Born-Again Footballer Goes to the Walking Football World Cup 2019
From a distance, a silhouetted figure was seen taking out football equipment from his car’s trunk. Training had not started but the person was tirelessly taking out heavy football-related training items so that the members of WaF4H (Singapore’s Walking Football team) can start their training on time.
The figure belonged to a certain 58-year old Shukor Bin Abdul Lihin. He joined WaF4H in 2018, after seeing a Facebook advertisement calling out to people who were interested in having a healthy lifestyle.
Walking Football4Health is a health community research initiative spearheaded by Dr Dee Dee Mahmood, a Senior Lecturer and Academic Researcher for Edith Cowan University. The initiative is also supported by International Sports Academy and Eunos Community Club.
Due to the initiative’s community-spirited approach, good objectives and well-supported by various organisations, Shukor decided to give the initiative a try. It was one of the best decisions he ever made.
“I saw an article about Walking Football4Health program and it stated that it was recruiting people to join the initiative. I thought why not?” he asked himself.
“The post was written by Dr Dee Dee and I felt that I need to start exercising once again. The program, as well as her, was one of the main reasons why I quit smoking since July 2018.”
“I told myself that if I need to be in good shape so that I can compete, I need to stop (smoking). I have smoked since I was 18 for nearly 30 years. It was a hard decision but I have never looked back since,” he happily said.
Mobility was an issue for Shukor as well but once again, he attributed it to the program’s success for him to be able to walk with less pain in his knee joints.
Shukor was a very active footballer back in the day. When he worked with the Japanese or the Hong Kong companies, he used to represent them in corporate football leagues. An unfortunate incident cut short his playing career prematurely.
“I tore my ligament in 1982 and I had to undergo knee surgery. Hence I was unable to walk without pain for quite a while. I also had to totally stop playing football.”
“However, after attending a few training sessions, I tried to go to the second level of Eunos Community Centre to attend a briefing and I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to walk up without grimacing too much in pain,” Shukor recounted.
His belief in the program powered him to play as many Walking Football matches as he can, spurred on by the fact that exercise is one the best ways for him to keep in shape in his 50s. He also believes that it can help manage his other conditions such as diabetes and high-blood pressure.
“In fact, I think for us to come together once a week to train is not enough. It is a very fun program and there are follow-ups to the program as well. For instance, we can play in Malaysia, in Australia or even represent Singapore for the World Cup in June.”
“We can work hard for it and also find these challenges for us to overcome and become better. After I tore my ligament, even the doctors told me to just relax. But right now, I am having a good experience playing for WaF4H,” Shukor commented.
Shukor is one of the lucky few who can represent WaF4H (Singapore) in the Walking Football World Cup organized by the International Walking Football Federation in June 2019. He, along with a group of men over 50s, will try their best to compete hard against the likes of France, Argentina and Africa in England, the host country for the first ever inaugural Walking Football World Cup.
“It is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent Singapore in the (Walking Football) World Cup. The excitement is there, but we also have to be realistic in our expectations. Just play our best,” Shukor said.
“As compared to the preparations for the match against the Malaysian Legends in May for the AFC Grassroots Football Day 2019, e must orepare well for the (Walking Football) World Cup although the news came to us out of the blue.”
“But it is a very good opportunity and we will make the most of it,” he said.
Shukor used to be a very good goalkeeper when he represented the companies in the corporate league but Walking Football has given him a chance to be amongst the goals instead, as one of the strikers. His knee injury has made him lose a bit of his mobility to dive around, but it never blunted his attacking instincts as he scored countless of goals during Walking Football trainings.
Hopefully Shukor’s shooting boots will be sharpened by June and the men can give a good account of themselves in the Walking Football World Cup tournament. Whatever the outcome, nevertheless, Shukor is very happy since the day he saw the Facebook advertisement last year.
He said, “I feel really glad that I managed to join this group. It is a very effective way of improving my body’s condition.”
“In my opinion, the commitment to join this initiative is not too heavy. We can make friends and the training is not too difficult. In fact, the training is manageable and at the same time we can see improvements in our health,” Shukor added.
Looking at Shukor’s milestones in terms of how he is improving in terms of his health since 2018, it is quite exciting to see his health’s trajectory, even at the ripe old age of 58. Should Shukor maintain his composure to score a few crucial goals and the team can perform well to create a few upsets in the Walking Football World Cup, then the man would have definitely rolled back the years.
Written By: Shahrom Asmani
(ex-football reporter for several magazines and newspapers).
This 39-year old Football Crazy Person has been in love with football ever since he attended Singapore National Team’s matches at Kallang Stadium in the roaring 80’s. Has been a goalkeeper for a good part of the decade for a variety of teams but joined WaF4H last year because of the team’s mission and values.
WaF4H (Walking Football4Health) does not only allow participants to play football, holistically, the team concentrates on various other aspects as well such as food, nutrition and personal well-being. Hopefully WaF4H can lengthen this writer’s career, be it in the football field or in the part-time writing arena as well.
 |
| Syukor (in blue) kicking the heat at the recent FAM (Football Association of Malaysia) Invitational in Kuala Lumpur. Photo credit Asri |
From a distance, a silhouetted figure was seen taking out football equipment from his car’s trunk. Training had not started but the person was tirelessly taking out heavy football-related training items so that the members of WaF4H (Singapore’s Walking Football team) can start their training on time.
The figure belonged to a certain 58-year old Shukor Bin Abdul Lihin. He joined WaF4H in 2018, after seeing a Facebook advertisement calling out to people who were interested in having a healthy lifestyle.
Walking Football4Health is a health community research initiative spearheaded by Dr Dee Dee Mahmood, a Senior Lecturer and Academic Researcher for Edith Cowan University. The initiative is also supported by International Sports Academy and Eunos Community Club.
Due to the initiative’s community-spirited approach, good objectives and well-supported by various organisations, Shukor decided to give the initiative a try. It was one of the best decisions he ever made.
“I saw an article about Walking Football4Health program and it stated that it was recruiting people to join the initiative. I thought why not?” he asked himself.
“The post was written by Dr Dee Dee and I felt that I need to start exercising once again. The program, as well as her, was one of the main reasons why I quit smoking since July 2018.”
“I told myself that if I need to be in good shape so that I can compete, I need to stop (smoking). I have smoked since I was 18 for nearly 30 years. It was a hard decision but I have never looked back since,” he happily said.
Mobility was an issue for Shukor as well but once again, he attributed it to the program’s success for him to be able to walk with less pain in his knee joints.
Shukor was a very active footballer back in the day. When he worked with the Japanese or the Hong Kong companies, he used to represent them in corporate football leagues. An unfortunate incident cut short his playing career prematurely.
“I tore my ligament in 1982 and I had to undergo knee surgery. Hence I was unable to walk without pain for quite a while. I also had to totally stop playing football.”
“However, after attending a few training sessions, I tried to go to the second level of Eunos Community Centre to attend a briefing and I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to walk up without grimacing too much in pain,” Shukor recounted.
His belief in the program powered him to play as many Walking Football matches as he can, spurred on by the fact that exercise is one the best ways for him to keep in shape in his 50s. He also believes that it can help manage his other conditions such as diabetes and high-blood pressure.
“In fact, I think for us to come together once a week to train is not enough. It is a very fun program and there are follow-ups to the program as well. For instance, we can play in Malaysia, in Australia or even represent Singapore for the World Cup in June.”
“We can work hard for it and also find these challenges for us to overcome and become better. After I tore my ligament, even the doctors told me to just relax. But right now, I am having a good experience playing for WaF4H,” Shukor commented.
Shukor is one of the lucky few who can represent WaF4H (Singapore) in the Walking Football World Cup organized by the International Walking Football Federation in June 2019. He, along with a group of men over 50s, will try their best to compete hard against the likes of France, Argentina and Africa in England, the host country for the first ever inaugural Walking Football World Cup.
 |
| Syukor (1st on the left) with the Singapore Squad travelling to the IWFF World Cup Walking Football 2019 in England 29 May-3 June 2019 |
“It is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent Singapore in the (Walking Football) World Cup. The excitement is there, but we also have to be realistic in our expectations. Just play our best,” Shukor said.
“As compared to the preparations for the match against the Malaysian Legends in May for the AFC Grassroots Football Day 2019, e must orepare well for the (Walking Football) World Cup although the news came to us out of the blue.”
“But it is a very good opportunity and we will make the most of it,” he said.
Shukor used to be a very good goalkeeper when he represented the companies in the corporate league but Walking Football has given him a chance to be amongst the goals instead, as one of the strikers. His knee injury has made him lose a bit of his mobility to dive around, but it never blunted his attacking instincts as he scored countless of goals during Walking Football trainings.
Hopefully Shukor’s shooting boots will be sharpened by June and the men can give a good account of themselves in the Walking Football World Cup tournament. Whatever the outcome, nevertheless, Shukor is very happy since the day he saw the Facebook advertisement last year.
He said, “I feel really glad that I managed to join this group. It is a very effective way of improving my body’s condition.”
“In my opinion, the commitment to join this initiative is not too heavy. We can make friends and the training is not too difficult. In fact, the training is manageable and at the same time we can see improvements in our health,” Shukor added.
Looking at Shukor’s milestones in terms of how he is improving in terms of his health since 2018, it is quite exciting to see his health’s trajectory, even at the ripe old age of 58. Should Shukor maintain his composure to score a few crucial goals and the team can perform well to create a few upsets in the Walking Football World Cup, then the man would have definitely rolled back the years.
(ex-football reporter for several magazines and newspapers).
This 39-year old Football Crazy Person has been in love with football ever since he attended Singapore National Team’s matches at Kallang Stadium in the roaring 80’s. Has been a goalkeeper for a good part of the decade for a variety of teams but joined WaF4H last year because of the team’s mission and values.
WaF4H (Walking Football4Health) does not only allow participants to play football, holistically, the team concentrates on various other aspects as well such as food, nutrition and personal well-being. Hopefully WaF4H can lengthen this writer’s career, be it in the football field or in the part-time writing arena as well.
About Dr Dee and Walking Football4Health:
https://iamdeedeemahmood.blogspot.com/2017/10/i-am-dee-dee-mahmood.html
https://iamdeedeemahmood.blogspot.com/2017/10/i-am-dee-dee-mahmood.html
Walking Football4Health 2019 in Review