LTFC provides an online learning platform for student athletes who are training or competing overseas. Students can re-watch lesson video recordings to revisit lesson content. Also, the school provides private tutors for student athletes in need. They can have one-on-one lessons according to their training schedules. LTFC also adopts a lenient approach towards allowing students to take leave under special circumstances. 'This allows me to attend overseas training,' explains Tang. 'Last year, I visited Japan 3 times to hone my skills.'
'I'm interested in becoming a PE teacher in the future,' Tang claims. 'And at the same time, continue working in karate. I might even help out at my Dad's karate academy.' A few days ago, EdUHK organized a talk at LTFC about the Joint University Programmes Admission System (JUPAS). Tang attended the talk to know more about learning at university and to prepare for the future. 'These kinds of talks are really useful,' said Tang. 'Other than learning about what different university programmes provide, I also learned about the entrance requirements and this helped me prepare myself to reach my goal.'
'I'm really happy I found a suitable school for my son,' said Tang's father. 'The school provides ample support to gifted athletes. I've seen significant progress in both his academic grades and sporting achievements. I fully support him in becoming a full-time athlete and I believe that he can learn from difference experiences he encounters in karate no matter good or bad. I'm glad that karate prepares him for the things he is going to encounter in life.'
*Reprinted with the authorization of the copyright holder