This next generation of Singapore’s athletes finds themselves on a progressive path as three young national athletes — Feroze Rahman, Harhys Stewart and Noah Lim — shine light on finding success and building unique stories of their own.
Feroze Rahman, National Skateboarder
How do you use skateboarding to express yourself? Skateboarding has been with me through the ups and downs. When I skate it brings me to another world. It blocks all the negativity and brings all the positivity. There’s nothing more satisfying than that feeling of landing a new trick or mastering a trick you’ve been trying for hours.
What has been the most challenging aspect of your career as a skateboarder so far? It’s about getting back up when you’re down. One thing I take away from skateboarding is that it teaches you to be resilient. You don’t give up. When you fall seven times, you get back up seven times, even when you’re frustrated from not landing a trick or when you’re injured. That’s one positive that I take away from skateboarding that I apply in my everyday life — and it’s to remind myself to never give up.
Not many would consider skateboarding a national sport, how has that changed since it was first contested in 2019 at the SEA games? It has changed and it’s had a good reception from the public so far. It has always been outlawed as a sport, so it’s nice to see the change in public perception. You see a lot of kids picking up skateboarding these days but what’s important is that you learn the sport from the right people. It’s an extreme sport, so you’d need to get the right people to teach you.
Can you give us a peek into your training regime as one of Singapore’s young national athletes? I don’t have a fixed regime as skateboarding isn’t the same as other sports. You skate when you want to. But to get myself to the highest level, it took skateboarding everyday morning and evening to get there. Growing up has taught me that you need to take care of your body and you have to take some off days as well. So on my off days, I go to the gym to strengthen the body as we take a lot of impact from skateboarding.
Feroze Rahman is wearing Y-3 Shiku Run woven leather and rubber sneaker, nylon twill jacket, nylon twill cargo pants
Haryhs Stewart, National Footballer
How do you use football to express yourself? I think football is amazing because generally, I am quite reserved and introverted off the pitch, but on it, I can let my feet do the talking and express myself in ways I couldn’t do otherwise. It gives me a platform to show everyone who I am and what I love to do.
What were some of the challenges you faced as a young footballer and especially, as one of Singapore young national athletes? I think one of the biggest challenges has been relocating when I was younger. I moved from Singapore to Dubai when I was seven and again to Finland when I turned 12. So making new friends and getting used to different cultures were its first challenges but football helped me overcome them. It helped me connect with local kids regardless of our backgrounds and transcended the language barrier between us.
Can you give us a peek into your training regime? The current season is slowly coming to an end soon so I will still have training every day in the evenings. I like to get a couple of extra gym sessions during the week but also give myself some downtime for my body to recover and rest from the long season.
Does functionality or aesthetics rank higher for you or do you prefer a balance when picking clothes for yourself? I think both are important to me. I wouldn’t wear something if I didn’t think it looked good but at the same time, it has to be convenient and comfortable for me. I’m starting to learn more about fashion and the industry through modelling which gives me ideas on my style and concepts that I can incorporate into my fashion sense.
Harhys Stewart is wearing Y-3 QISAN COZY suede and rubber sneakers, nylon camo AOP jacket, nylon camo AOP pants.
Noah Lim, National Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Martial Artist
What sparked your interest in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? My brother Paul started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu a few years earlier than me. I was a swimmer at the time. He would always come home from training and practise different techniques on me. I instantly fell in love with the strategic element of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — how you must think critically and objectively about what techniques work and what don’t. I also really liked how a smaller guy can develop coordination, footwork, and timing to defeat a stronger opponent. I started at EVOLVE MMA and became pretty obsessed. When I first started, I would train 2-3 classes every day, mainly to try out different technical ideas I had seen or thought of. Like anything else in life, it’s much easier to do well when you’re very passionate about it.
What keeps you going as one of Singapore’s young national athletes? I think it can be hard to maintain and upkeep motivation during the pandemic. What keeps me going is my goals for the future. I visualise myself competing in SEA Games, Asian Games and other big competitions and doing the techniques I’ve been practising. My training partners have also significantly fuelled my motivation and desire to push myself harder.
How did it feel like when you won Singapore’s first gold medal for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the South East Asian games? To be honest, I always go into competitions knowing I would either win or lose at the end. This helps me to hedge my expectations for either outcome. In the first match, I fought an opponent that beat my older brother in Malaysia a few years back. I remembered quite vividly my brother losing that match after he was cornered by him. So fighting the same opponent and defeating him in approximately one minute was pretty cool. In a way, it was symbolic of me putting my self-doubt to sleep and realising that I can do much more than I think I can. The next few matches ended with similar outcomes as the first.
What are your next goals? One of my biggest goals is to do well in Asian Games. I say “do well” and not “win” because as of current, saying to “win Asian Games” may seem a little presumptuous. I would never say that my goal before the SEA Games in 2019 was to “win SEA Games”. I just want to do my absolute best and hope it yields desirable results.
Noah Lim is wearing Y-3 RUNNER 4D IOW neoprene and rubber sneakers, nylon knit base layer top, nylon ripstop utility pants
Photography Cher Him
Art Direction Izwan Abdullah
Styling Manfred Lu
Grooming & Hair Fazz using Chanel Beauty
This story about Singapore’s young national athletes — Feroze Rahman, Harhys Stewart and Noah Lim — first appeared in our October 2021 issue.
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