You probably know Haydn Chen as the vice rector for student\naffairs, but did you know that he is also a sports lover through and through? <\/p>\n\n
Haydn\u2019s passion for sports is varied\u2014he plays badminton,\nvolleyball, baseball, tennis ball, and basketball; non-negotiable\u2014he said to\nhis wife when they got married, \u201cThere is one thing you can\u2019t interfere with;\ndon\u2019t try to stop me from playing sports;\u201d and non-stoppable\u2014even with a\njam-packed schedule, he still manages to squeeze in sports time every week and\nhe is a regular user of the Sports Complex at UM, especially the badminton\ncourt.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a pro when it comes to badminton and other sports,\u201d\nHaydn says with his trademark humility. \u201cBut I\u2019m a bona fide sports lover, no\nquestion about that. I would feel like something is missing if a day goes by without\nme doing sports.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s a truism that exercise has many benefits for our well-being.\nNot only can exercise make us stronger and healthier, it also helps the body\nrelease chemicals called endorphins, which have been linked to feelings of\nhappiness. But Haydn goes one step further on the merits of playing sports,\nsaying that it makes one smarter. \u201cMany people think that athletes are all\nbrawn and no brains, which can\u2019t be further from the truth,\u201d says Haydn. \u201cYou\nneed to be smart to play sports to begin with, and sports make you smarter. In\nfact some professional athletes who have reinvented themselves after retiring\nhave done very well in an entirely different field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Haydn enjoys every match, regardless of the outcome. \u201cWhen I\nlose, I try to come up with a strategy so I can increase my chances of winning\nthe next time, which is not only great fun but also a good mental exercise in\nits own right.\u201d For Haydn, playing smart is not just limited to after-match\nreflection, he also likes to plan beforehand, like when he was expected to play\nthe champion of the first badminton competition held earlier on the new campus.\n\u201cI found a young badminton partner and our plan was that he would be covering\nmost of the court,\u201d says Haydn with a mischievous smile. <\/p>\n\n
Someone once said, \u201cBadminton is like ballet dancing. It\nrequires a lot of control, strength, mind play and measured movement.\u201d For\nHaydn, badminton is certainly one of his favourite sports, but he advises students\nto choose the type of sport that suits their temperaments and interests,\nwhether individual sports like yoga, swimming and jogging, or team sports like football\nand badminton, because, as Haydn puts it, \u201cThere is no such thing as a bad\nsport.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You probably know Haydn Chen as the vice rector for student affairs, but did you know that he is also a sports lover through and through? Haydn\u2019s passion for sports…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n