Heather Lee quits job for World Aquatics scholarship with Greek club

In September, national water polo player Heather Lee received an e-mail that delivered exciting news, but also presented her with a dilemma.

It was an update that the Singaporean was looking forward to – she had been selected for the World Aquatics scholarship programme, which had just been expanded to include water polo players.

But while she celebrated with her teammates who were with her as she opened the confirmation e-mail, she also had a tough decision to make as she had just started her data analytics job several months ago.

After discussions with her parents, teammates, coaches and boss, Lee quit her job to take on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which has allowed her to train with Greek club ANC Glyfada since Nov 12, 2024. The stint ends on June 30, 2025.

The 24-year-old left driver said: “It was definitely not a straightforward choice... I had to take some time and decide what I wanted in terms of my sporting and professional career.”

With several major events on the horizon in 2025 and 2026, she decided to take the plunge “in order to get better for the upcoming competitions that the team and I are striving to do our best in and bring glory to Singapore”.

Lee was awarded the scholarship based on her showing at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, where the Singapore women’s water polo team finished 16th out of 16 on their debut at the meet.

She was also with the side who were second in a three-team tournament at the 2023 SEA Games and finished a creditable fourth out of seven teams at the Asian Games later that year.

Lee has been sharing the insights gained in Greece with her teammates back home and hopes this will help them better prepare for the July 11-Aug 3 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, the Dec 9-20 SEA Games in Thailand and the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.

The World Aquatics scholarships programme, which was launched in 2014 to provide financial and technical assistance to athletes with internationally recognised achievements, also includes 100 swimmers, 20 open water swimmers, 20 divers and 10 artistic swimming duets.

Under the programme, water polo players get to join a European club for one season.

It has been less than two months since Lee arrived in Glyfada, a seaside suburb on the Athenian Riviera, but it has been an eye-opening experience.

She noted the strong water polo culture in Greece, with the weekly club games played in front of full stands.

She said: “There are so many people that come and watch, there are so many people cheering, kids to adults, everyone is here watching the games, it’s really nice to play with that atmosphere.”

The strong support for the sport should come as no surprise, as Greece are among the world’s top water polo nations.

Their women’s team were silver medallists at the Athens Olympics, 2011 world champions and finished runners-up at the biennial European Championships four times from 2010 to 2022.

While Lee has yet to play a competitive fixture as she awaits the necessary paperwork, friendlies and training sessions have given her a taste of the level of play there.

As she looks forward to a possible competitive debut at the end of January, she has been working on adapting to the faster pace of games.

Noting that training is often centred on tactics instead of individual skills, she said: “Exposure to different playing styles and strategies will enhance my ability to adapt in any situation.

“Competing at a higher level here will also help me understand what is needed to be an elite water polo player, building mental resilience atop physical excellence.”

It is Lee’s first time living on her own, but it is an experience she relishes, especially since she did not get the chance to go for an overseas exchange programme due to the Covid-19 pandemic while studying engineering system and design at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.

Women’s national coach Yu Lei, 52, hopes that Lee’s stint will open the door for more players to go to Europe or China to play or train.

She said: “Heather getting the scholarship to train in Europe is a significant boost for our Singaporean women’s water polo team.

“The experience, the capabilities and skills she will pick up over there is going to be invaluable.”

• Additional reporting by Melvyn Teoh