What do you do outside of training? I am a solicitor at Elringtons Lawyers. My weekdays are spent in court for appearances, conferencing clients, meeting barristers, drafting court documents and formulating case strategies with the litigation partner. Given my previous experience as a physiotherapist, I have a keen interest in medical negligence matters, although my practice spans from all personal injury work to commercial litigation and estates. Apart from work, I try to spend at least one day of my weekend wheel-throwing at the Canberra Potters Society.
What is one key event that changed your life in a positive or negative way? My parents deciding to migrate to Australia. I was born in Malaysia and moving was such a positive impact on my life, whether it is access to education, broadening my perspective on world issues, the different cultures I encounter, the people I have come to call friends and the place I feel at home.
Where do you draw your inspiration from and why? I think that the older I get, the more I surround myself with people who continue to encourage me to discover and achieve my goals. From my family and friends, to the amazing team at work and training. Every person with a passion and purpose plays a role in driving me to be a better version of myself.
TV show you secretly enjoy? Very embarrassing but I recently started watching it with my housemates… Descendents of the Sun (Korean series).
What advice can you give to new students joining up who have never trained? 1. Attend class as regularly as possible because learning any new skill is best reinforced with practice. 2. Listen to Gaz and his tips to get the basics right so that you can continue to build your technical skills on a solid platform. 3. Don’t be intimidated to ask questions and partner up with different people because you can pick up something new every session to improve your training.
Describe the people who train with you? The people who train at Chopper are passionate about the sport and push themselves to the limit during training. Above all they are generous with sharing their experiences and approachable so that I can work on improving at Muay Thai in a fun environment. Even though it is hard work, I think it is the team that carries me through the sessions… probably with too much laughter if you ask Gaz.
Explain the feeling you get after class? So much of the work day is about completing tasks for others, and after completing a class I feel like I have spent a small portion of the day achieving a personal goal in working hard and improving myself. I think of training as a reward and dedicating some time in the day to my own wellbeing.