By Amal Sorkapli
At first glance, Fatin Raudzoh, 20, might look like an average university student. No one would expect someone like her to have gone against Thailand’s national water polo team at a mere age of 16.
A Malaccan born and bred, Fatin Raudzoh Binti Mohd Faizal is currently in her second year of Quantity Surveying at Heriot-Watt University Malaysia. At the age of 3, she was diagnosed with bad asthma that eventually led to her past stint in swimming and water polo. Her doctor suggested swimming as he believed that it would help her cope with her asthma.
Not only did it better her condition, but it also shaped most of her life.
Learning to swim at the startling age of three, she started swimming professionally at just 10 years old for the Melaka state team in the Malaysian School Sports Council (MSSM) games.
Swimming offered Fatin a place of refuge. The sport stood out the most to her because it’s where athletes constantly try to break both public and personal records. Since she started swimming at a very young age, she confidently admits that she would 100% do it forever.
Fatin said: “A lot of people know that swimming is an individual sport, hence it is more challenging and has a lot of pressure.”
Three years after swimming professionally, Fatin decided to dabble in water polo. She became a professional water polo athlete within an astonishing span of six months of training. The sport is a rough and tough one as she experienced constant bruising and had broken her front tooth in a game once.
“I did not find water polo interesting at first; it only helps me strengthen my lower body for swimming,” she explained, “and my family believed that it was a great step towards my swimming career.”
In 2014, Fatin found herself in two-state teams; one for swimming and another for water polo. She was selected for Sukan Malaysia (SUKMA) games and went on to join the state swimming team for a whole year. “It was challenging. Their training was completely different from the private training I’ve done before as there were more sessions and I previously never trained with a team,” she explained, “but training with the water polo state team was great.”
Her interest grew more evident until she eventually joined the Chulabhorn Water Polo Cup Thailand in 2016 with the guidance of the team’s coach, who once played for the SEA Games back in the ‘90s.
It was a nerve-wracking episode for Fatin to compete against the team that reigned champion in the water polo category during the 2015 SEA Games but she still did her very best. “My proudest moment was when I shot three goals against Thailand’s national team,” said Fatin, “although we lost to them by 7-5, it was indeed an eye-opening experience.”
In the same year, she broke two 10-year-old records with a five-second difference in one competition. According to her, a second difference should be good enough but a five-second difference was almost unheard of. “That was one of the best moments in my life,” Fatin went on proudly, “and even for my coach, too!”
I asked Fatin if she had gone through tough times in her athletic career, to which she replied: of course.
“There were a lot of obstacles in both swimming and water polo. It was emotionally exhausting as I attend swimming and water polo training back to back, so it was definitely a struggle to focus. It was physically tiring too, with constant muscle aches.”
Even with all the obstacles faced, Fatin finds that it did not really matter as she loved the sport just as much.
The final year of her secondary school saw her achieving the almost impossible dream, which was getting the Sportswoman Award. She had won six gold medals and four silver medals that year while balancing schoolwork at the same time.
Although swimming is an individual sport, Fatin believes that it made her a socially better person. Growing up in a predominantly Malay community, she never thought she would be able to mingle around with other races but swimming proved her wrong.
“You also learn to understand yourself better,” she added sweetly, “because no one knows and understands you better than yourself.”
Since she quit both swimming and water polo in 2018 due to religious reasons, she started coaching swimmers who are just starting out. She now confidently leads a beginners’ water polo team to matches with years of experience under her belt.
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