Rosaryhill Secondary School 

23/07/2018

Football heroine waves flag for multicultural Rosaryhill

Standing proud on Hong Kong Island for more than half a century, Rosaryhill Secondary School welcomes students from all around the world. The school’s football team features players of different races, backgrounds and languages. To pull this “United Nations” together and get the players to work as a team is undoubtedly a challenge for its coaches.

This year, Dorcas Lee, who has taught at the school for many years and is also the football coach, decided to participate in the JC School Football Development Scheme with her teaching partner, Hawk Ng, who just joined the team. Together, they hope to discover the secret of unity and use it to unlock the power of Rosaryhill’s football team.

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  Rosaryhill’s football team is headed by Dorcas Lee, a female leader who is rarely seen in school’s football team

Connecting each player and unleashing their talents

Unlike most football teams, Rosaryhill’s team is headed by a female coach. Dorcas is a member of the Wofoo Women’s football team; and being a female coach, she feels she knows how to put herself in her students’ shoes and understand their concerns more so than other coaches. She is able to blend the team very well, even though her students come from Russia, Portugal, Brazil, Japan, Pakistan and other countries. Dorcas has, however, noticed a problem: “All of the players have very close relationships with each other and have good skills, but they fail to translate this edge and demonstrate good team work on the field. Some players are over-confident in their performance, while others lack confidence. The performance of the team is therefore affected.” Dorcas regrets that the strong bond between the players has not become an advantage for them on the field.

The influence of a passionate heart

It takes mutual trust between coaches and players before change can happen. Dorcas, who has a good relationship with her students, revealed that Christopher O’Brien (OB), Head Coach of Manchester United Soccer Schools Hong Kong, has taught her how to further improve the teacher-student relationship. “We can feel OB’s friendliness and geniality. His sincerity and passion have influenced every teacher and player. Everyone is willing to follow his instruction.”

Dorcas thinks OB is the best example of a teacher who is also a friend to students. OB has taught her to strike a balance between keeping her dignity as a teacher and her friendliness with students, and this has helped her get to know more about her students.

Mutual trust enhances relationships

While a good teacher-student relationship is important, football success cannot be had without training. The Scheme’s four-on-four training focuses on interaction and collaboration, and is the best platform for players to exchange views. Dorcas saw improvements in the team’s weaknesses: those with less confidence were more willing to try and become more active, while those who were overconfident began to trust their teammates. She gives special credit to Gary Liang, an ethnic Chinese boy from Brazil. “He used to be introverted and only spoke few words. The school visit by Manchester United has opened him up and he now proactively starts conversations with others.”

Jerry Chong, a Form Four local student, said the small-scale training has helped him to realise and appreciate the strengths of his teammates. He has also learnt how to accommodate others: “During the training, we do not just pass the ball, we also pass on our minds and ideas.” Dorcas was delighted to see the positive changes brought on by the Scheme.

Long-term development has always been the vision of the JC School Football Development Scheme and this includes the philosophy of “teaching the teacher”. Hawk, a Chinese language teacher with little football coaching experience, learnt the basics of teaching football training by taking part in the Scheme. Without any professional coaching qualification, Hawk said the theory and practice classes taught by OB have enriched his understanding of football, helping him to move toward becoming a football coach. He hopes to learn and improve together with the students, and thus influence each other. He also hopes to be able to help Dorcas to realise the team’s potential both on and off the football field. Together, they are determined to nurture this ‘rose’ and watch it blossom.