‘I never thought I could represent Hong Kong’: Po Leung Kuk’s Cathy Wong finds way out of foster care and into new life of rugby

• For 18-year-old Cathy Wong, rugby has become her way to a new life and the U19 player appears to be a star in the making
• The scrum half just returned from Japan where she meet fellow players from a variety of countries

For Hong Kong Rugby Union national team member Cathy Wong Sze-man, rugby is much more than a sport.

At the age of two, Wong was taken under the wing of Po Leung Kuk, a charity organisation that runs a number of schools and orphanages in Hong Kong, because her parents couldn't afford to put her in school. Wong said when growing up, conversing with people was hard and finding her way alone was even harder.

"As a kid growing up, meeting people and talking with friends was hard," said the 18-year-old who recently returned to live with her parents after being in the residential care home programme for 16 years. "I tried to play basketball, but I was too small. But I like to self-learn, I tried to skip rope and do exercises that would make me taller," she said with a chuckle.

As it turned out, inside a shy young girl was a premier athlete just bursting to break out. Wong said there was one sport in particular that always caught her eye when she walked by the local fields.

"I didn't know what rugby was when I was younger but I saw people playing it. They seemed genuinely happy, so I always wanted to try it."

Soon enough, through Po Leung Kuk and the HKRU, Wong's talent got her noticed and she became a part of the U14 age grade programme after she took part in a summer course. Wong, who usually plays scrum half for her 15-a-side teams (she is still a part of the U19 squad but taking on some senior level training) not only discovered she had skill on the pitch, but found she could gain life skills from rugby as well.

"It has taught me how to be self-confident," said Wong, who is completing an associate degree at the Baptist University's College of International Education. "Growing up, I didn't talk much and when I first came to rugby, I didn't speak much English."

Wong is expected to potentially get her first cap for Hong Kong in 2020, and 15-a-side head coach Jo Hull said Wong first made waves earlier this year at the U20s Asian Sevens Series tournament and is now on the national team's "radar".

"Cathy has recently started playing senior rugby at HKFC," said Hull. "And we are excited to see how she develops over the next 12 months. Cathy shows great character and personality through the way she plays, showing the potential to be a feisty scrum half in the future."

According to a recent Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report, there are close to 180,000 kids below the age of 18 living in poverty, which means the city's income inequality rate is 18 per cent for that specific demographic, much higher than most developed nations. This also means that one in five children are living in poverty and a lack of access means many of them will remain poor in adulthood as well.

The Global Partnership for Education estimates 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty if they are taught basic reading skills as children, which would be a 12 per cent drop globally. Extracurricular activities, which are usually a part of school systems that can afford it, also have a direct result on childhood development and thus, decreasing poverty rates.

As Wong developed her skills on and off the pitch, she got some amazing opportunities to travel as well, heading to Dubai, India and Laos. Wong said playing for the national team wasn't even a dream of hers as a child because she didn't think it would be possible, and now it looks like an eventuality.

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"I never thought I could represent Hong Kong and go to all these different places."

Wong can now add Japan to that list, as she went to witness the opening ceremonies of the Rugby World Cup and the first match between the host nation and Russia as part of the HKRU's sister programme to World Rugby's Try and Stop Us campaign, which aims to increase women's roles in the sport. For the second year in a row, more young girls have got into rugby globally than boys and more than 40 per cent of the sport's 400 million fan base are female.

In Japan, Wong further expanded her boundaries, meeting kids from various countries and finding instant common ground through the sport they love.

I never thought I could represent Hong Kong and go to all these different places.HKRU player Cathy Wong

"I met someone from Jordan, we called her Gee, and another girl from Thailand. She doesn't speak much English but we were still friends and played rugby together."

Wong said sport does something not many things can: crossing societal and cultural boundaries with relative ease. "Even though we didn't have a common language we can still be friends and have fun together."

The HKRU's Community Foundation is also partnering Societe Generale, and has sent 16 youngsters to Japan for the Rugby World Cup, including kids from the Chicken Soup Foundation, the Confucius Hall Secondary School, the Hans Andersen Club of Hong Kong and Po Leung Kuk.

The 16 kids from Hong Kong are joining more than 100 other young athletes from various countries and partnering them with 140 Japanese kids for a week-long trip. Wong said getting to travel and see the world through rugby opened up her eyes and helped her develop her personal sense of well-being.

"Rugby helped me become who I am."

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