Spirit of Hong Kong Awards: meet the teenager who gives poor children access to sport

After winning a three-on-three basketball competition about two years ago, Hong Kong teenager Owen Ng Yat-san decided to give back to the community by helping underprivileged children.

“We won the match, but the other team was playing with normal shoes, not even proper sports clothes,” Ng, 15, recalled. “It didn’t feel right.”

Driven by the belief that sport should be accessible to everyone, the 13-year-old launched Game On, an initiative that offers basketball, tennis and table tennis sessions to those who do not have access equipment and installations.

Over the past two years, Ng has provided around 2,000 underprivileged children with access to the sport.

Such efforts saw him nominated as a finalist in the youth category of the Spirit of Hong Kong Awards, an annual event jointly organized by the South China Morning Post and property developer Sino Group to honor remarkable individuals whose efforts might otherwise go unnoticed.

With the help of his younger brother and some friends, Ng approached local community centers, including St Barnabas’ Society and Home, to provide sporting activities for children from low-income families.