St. Joseph's Anglo-Chinese School

13/05/2018

Giving back to your alma mater glorifies the spirit of passing it on

Located in Kwun Tong, St. Joseph’s Anglo-Chinese School is known for its great achievements in sports, especially football. The strong sense of belonging to the school has brought some alumni back to become teachers or coaches. At the school’s 60th anniversary, Ronald Chau and Roland Liu, alumni and leaders of the football team, signed up for the HKJC School Football Development Programme with the aim to impact the school’s football development.

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  Ronald Chow (Left), alumni of St. Joseph’s Anglo-Chinese School, hopes to cope the success of “Seven wonders” to the school football team.

Never forget to ‘pass it on’

Ronald and Roland are respectively the head coach and manager of the school’s football team. Back when they were in school, both played on the team; now they teach the younger generation. Graduates of the Manchester United Youth Academy, both men think they shared an experience similar to Nicky Butt, one of the ‘seven dwarfs of Manchester United’ and also a graduate of the Academy, who played for decades before nurturing the younger generation as Head of the Academy.

Ronald, a 20-year-old university student, discovered that the Scheme and the school both share the ‘pass it on’ spirit. The idea of ‘never giving up’ also resonates with his beliefs. As he explained: “Our brothers at St. Josephs are firm and persistent, they never give up and always grit their teeth and work hard.” Once a supporting member of the Hong Kong Premier League Club Reserves, he added that the Scheme not only focuses on improving players’ technical skill, but also emphasises the development of their social and emotional skills. He believes that the Scheme’s out-of-the box training approach, coupled with the school’s ‘pass it on’ tradition, help to forge the team’s spirit.

Getting back to the fun of football

According to Ronald, the Scheme encourages students to have fun on the field, a concept which contradicts the traditionally intense and restrictive training methods and which allows students to retain their love of playing instead. Au Chun Ming, a Form 2 student who had experienced their world-class training approach, said that he enjoyed the free and easy training environment and atmosphere brought by the coaches. The Scheme not only piqued his interest in participating in training, but also enhanced the bond between teammates and coaches, which helped to further integrate the team. Form 5 student Cheng Tsz Him said that he will always remember the wise words of his coaches; and together with his teammates, they will continue to pass on the core values of the school to the junior players, so that they too will have wonderful memories to cherish.

Celebrating the school’s diamond jubilee and passing on its core values

Both a teacher and head coach himself, Roland mentioned that there are actually many ‘old boys’ who still come back to the school after graduation to meet up, play football or even begin their teaching careers. The teachers are friendly and make the students feel like family. They also never cease to support the schools’ sports teams. Roland was delighted to see the growth and changes in Ronald, who used to be an introverted footballer but now has become an outgoing and sociable coach. He opined that the HKJC School Football Development Scheme had further solidified Ronald’s fundamentals of teaching, which has helped him to nurture the younger players.

Ronald reminded these young players that there are always setbacks on the football field just as there are in life, but the first step to success is to hold on straight to the end. He also encouraged both coaches and teachers who are passionate about football to participate in the Scheme to broaden their horizons and learn new training approaches. If they can open up and express themselves and exchange ideas with other coaches, they will reap rewards from the Scheme that are beyond their expectations.