Some people say that universities are the ‘graveyard’ of athletes, but Lawrence Chan, a student in UM’s Track and Field Team, has proved it wrong with his action. Last month he set a new milestone in his athletic career by running a personal best at the 100m event in the open category of an open track and field competition in Macao, winning the gold medal and setting a new Macao junior record of 10.75.
Closing the Gap of 0.08 seconds
Chan, a first-year student in the Department of Government and Administration and Choi Kai Yau College, is currently the fastest 100m sprinter in Macao. According to him, breaking the 100m junior record in his final year is a major accomplishment of his career at this stage. ‘Because of the epidemic, the local school competition was canceled last year and I lost the opportunity to break the record among local schools, which has remained a regret in my school life,’ says Chan. ‘Breaking the junior record can somehow make up for the loss at that time.’ Chan adds that he does not have a special feeling towards winning this gold medal or breaking the record. ‘I was excited the moment I learned that I broke the record, but I didn’t feel much afterwards,’ says Chan. ‘My ultimate goal is to break the Macao record, which is only 0.08 seconds away.’
Good to be an Athlete at UM
There are many sports facilities at UM, not to mention the abundant teaching resources. Chan believes that it is good to be an athlete at UM. ‘We have our own track and field stadium for jogging and muscle relaxation. The UM Track and Field Team also provides massage guns for its members,’ says Chan. ‘In addition, there is also a fitness room for strength training. I go there once or twice a week.’ UM also provides scholarships for outstanding current students and offers an admission scheme for student-athletes. According to Chan, he missed the application deadline for the scheme and was not able to get a place through it. However, he will continue to work hard to achieve good results in various competitions with the aim of applying for a scholarship for current students next year. In October this year, Chan will represent Macao in a national competition and he looks forward to that. ‘I want to compete with sprinters at different levels and learn the good running skills from them,’ says Chan.
Attention to Detail in Training
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the same goes for Chan. It took him three years of practice, starting in the second year of junior high school, to gradually get his feet on the podium. Then he became the number one sprinter in Macao during the second year of high school. According to him, in addition to persistence, paying attention to detail is also very important. ‘I would take each movement apart and analyse what each movement does and what muscle groups it works,’ says Chan. ‘When in doubt, I would read books, search for information on the Internet, or ask older students for advice.’
A Sprinter with Entrepreneurial Ideas
Chan’s greatest interest, apart from sprinting, is entrepreneurship. ‘I don’t want to work as an employee in the future,’ says Chan. ‘I want to make my own decisions instead of being tired down.’ Although still a young adult, Chan is already full of business ideas and earlier participated in the One Million Dollar Macao Regional Entrepreneurship Competition with his classmates. Although their team entered the top 18, he decided to quit from the competition, feeling that his project was not yet mature. Chan has already planned to join the Campus Entrepreneurship Programme in the new academic year and compete for the opportunity to run a store on campus. ‘College is about trying different things,’ says Chan. ‘Life won’t be very interesting if it is the same as that in secondary school,’ says Chan.
Source from: https://www.um.edu.mo/news-and-press-releases/campus-news/detail/52117/