Bowling's mother hen and her golden chicks

A MOTHER hen will do anything in her power to protect her chicks.

GOLDEN DUO: SingaporeBowling president Jessie Phua (far left) with the AYG doubles gold medal-winning team of K. Darshini (middle) and New Hui Fen. TNP PICTURES: JOYCE LIM PICTURES TAKEN USING A CANON EOS1000D

She would hover over them, and if outsiders try to get close to her chicks she would probably peck at them, drive them away.

Those are just the instincts of a mother hen.

And that is why The New Paper would liken Jessie Phua - SingaporeBowling president - to being the 'mother hen' in her sport.

The outsiders would be the media.

And Phua's protected chicks?

In this ongoing Asian Youth Games (AYG), those chicks would be the girls' doubles gold medal-winning duo of New Hui Fen and K Darshini, who were the stars of the bowling alley yesterday.

Since Phua came to office in 2002, she has maintained a strict policy of keeping the media at bay before and during competitions.

No individual interviews, she would insist.

But you can interview the team, as a group, to ease the pressure on the individuals.

For journalists who like to zoom in on different bowlers individually, this policy makes their job difficult.

Sometimes, even the chance to gain some rare but valuable publicity for a group of unknown teenagers, is lost.

But Phua is not about to please the outsiders.

Say what you like about her controversial policy but she continues to deliver the golden chicks of Singapore bowling, year after year.

Yesterday, Hui Fen, 17 and Darshini, 16, clinched the second gold medal for Singapore in the girls' doubles bowling event at Orchid Country Club.

Hui Fen had created headlines the day before, for being the first Singaporean to win gold at the AYG.

A few days before the AYG bowling competition, even media interviews of the team were banned by SingaporeBowling.

The youngsters were also not allowed to go to shopping malls or even to catch a movie.

Television, radio and even newspapers were kept out of their reach the moment they set foot into the Games Village, Swissotel the Stamford.

Hardline

Bowling's 'Mother Hen' took pains to explain her hardline measures to The New Paper after a second consecutive day of success.

Phua said: 'I know I may seem a little over-protective of them by placing an embargo on the team from speaking to the media during the competition.

'But if they see themselves on the front page of the newspapers, they'll feel more pressure to live up to certain expectations. What we always tell them is 'just be yourself'.

'On the technical aspects, I am in no position to manage the team. But I know the edge for us will be in the management of their emotions.'

Make that a 'gold medal' for Phua on emotional management for her young bowling chicks.

And so far, the chicks have appeared calm throughout the competitions, even with high profile ministers hoping and willing them on in the background.

Phua added that she has seen too many examples of athletes failing to perform after being shadowed by the media.

'Like how a Chinese shooter was being followed from his home to the training ground and later to the competition where he failed to perform at his best,' Phua said.

But Phua did admit there are some positives to media publicity, especially when the bowlers representing Singapore are unknown teenagers.

She agreed with The New Paper that, sometimes, athletes who see their stories appear in the newspapers can have their spirits lifted by the report and have their confidence levels boosted for their next competition.

But that's not all.

Phua said: 'We will even ask our bowlers if they want to know how their rivals are scoring in other lanes.

'Some of them want to know, some don't. Our coaches know how to best motivate them.

'But once the ball has been rolled, the head coach overrules me. I will just be their biggest cheerleader.'

Till the fanfare dies down next week, Singapore bowling's 'Mother Hen' will be guarding her precious golden chicks as best as she can.

Go to twitter.com/thenewpaper and tnppostman.com for TNP's AYG updates, pictures and videos.