Chong Weng Teng – SEA Games 2015 Athletics Squad

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Name: Chong Weng Teng

Height: 173cm

Weight: 73kg

Date of Birth: 18 December 1997 (18yrs)

Personal Best(s): 52.66m (Men javelin, 2015 Series 1)

Career Highlight(s): 4th for SEA Youth Athletics Championships 2014
1st for National Inter-school Track and Field Championships 2015

Q) What are your hopes, dream and target this SEA Games?

To get a new personal best, and hopefully break the National Junior Record (Currently stands at 55.19m).

Q) How’s your preparation for the SEA Games?

I’ve been spending most of my time recovering from a back injury sustained during Nationals, but overall I’m training hard to maintain my performance.

Q) What are some of the biggest challenges in your sports career so far leading to SEA Games and your athletics career?

One of the biggest hurdles I’ve faced is the fact that I’m not as experienced as other older and better competitors, especially due to the fact that I’ve only been in Track and Field for only 4 years.

Q) How did you specialise in your particular event? Why this event, what’s the attraction?

I actually joined the javelin throw because my school had a lack of throwers for Nationals, and also because I could not represent the school in Rugby, which was my former CCA for 2 years since the start of Secondary School, hence I had nothing to lose. However, I really started enjoying the sport and saw its appeal after seeing good improvements in my distances. The desire to throw further was addictive.

Q) Who is your coach, tell us more about him/her. Also a mention of your previous coaches.

My coach is Akid Chong, probably the best Malaysian thrower who lives in Singapore. He has a PB of slightly over 64m and to me, he’s a beast. More importantly, he’s a very knowledgeable and patient coach and one of the main reasons why I was able to see a huge improvement in my distance from the end of J1, when he joined, to J2. Without his guidance, I definitely cannot perform as well as I can today.

My secondary school coach, Coach Fok, also contributed immensely to my performance. Although he is old, he was down-to-earth and made training very enjoyable with his humour even though there were not many throwers. He was also extremely encouraging and helped set my foundations right for the Javelin throw ever since the start of Sec 3. I always try to strive to do him proud.

Q) Do you take care of your nutrition and diet? Your opinion on supplements and food.

Meat is king of all foods. Though I’m definitely not as disciplined as other athletes in my diet, I try my best to eat clean and avoid junk food. I do not rely on supplements to get my nutrients.

Q) Aside from athletics, what else interest you? You could say the other part of your life beyond athletics.

I’m a huge fan of football and good food, but life beyond athletics revolves mostly around studies for the time being. Training is a means of escape.

Q) How do you fit in your training/competing with your family and studies/work?

It can sometimes be a challenge to juggle both my work in JC as well as my training. However, I try to remain disciplined in achieving my goal and to give my best in everything. Hopefully, things will fall into place.

My parents are very encouraging with regards to my sport so that helps a lot.

Q) Share with the readers, some aspects of your training regime.

I train 3-4 times a week all year round. During off-season, I place the emphasis on strength by going to the gym and throwing plenty of medicine balls 2-3 times a week. As season approaches, I shift the emphasis to speed, explosiveness and technique, working on strength once a week and throwing for the remaining few sessions.

Technique remains at the pinnacle of importance for me. Sprints and box jumps are necessary exercises too. But I don’t run laps around the track for training and only do so to warm up. Conversely, stretching should be done every training, before and after. I used to overlook the huge importance of flexibility in throws.

Q) What are your long term athletics goals?

I hope to break the National Record one day, as well as compete in the SEA Games again with a few of my friends who share similar aspirations, be it locally or internationally.

Q) What advice do you have for young aspiring athletes?

Always have fun. If training seems like a chore, you’re in the wrong sport.

Photo credit: Danny Toh & SportsSG