It seems natural to assume that everyone struggles to wake up at eight in the morning every day, stays up late to meet deadlines, and well, goes to college. But no, not Hayley.
Hayley is a professional windsurfer. She started windsurfing since she was nine, and became a full-time pro at 14 in the Hong Kong National Team.
At 20 years old, Hayley has already took home the 2009 ISAF Youth World Champion, the 2009 East Asian Games Silver medal, and the 2010 Asian Games Silver medal.
“Windsurfing is special in that you really have to be all-rounded in the sports,” said Hayley. “You have to know the wind, the current, and your equipment.”
Hayley dropped out of school after Form 5, having achieved great results in the Hong Kong Certificate Exams. College did not seem possible with her heavily-packed training and travelling schedule, but she got into the University of Hong Kong, and spent one semester as a Bachelor of Arts students, studying another passion of hers, literature.
But the Olympics got in the way.
To qualify for a place in Olympics, Hayley has to race in international competitions in Perth, Barcelona, Spain, the United Kingdom and many other more. And training every day is a must to keep her in top notch conditions. So college, again, had to be put aside.
Despite only spending on average three months in Hong Kong a year, being always oceans apart from family and friends, and skipping school – that is, living a life that is completely different than the majority of us – Hayley loves her life.
“Actually I really enjoy my life right now,” said Hayley. “Even though I don’t spend that much time in Hong Kong, I can still go online to chat with my family and friends.”
“I want to achieve may be even more than what Lee Lai Shan has done,” said Hayley. “But first of all I’ll have to be a world champion, and she was really good at it, so it’s a big mountain to climb.”
Related posts:
This is a really good story. I love your action shots, when she is actually out in the waters. The topic in general is so interesting! Good job =]
Hey, I’m following your Site for a few days now and i like the way your post. I wanna subscribe but my mailclient don’t wanna import your RSS URL.. what went wrong?! Regards.