Driven by Passion: LPC Athletes Share Their Stories
- LPCUWC
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
At LPC, sports are about far more than just competition—they are a masterclass in student leadership, time management, and building lifelong connections. We spoke with student athletes across campus to hear about their personal journeys, the challenges of balancing academics with athletics, and what sports have taught them about themselves.
🏀 Bosco Zhou (2025-26, Year 1)
What sports do you play?
My name is Bosco Zhou, a first-year student in the 2025–2026 academic year. I have tried various sports, including football, handball, and table tennis… But I only chose two sports to further develop my skills and experiences: volleyball and basketball.
What is playing sports at LPC like?
I was studying at Sha Tin Methodist College in Sha Tin, which is one of the local schools in Hong Kong. I had studied there for four years, and I have tons of memories there with friends, special school events, sports day, and different sports competitions.
I would say there is a big difference between LPC and a normal high school in Hong Kong. Usually, in a sports team, there is a coach who takes charge of the training, competition management, and holding friendly matches. But at LPC, all the responsibilities are given to the students. I would say it is an innovative idea. It provides a pathway for students to try to learn how to manage a team—the communication methods, training arrangements, ways to maintain team bonding, and methods to keep every player passionate about the match and the sport. LPC allows students to reach this kind of experience at an earlier stage. It makes the students more mature and responsible during the process. Thus, I am experiencing a unique and creative perspective and pathway on “learning from sports”.
How have you grown from playing sports at LPC?
Letting the students take charge of the whole sports team brings pros and cons at the same time. Negatively, it brings more stress to the team captains, as they have to manage the team well and take care of their academic results at the same time. An excellent balance between sports and academics is required. Also, managing a sports team is an extremely difficult task. As long as most of us do not have experience taking such heavy responsibilities, mistakes and arguments among the team are inevitable. Thus, it may lead to tense team bonding. But still, I need to explain that these phenomena are common. No one is perfect, and people learn from mistakes.
Fortunately, I have the best captains in the basketball and volleyball teams this year. I have learned a lot from them. They might not be the strongest, and they might lack experience in making some decisions, but they taught me what counts as a “captain”. “Captain” does not stand for “strongest”, but the willingness to put uncountable effort into the team and the sport. I can tell that those two team leaders love sports so much that I can never compare to them. They were stressed, they were struggling, they were depressed. But they never gave up on the team. A captain should be the anchor of the team, to calm the teammates, to provide guidelines to the team, and to bring the team back onto the right track. To me, they aren’t perfect leaders—they made mistakes, and they could be immature sometimes—but they are the best leaders I have ever met. They are the role models under this innovative team management method, and they are role models to me. I finally understand what a leader should look like.
⚽ Bosco TW Lam (2025-26, Year 1)
What sports do you play?
My main sport is football. Currently, I play for the Under-18 and Under-22 levels for Kitchee S.C., as well as training with the senior team, and I also represent the Under-17 level for the Hong Kong National Youth Representative Team. I have experience playing against some of the best teams in the world, such as Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, and Villarreal, as well as national teams such as Spain, Scotland, Vietnam, Thailand, and more. I also play other sports for fun, such as tennis, basketball, badminton, and swimming.
What is playing sports at LPC like?
It's a rather hard task, I would say. I train close to 4 times a week (but I am only allowed to go to 3 maximum due to school rules), and I also train until late at night, coming back at 10:30 pm–11:00 pm, so half of my week on the sign-in sheet is filled with extensions every day. I also have weekly competitions, so it takes up a lot of my energy and focus to perform at my best, both academically and competitively.
How have you grown from playing sports at LPC?
One way I've grown is through developing time management skills. Spending 4–5 hours a day on sports means that I have less time for studying, working on homework and classwork, and just socialising with other people in general, and I don't get the time that other people would have to make a deadline or revise for a test. As such, I do my best to get ahead of all my work when I can and allocate my time as accurately and efficiently as possible. I've also connected with a lot of different people through sports, both in LPC and out of LPC, which adds to my UWC experience.
🥏 Bosco KL Lam (2025-26, Year 1)
What sports do you play?
My name is Bosco, and the sport I am most passionate about is Ultimate Frisbee. While I've been curious about other sports, Ultimate is the one I've chosen to fully invest my time and energy in here at LPC.
What is playing sports at LPC like?
Playing Ultimate Frisbee at LPC is a unique experience compared to my previous sports involvement. The team here is really small, which means there's no coach on the sidelines. All the responsibility for our growth and success falls on us, the players. Our practices consist of gathering together to run our own drills, figure out and practice our formations, and, of course, spend a lot of time just throwing the disc around to improve our handling. It’s a very hands-on, student-led environment where we have to be self-motivated and organised.
How have you grown from playing sports at LPC?
Ultimate Frisbee is a sport that relies so heavily on trust and chemistry. You need to know where your teammate will be cutting without looking, and you have to trust them to make the catch. Playing at LPC has amplified that need for teamwork. We've had to learn to motivate one another from within, especially during tough games or difficult practices when no external coach is there to pump us up. Most importantly, it has taught me a new level of commitment. When the team's success depends entirely on the players showing up and giving their all, you learn very quickly what it means to be reliable and dedicated, not just to yourself, but to your teammates.
🏐 Aurora (2025-26, Year 2)
What sports do you play?
The sports that I play are handball (at home, for fun now, but I used to play professionally) and here I played volleyball during this year's and last year's season. I also do dance (I do consider this a sport, as we are also competing).
What is playing sports at LPC like?
Playing sports in LPC is amazing. I love doing sports, as it is something I have grown up with. Sports are universal, which means that even if you are far from home, you can still play the same sports. In LPC, doing sports has been a great way for me to connect with many people that I otherwise wouldn't have connected with. I love that the sports community in LPC is so open and accepting. It is also a great way to keep active and stay social at the same time, as balancing school, sleep, physical health, and social life can be quite challenging in LPC.
While I haven't been able to play my own sport here, which is handball, it has been really fun learning volleyball. I am really grateful for the help and patience I have received from the volleyball players in our Year 2 (shoutout Claire, Abe, and Ryan) as well as from this year. They have helped me to learn techniques and strategies on how to get better. There could not have been a better sports atmosphere than one where people support and encourage each other. With dance, it has been really fun to get back into dancing, as I used to go to a dance studio before, but had to quit because of handball. I feel like I have evolved a lot as a dancer since coming to LPC, and I have connected with one of my closest friends through dance, which is Dimi. Which is really the best part about doing sports: that you grow such strong connections with others.
How have you grown from playing sports at LPC?
Playing sports both back home and in LPC has helped me grow a lot. My time in volleyball has really helped me to come out of my comfort zone and pushed me to be more comfortable with failure. Since I started playing handball when I was really young, I have almost always been one of the better people on my team. However, I had never played volleyball before, and was clearly not the best here. I tend to avoid doing things that I am not very good at, as I find failure uncomfortable, so volleyball has really helped my personal growth in this regard.
💃 Dimi (2025-26, Year 2)
What sports do you play?
I am a dancer, and I have been one since I was a child. I have gone through a lot of styles, such as ballet, traditional Bulgarian dancing, hip hop, afro, commercial, etc.
What is playing sports at LPC like?
When it comes to dance, it always has its ups and downs. There are a lot of sources for me to use, such as the Dance Studio, which has helped me a lot to continue on with my dance progress. I would say one flaw is trying to find fellow dancers in the school who can work with me.
How have you grown from playing sports at LPC?
Doing dance at LPC has taught me a lot—one being how to lead a big team of people, create a connection and harmony between them, and create a peaceful and harmless environment for them to work in. It has also helped me gain more patience and learn how to work with people who are not used to the sometimes chaotic and frustrating environment of dance.
🏉 Vilma (2025-26, Year 1)
What sports do you play?
I’m doing rugby, but it’s not on our LPC campus. I did some other sports in the past, like rowing.
What is playing sports at LPC like?
It’s a great way to build community and make new friends from outside your classes and also outside your year group. However, it’s also quite stressful, because we have a lot of schoolwork to get done. LPC offers us support to deal with the stress. Since my rugby training location is so far away, they help with as much as possible, and if I have any problems, they will help me work through them.
How have you grown from playing sports at LPC?
From playing rugby, I’ve definitely become more sporty and strong, which is really great, and it’s a great way to de-stress after such stress from a school day or in a week if I have a lot of tests. It’s also a great way to just get time for myself and become more confident.
Written by Genivee Ge 27 (2025-26, Year 1, Alumni Connect)
