“At least you know that someone has got your back …” — Ong Weiyu, Dunman Secondary



Ong Weiyu and Vinnie Ong

Weiyu, 17 and Vinnie, 16 who are also from Dunman Secondary, have been playing together on the same team for some time. Both of them played together on the team which won the Championship title last year.

Weiyu is a centre spiker while Vinnie is an outside spiker. Both of them joined volleyball in Secondary One, but taking up this sport was a total accident for Weiyu.

She shared: “Honestly, I didn’t know that my mother had ‘DSA-ed’ me into Volleyball. I thought I was ‘DSA-ing’ into Dunman through Netball. So it was like… I was forced to join volleyball? But I don’t regret it at all!”

Both sisters claim that the other is the serious one among them.

Weiyu commented: “Vinnie isn’t funny at all! She’s pretty serious towards me, but towards her friends, she seems less serious.”

Being on the same team as her sister certainly has its benefits. For Weiyu, she finds it advantageous as she can share water with Vinnie when she forgets to bring her own water bottle.

“But when I forget to bring my water bottle and drink from hers, she will ask me to refill it afterwards! I also have to bear with her when she starts getting emotional during the match, which is once in a blue moon,” said Weiyu. “Sometimes, it may a little bit irritating when one starts to get a little bit grumpy during the game. But other than that, at least you know that someone has got your back.”

Vinnie shared: “In the team, she understands me the most! [Therefore it’s] easy to get along. But even though we’re on the same team, we thought that we would have some sort of telepathy. But we don’t. We kind of get angry with each other easily, but she’s the more forgiving one.”

Sometimes, the sisters will talk and motivate each other before a match.

Vinnie recounted: “Before the match against Jurong Secondary, [Weiyu] told me she was nervous. But we don’t talk about volleyball most of the time. We talk about other things at night!”

At home, the sisters are quite different from what others commonly know of them. Weiyu, who is often perceived as a very shy person, is certainly not anything like that. It took some probing before Vinnie revealed how Weiyu was like.

She shared: “Many people don’t know that she is actually really very noisy. She talks a lot more at home. She needs time to get used to someone. She is forever blur, and she also cannot get up from bed by herself for school!”

Weiyu was certainly more candid about Vinnie. “When she’s asleep, there’s this ‘tata’ sound, which I think comes from her braces. I eat quite a lot, while she eats a bit of my ‘quite a lot’.”

Weiyu also revealed that Vinnie was very good in her Design & Technology work and that she came in top in the Normal Academic stream last year. Though they do not spend much time together, Weiyu recounted an instance she spent with her sister.

“[It was] when she asked me out to buy her things at Far East Plaza. That was probably the only time when we went shopping together.”

Apart from arguing over kneepads (because they both own identical ones), Vinnie shared about what often made them bicker.

“We argue over who should take the food from the McDonald’s deliveryman at the door. Once, we argued and ignored each other for a week! Yes, we ALWAYS argue about that. But, we don’t really get angry with each other.”

Vinnie added: “[Weiyu] has that emotionless face, but her temper is really good! She’s really good in volleyball and she’s my inspiration. I have to admit, she’s an awesome sister.”

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