POLO VOICE

By Mark Koh, TS Student Reporter, NUS
 
Pix From YRK
 
It's the SEA Games season and the time for Singaporeans to be reminded anew the supremacy of our water polo boys in this regional competition. Out of the actual action, the exploits of these guys are celebrated in the current Channel 5 programme Polo Boys which recently featured national player Yip Ren Kai (pix) in a cameo role.
 
Wider Audience
 
Asked about the experience, Ren Kai said modestly, "I do not think that my scene was really long enough for me to talk  about what it was like to be in a show." But he added, "Being able to represent my sport to promote it to a wider local audience was an opportunity not to be missed." In that sense, he took on the cameo role to promote his sport, to be a "polo voice".
 
Campus Setting
 
He liked the fact that the drama took place in a campus setting. "We lose alot of players after JC and army. Therefore, it's great that this show is set in a place of higher learning to let the public know that waterpolo is played in universities. Hopefully, this will attract more undergraduates to the sport," he said. However, the show, being a drama, inevitably took the liberty to spice things up. For example, the scene in which a female coach barged into the men's changing room did not reflect reality, he stressed.