Darryl Gan Zi Kang
One of the precious things that I gained from sports is the experience that I received from it. I was raised in Puchong, Selangor in a loving family as the oldest of two siblings. Growing up, I had too much energy and was a handful to my parents. My parents introduced me to sports as a medium to exhaust my energy without knowing how much I would grow from it. I started playing squash at the age of 7 and joined the state team when I was 8. At the age of 12, I played my first…
One of the precious things that I gained from sports is the experience that I received from it. I was raised in Puchong, Selangor in a loving family as the oldest of two siblings. Growing up, I had too much energy and was a handful to my parents. My parents introduced me to sports as a medium to exhaust my energy without knowing how much I would grow from it.
I started playing squash at the age of 7 and joined the state team when I was 8. At the age of 12, I played my first international tournament. At 13, I was fortunate enough to win several international tournaments and received many opportunities to represent the country for tournaments internationally.
Squash has brought me to many countries that I never thought I would be able to visit. It has allowed me to experience new cultures, make new friendships and grow in my maturity. I was able to experience things that many of my peers or people my age didn’t have the opportunity to. Besides that, squash has taught me many great lessons that helped me develop my character.
One of the most important and painful lesson that I’ve learnt is humility. This happened when I was at my peak several years ago. I was proud and arrogant at the fact that I am ranked 1st in Asia. My pride made me unapproachable to many people and blinded me from the warnings of people who cared about me. During a tournament, I underestimated my opponent and decided not to do a proper warm up. In the first set, I went for a split to retrieve a ball and tore my abductor. This left me severely injured and was told by the doctors that I would be off the court for 6 months and would need another 3 months of rehab to get back on track. There is a saying,
“Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.” – John Wooden
I was filled with conceit and only realized it when it was too late. The price was very heavy.
Fortunately, my injury miraculously recovered in 3 months and I only had to be in rehab for another 2 months. However, those 5 months taught me a valuable lesson that stayed with me till today: to never let my pride blind me, to always work hard no matter the circumstances and to listen to those who cares about me.
I am who I am and where I am because of the life lessons that my sport has taught me. I hope that this #MySunwayStory gives those reading the motivation to do sports and see the benefits out of it.
Darryl Gan Zi Kang
Bachelor of Science (Honours) in International Business Programme
Sunway Sports Scholarship