Super Shot At Inspiring Youths

”Be the best that I can be”, is philosophy that Lee Min Li, Senior General Manager of the Netball Academy lives by. With that in mind, she gives her best to the young girls in the Netball Academy to guide, support and nurture them. Her hard work and dedication earned her the General Manager of the Year award this year.

Min Li started heading the Netball Academy 14 years ago. As a past national netball player and a basketball player in school, Min Li already had a keen interest in sport. Prior to joining Sports School, Min Li was a Head of Department for Physical Education/Co-Curricular Activities and Student Leadership at Tanjong Katong Girls’ School. Her love for education combined with her interest in sports, particularly netball, drew her to the job opportunity at Sports School in 2007.

Since then, Min Li has been working tirelessly to look into the overall development of the Netball Academy, and the individual progress of every single young girl who walks into Sports School with a dream to be a professional netballer. As a General Manager, Min Li also actively does talent identification, oversees the professional development of coaches, and seeks opportunities through competition and training sessions for netballers to become skilfully better. Some of the events introduced under charge were the Netball Primary School Carnival and the International Youth Netball Challenge.

One of her winning factors is her focus on building a strong culture within the Netball Academy. She dedicates time out of the courts to build close relationships with her student-athletes, coaches and stakeholders, including parents. “I take time and effort to build relationships as it results in better communication that would ultimately benefit my student-athletes. Seeing them grow in sport, and as individuals, is what gives me great satisfaction and happiness. Till today, I have many student-athletes and parents who keep in contact with me,” shared Min Li. She also dedicates time to build teamwork and camaraderie within the coaches in the Netball Academy. "My colleagues are wonderful, and without them, I would not be where I am today," she shared.

Because of her caring and empathetic nature, Min Li always goes the extra mile for her student-athletes. When one of her student-athletes was seriously injured after meeting with a motorcycle accident a few years ago, Min Li took it upon herself to raise funds to help the affected student-athlete’s family. As the family did not have insurance for their child, the sum that she managed to raise relieved their financial burden greatly. Like them, there are many other netballers and families who are extremely grateful for Min Li’s strong presence in their lives.

Raeke Ee Pei Ying, a Year 5 student-athlete from IBDP is one of them who is extremely grateful. She said: “Mdm Lee is an extremely caring General Manager, who always puts her netballers first. We see her as a motherly figure as she is our pillar of support and gives us a listening ear whenever we need it. She constantly looks out for us, not only in sport, but generally in life, and treats us all like her own.”

As Min Li is always there as a friend and mentor whenever both her colleagues and student-athletes need her, it was no surprise when she received an overwhelming outpouring of support and care when she went through her own personal challenge a few years ago. “My colleagues immediately stepped forward to give me emotional support. The then-Senior Coach even rallied student-athletes to prepare care packs for me. I was able to overcome my daily struggles only because of the support and care I received at work,” she shared.

On top of heading the Netball Academy, Min Li is the Chairman of the Student Leadership team. As the Chairman, she is in-charge of guiding and developing the leadership skills of the student leaders in school this year through training workshops, school projects and programmes.