I am Cheung Sze Chai and I am turning 18 years old this year. While I am still a "little kid", I would like to share my story.
I was born with a congenital heart condition called Patent Ductus Arteriosus, in which a small blood vessel that is supposed to close at birth, did not close properly in my case.
Having a congenital heart disease may sound daunting and may cause a lot of inconvenience in many aspects of life. However, my childhood was no different from any other girl's, if not more rewarding! Not only did I not shy away from different activities and foods, but I was in love with things like gymnastics, ice skating, the park and ice cream.
My parents regularly brought me to follow-up appointments to monitor my condition. Later on, due to an abnormal pressure difference in my heart vessels, I underwent an operation at the age of five at Queen Mary Hospital for a patent ductus arteriosus occlusion surgery, under the arrangement of Dr Dr Adolphus Chau Kai Tung. Fortunately, the surgery was very successful and left no sequelae. With this success, I was then able to embrace my primary school life as happily as other children around me and continue to be a lively and energetic child.
When I was in Primary 3, I was introduced to the sport of rope skipping through my school's extra-curricular activity classes. The plethora of rope skipping styles were so fascinating that I joined this extra-curricular activity. I gradually fell in love with the sport, joined the school team and represented the school for the first time in the inter-school rope skipping competition organised by the Hong Kong College of Cardiology, where I won the championship. After that, I followed the coaches to undergo more rigorous training outside of school and participated in various local rope skipping competitions. In 2015, I was invited to the Hong Kong Rope Skipping Team, and at the age of 10, I officially represented Hong Kong for the first time in the 8th Asian Rope Skipping Championships in Malaysia.
In the following years, my four teammates and I continued to represent Hong Kong at the Asian Rope Skipping Championships and World Rope Skipping Championships in Sweden, Korea and Shanghai in 2016, 2017 and 2018. With the experience of training and competing together over the years, we have gotten better and better in team competitions, and in 2018, we won the first place for Hong Kong in the FISAC-IRSF World Rope Skipping Championships for the first time in the girls' age group of 14 or below.
Although the COVID-19 epidemic affected many aspects of our lives including our training, it did not destroy our love for rope skipping. In 2021, my teammates and I switched to the girls' 16 and above division and, after many changes in teammates and the competition system, we participated in the International Jump Rope Union (IJRU) Virtual World Championships and successfully attained first place!
At times when I look at my personal experiences, I find myself to be especially lucky. Apart from my own hard work, I am very grateful to my parents for the education I received and their perpetual support of my dream to be an athlete, and never stopping me from trying different strenuous sports.
This year, I will be studying physiotherapy at in the UK. Although I may not be able to continue my dream of representing the Hong Kong Rope Skipping Team for the time being, I hope I will continue to be lucky and successful in my aspiration of becoming a physiotherapist!
I hope you will all work together to follow your dreams and live your own exciting chapters!