• Profiles Home
• Andrew Leung
• Antonina Ferguson
• Arshana Nikkita
• Betty
• Chris M
• Gaggle Of Girls
• Jacob Callas
• James Naknakin
• Jerome Tai
• Jose Castillo
• Karina
• Mark Ballon
• Maura
• Patricia
• Rowena
• Sivansh
• Tennyson
• Yutah William Dion

Moresports Personality Profiles

Andrew Leung: Making Every Minute Count
By Kimberly Daum

Andrew

Shy, soft-spoken, serious and sincere: That's 15-year-old Andrew Leung at first impression so you wouldn't expect him to lead you down the garden path right out of the gate.

"Any siblings?" I innocently ask as a housekeeping part of our interview.

"Yes," he says, "a younger brother."

For whatever reason, I forget to ask his brother's age and continue a mostly routine line of questioning when out pops the surprise.

"Tell me something about your brother."

"He's my twin."

"He's your twin?

"Yeah," he grins. "But we don't look alike."

"So you mean he's just a couple of minutes younger than you?"

"That's right," he says with a toothy smile and glint in his eye.

And as it turns out Andrew's brother, Ben, having skipped a grade is a bonafide brainiac.

"So, you're saying he's younger than you by minutes but ahead of you by a grade?"

"Yeah, that's right," he says, clearly getting a kick out of this beginning.

Andrew Leung is a cutie, charmer, and a kidder who can set you up to get a giggle, and his brother is concentrating on his academics these days. But the fraternal twins have done a lot of volunteering and they still do, just on different schedules and with Ben tapering off due to the demands of his studies this accelerated year.

Andrew on the other hand, besides juggling the demands of Grade 10 at Gladstone Secondary, has ramped up his volunteering and is in his community doing what he can to help out. So he appreciates having a brother of the same age who is available to him for all kinds of reasons.

"You have someone to rely on sometimes," Andrew says, someone to help you with your homework because he's done it before. I sometimes take his notes (to study from). And he's someone to practice badminton with; I don't have to call someone and make a date. And, he's someone to play games with when I'm really bored."

These days Andrew doesn't have to combat monotony; he's a young man with many interests and his volunteer calendar is intense.

He's the athletic representative on Gladstone's student council, he's on the lighting crew for school dances, performances and other events, he's a member of the school's Interact Club in which students learn to connect with each other, and he's a St. John's Ambulance Cadet who volunteers at events to provide first aid. Recently, he assisted at Richmond Oval for a rugby tournament where he kept score, served food, helped set up and tear down. And then, of course, is his contribution to MoreSports where he coaches badminton and volunteers at its events.

Andrew comes to all of these volunteer activities from an athletic background.

"I started with swimming," he says, "and then my friend introduced me to baseball, soccer, and basketball. And then he introduced me into badminton later on."

Those after school activities from Grade 2 through Grade 5 stimulated a lasting interest in sports but something about that experience was missing for him. In Grade 9 Andrew joined the High Five Physical Education Leadership program at Gladstone and his affinity for volunteerism developed and what was missing became clear.

"Michael Henderson asked us if we wanted to take a course called High Five, and after the course we'd volunteer for him at MoreSports. I did it in Grade 9 and I really enjoyed it, and so I wanted to do it again. When Michael came back and asked our Grade 10 class if we'd like to volunteer again I signed up."

"MoreSports taught me how to communicate with younger kids and how they can't really concentrate or focus on something for a longer period of time, so we'd have to introduce something new to them so they'd stop running around," Andrew says.

"A couple of times we'd teach them how to fold origami or airplanes and it helped to build a deeper connection with them. It gave me a lot of opportunities to connect with the community schools and brought me out to a bigger event, the (MoreSports) Soccer Jam and I got to experience how it felt to be part of a bigger event and when things pop up how to deal with it."

Developing those skills through YELL, the National Coaching Certification program to coach badminton, taking a disability awareness course, and coaching with MoreSports has been important to Andrew, and he says it's affected him in meaningful ways.

"Before I thought I was a really dedicated volunteer and that I knew everything like how to communicate with younger kids. But after volunteering (with MoreSports) I found that there is more than just talking to communicate with them."

"You have to connect with them," he says. "You have to use the right vocabulary with them and focus on their interests not just yours, and they have to feel that you listen to what they want to learn. It doesn't really matter yet what they learn. It's that they have a good experience, that they get something out of it. I learned to ask more what they want to learn rather than to decide what the best thing is for them to learn at that stage."

After teaching the "basic-way-to-play" Andrew makes a point of incorporating the MoreSports kids' ideas into his teaching schedule.

"I work to not have a whole session of just teaching but also have some fun sessions so that they want to come back next time to continue learning," Andrew says.

The way Andrew sees it the whole MoreSports system and volunteer work in general is based on having fun while learning.

His parents, mother Ulanda and father Teddy, approve. They immigrated to Vancouver from Hong Kong and are proud of the work Andrew is doing. They own a copying and printing business in Richmond, and they can concentrate on keeping it successful, knowing that Andrew and his brother are getting good grades and doing good deeds.

"They say it's a good experience to have and not everyone has the chance to do what I'm doing right now, and that I should get whatever I can get out of it to use for my future," Andrew says. "They're proud, and they just take it as I'm growing up and that I'm more mature. They're just proud of what I'm doing."

And Andrew is impressed by his parents: "Mom is nice, caring, always there when I need her, funny and resourceful, and my dad is hard-working, caring, always by my side and helping me. They're good role models."

Andrew hopes that he's an inspiration and role model for both his peers at school who don't volunteer and for the MoreSports players who he hopes will get involved in leadership when they're older.

"I want to inspire (MoreSports players) to volunteer when they go into high school and to become a leader and be an even better leader than I am -- to inspire them to be in the community," he says. "In our community without them doing that most events that are happening now might not happen then."

"You need to talk to them and get to know them and make them feel that you are not a stranger and that you are a friend, Andrew says. "I want them to know that I was just like them when I was younger. They should step out of their comfort zone and volunteer."

The MoreSports program from the kids' perspective is defined by action and fun. Andrew gets that, but he also takes his role seriously and he values fairness and equality.

"You are there to teach them, but you're also there to have fun. It's not formal. I am a friend, and I'll be there for them when they need my help. I want them to know that I think of them equally. Just because maybe one kid is better at a skill, I still divide my time up for everyone. I don't just focus on kids that are good, and if you do need extra help I will help you. I want them to know that I am treating them equally."

As Andrew reflects back on his early experiences in the after school sports programs he attended in childhood he says that the relaxed environment and equality aspects of MoreSports were what was missing for him. And, it's those qualities in MoreSports that sets it apart from other sports opportunities for children.

"I didn't really have a good experience then," he says. "They'd (coaches) usually just teach something and then stand by the side the whole time. They seemed to care more about the money to me. They didn't really ask us anything about what we wanted to do or what the experience was for us. That's something different from MoreSports and something I wanted to see change. That's the big difference. In MoreSports the kids make the program happen."

When it comes to youth and his peers who aren't volunteering yet Andrew has this to say:

"You're missing out on a lot of fun. You get to meet a lot of people when you're volunteering -- not just the kids but other volunteers. You share a lot of experiences; you learn a lot of games. I met a couple of Grade Nines that I never knew were in the school. You get connected with your school and widen your circle of friends. I can trust (the adults) to come on time and bring supplies for us to teach, and become friends with them. At school some people see them as teachers and don't really talk to them, but you have a closer relationship with them once you get to know them better when you volunteer."

"Rajbir (Sohal) has been a good support. She's very understanding and she's a good role model. She's there to support us with equipment and spends her time to make sure that we're prepared with our lesson plans. If there's a problem she will help us solve it and not just leave us alone to deal with it."

"So if you can give back to the community, do it," Andrew says. "Don't be selfish with your time; if you have time to do something for the community then you should because you can get valuable experiences from it and meet new people from it."

Take it from an older brother, even if only by "a couple of minutes," and don't miss out on the fun!