Jump on your wakeboards with the Kee family

Text Wyn-Lyn Tan

Eight-year-old Sabelle Kee comes bounding up the shore with her elder sister, 10-year-old Kalya. It's Sunday at the Kallang Riverside Park, and the two girls have just spent the morning on the water wakeboarding. Pink-cheeked and bronzed, they both look a perfect picture of glowing health.

While most of their friends think of surfing as something you do on the computer, Sabelle and Kalya know otherwise. The gung-ho sisters will have you know that wakeboarding — a freestyle water sport that’s a cross between surfing, water skiing and snowboarding — is a whole lot more exhilarating.

"It's fun and exciting, especially when I'm jumping," says elder sis Kalya, who was Junior Champion in Reef Wakefest 2005, an annual local wakeboarding tournament organised by the Singapore Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (SWWF). Tricks, flips, spins and jumps — they’re all part of the game for more experienced wakeboarders, or riders, as they’re often called.

Kalya's favourite trick is a "two-wake jump" that sees her flying in the air across two wakes. A wake refers to the wave created behind the boat, which is used by a rider to jump off or slide.

Sabelle, who was the youngest competitor and came in third in the same competition, likes doing the side slide — another neat trick where she slides sideways on her board inside or outside the wake.

Babies on board
The two young girls aren't the only cool riders in the family. It's easy to see where they got their finesse from — mum May Lwin, 40, was a former national skier, and dad Geoffrey Kee, 42, was an avid skier.

"We both started skiing in 1990, and used to ski together when we were dating," says May. Wakeboarding was a natural progression for the youthful-looking couple when it became an increasingly popular sport here in the late 1990s. 

Even marriage and babies did not put a damper on May’s love for the watersports. "When Kalya was a baby, I would put her in a car seat in the boat when no one was able to baby-sit," she recalls. It's no wonder she's raised water babies who aren't afraid of getting wet! 

Both girls were barely five years old when they had their first taste of this addictive sport. The bindings (the rubber boots attached to the board that riders wear) then were still too big for their little feet, so they started out by standing barefoot in the middle of the board and hanging on to daddy while he wakeboarded.

"We also wanted to make sure they knew how to float and swim first before going into the water on their own," says May.

Kalya picked up the sport seriously when she was almost eight and Sabelle, when she was almost six. They've both been training about once a week for the past two years since they began taking part in competitions. This takes place either separately with their coach Paul Fong from Extreme Sports & Marketing, or with their parents.

May is now an assistant professor at NTU, while Geoffrey works in the airforce, and both do not compete as much anymore. But this sporty family still wakeboards together recreationally "at least once in two weeks".
 
"We wanted to spend weekends together, but didn't want to just go shopping. Wakeboarding is a good family sport because people with different levels of skill can still have fun and train together, since you go out on the water one at a time," says May.

"It's unlike tennis, for example, where it's hard to play together sometimes, because we have to bring down our level to match the kids'."

Water way to bond
The family has bonded as well over the many wakeboarding trips they've taken out of Singapore. They've driven up to Mines Beach Resort in Kuala Lumpur where the calm, freshwater lake is popular with wakeboarders. They've also wakeboarded in Sebana Cove in Johor, and further afield in Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, Florida and California, where May and Geoffrey have friends.

From these trips, Kalya has learnt that "my parents love me very much, because they bring me wakeboarding". Sabelle thinks "daddy is funny," she giggles. "The kids laugh when he falls, especially while trying to teach them something," explains May with a smile. So who's the best wakeboarder in the family? Sabelle points to her elder sis and says, "Kalya."

The parents, too, have learnt "different facets about them we don’t normally see in daily life, and sometimes they surprise us" says May. For example, Sabelle who's also into ballet and dancing, is very "xiu jie" (dialect for ladylike). But on the water, she "is very tenacious, very aggressive in the sport, and eager to learn".

The sport has definitely toughened the girls both mentally and physically. "They're very comfortable with water and don't mind getting dirty," May continues. When competing, the children have also learnt there are bound to be highs and lows.

For instance, in this year's Reef Wakefest in July, Kalya came in fifth because of an unfortunate fall. "But she understands it's the nature of the competition and what makes the sport exciting," says her mum.  

But why compete at such a young age? "It really is just about exposing them to the sporting experience where they gain confidence, learn about sportsmanship, and make friends," explains their mum who knows first-hand the benefits sports can bring.

The downside of this extreme sport is the injuries. "They've had knocks and bruises," admits May. But being athletes themselves, the parents accept that it’s part and parcel of any sport; besides, accidents can happen even while cycling, for instance, they rationalise. What’s important is to take care, so safety is crucial, and so is proper coaching, May advises.

"Parents don't need to be wakeboarders," she adds. "But it's good if they try the sport, too. At least in that way, everyone can get involved and it's more fun!"

Grab this month's issue of Family, available now at all major newsstands and bookstores.