Ms Joan Catherine Yuliani, Sports Manager at the Office of Student Affairs, is a certified sports enthusiast, adept in in-line and ice hockey, rollerblading and netball.
At OSA, she manages TeamNUS in cheerleading, Muay Thai, wushu, netball and power lifting. "My interest in sports was fuelled by the movie The Mighty Ducks," she shared. "I later became a national roller in-line hockey player, before the sport and its affiliated organisation officially became ice hockey in Singapore."
Since joining OSA in 2016, Joan has travelled overseas with the wushu team and was in Taipei at the 2017 Summer Universiade. She also witnessed Team Singapore’s sensational victory at the FISU 2018 World University Netball Championship in Uganda, where six TeamNUS netballers made up half the national squad.
One of her noteworthy achievements is winning the International Umpiring Award (netball) in 2015 where she was one of only two awardees in Asia. This feat was all the more remarkable as she began collecting her first umpiring “C” badge in 2009. Now, a certified international umpire, Joan recalled her proudest moment when, following the 2018 Commonwealth Games, she officiated at a thrilling high-level Quad Series netball tournament between Commonwealth Games winner England, and Commonwealth Games host and favourites Australia, in September in Sydney.
Joan credits her wealth of experience to her netball coach Julie Goh. “A sporting hero within her own right, her passion and contribution back to the netball community is something I aspire to follow,” she said. “She introduced me to the concept of ‘dare to dare’ – dare to make mistakes, dare to be excellent and dare to take that leap.”
“Likewise, our TeamNUS has always shown to be very driven and passionate in their chosen fields,” she added. “What I’m here to do is to empower them to use that energy to create something that gets others engaged in sports as well.”
19th ASEAN University Games Myanmar 2018 – Joan (seated right) with TeamNUS wushu winners Fung Huixin (standing, third from right), and Samuel Tan Weihan (standing, second from left)
So what’s next in the sports pipeline for Joan? “I think I’ll try my hand at other team sports,” she mused.
“It’s a bit like life goals, championing diversity, enablement and the spirit of community.”
That pretty much sums up Joan’s ‘dare to dare’ outlook in the adventurous world of sports – there’s always room to take that leap, and excel as an individual and a team player.