we hope you will be inspired by the strength, tenacity and grace of these women, in spite of their individual circumstances.
Sisters of Sarah is a story series in collaboration with The Best of You movement, born from the lives of some truly incredible women Sarah Pang, a Singaporean professional tennis player, met while travelling the world playing Tour. This project is an overture to helping one another realise that there are deeper dimensions to people than just the jobs they do.
These are the lives of women whom you might have otherwise passed by, whilst walking through the streets today. It might have been in the brush of a shade of shadow, as she passed you at the bus stop. Or in a faint “excuse me” heard at a bustling hawker centre. But each holds within their individual stories, an immense life, folded softly and unassumingly so.
You might just be startled, to see not them, but you in them too.
Welcome to Sisters of Sarah.
The Stories
"They both had no children of their own, but thoroughly mothered me that night."
.jpg)
"It is funny how these last moments we spend with people sometimes unravels hearts to the core like a ribbon to a spoon."
"Anika was far from your typical Indian woman—she didn’t wear a bindi, or comfortable salwar suits."
"It was always my childhood dream to be a nanny. But life never gave me that chance."
“I don’t want to get married. Because I will become a wife, get pregnant. And that will be the end of all I have left.”
“her face, a broken field of dreams. her wedding ring with no room to manoeuvre.”
“Hi My name is Sarah and I’m a Singaporean professional tennis player.”
Often times when we look at athletes, we tend to see their worth through a very simple, binary lens of medals won, results made, or even history written. After all, who doesn’t love a winner?
But through my journey, I’ve realised when binaries are used to demarcate our lines of thought, they actually cripple us from recognising the deeper things that a back-breaking, mind-expanding pursuit of performance excellence can actually elevate in an individual.
Last year, I finally joined the top 1% of women players to break fresh onto the coveted Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings. It took me 15 years to do so. In my unlikely journey towards that echelon, I have been consistently told “No” and “Impossible” were better ways to look at my aspirations.
But rocking up. Plugging at it. Living out everyday — with great amounts of defiant and audacious grit — counts for a different type of winning.
And here’s the truth:
True winning is not in grand overtures of gold medals, world championships or grand slams won. Winning is in the small steps taken, of everyday faithfulness. It is the way we choose to love others. It is being able to take bitter loss straight in the face, and choose to keep going, in spite of the disappointment, in spite of deep heartache.
Choice is a heavy word, but it is a sword all of us wield in our hands. Using it well, heralds the mark of true champions.
Journey with Sarah
Have you been inspired by the stories shared by Sarah? Continue to journey with Sarah through the following channels:
