Hong Kong Head Coach Chris Perry set to retire

Chris Perry, a British native, moved to Hong Kong in 1986 for a three-month coaching position. He has been there ever since. Now, just shy of his 60^th birthday, Perry plans to retire from his full-time Head Coach position at the Hong Kong Sport Institute, but the legacy that he leaves behind in Hong Kong and throughout Asia is invaluable.

Perry’s coaching career started in 1984 when he was side-lined from the Olympic trials due to injury. He quickly transitioned to coaching and was helping coach the lightweight team at the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham, United Kingdom when he saw an advertisement for a three-month coaching position in Hong Kong.

“I had always wanted to go to Asia, I had never been to Asia before and I thought I would just go for three months to help the team and then come back again,” Perry says.

His job was to prepare the rowing team for the upcoming Asian Games in Seoul, Korea, which was a test event for the 1988 Olympic Games. After the event, Perry was asked to stay and help set up a more permanent rowing programme. He had also met his now-wife Fay Ho.

“I had met Fay, who was on the canoeing team at the time, and I thought, ok, maybe I’ll stay and help them set up a rowing programme. I definitely wasn’t planning to stay as long as I have,” Perry laughs.

So, Perry began building his rowing programme. The first major success came when Hong Kong won their first-ever international medal in rowing, at the 1989 Asian Championships in India. It was won by his wife, Fay Ho, who had switched over to rowing in part due to Perry’s involvement, but primarily due to her small stature, which was suited to the lightweight category.

“It really put rowing on the map. It got us a bit more funding and showed that rowing could be in Asia, and within the Hong Kong context, a successful sport,” Perry says.

This led to a cascade of medal success for Hong Kong, especially at Asian events like the Asian Games, but also two medals at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships. Perry says that Hong Kong has always had lofty goals.

“Although we’re very small, we’ve always had the ambition to try to punch above our weight. We’ve tried to get in as much as we can on that level,” he says.

Perry credits much of his success to the time he and the team spent training in Piediluco, Italy.

“We went on a regular basis, starting in 1988,” he says. “We had het benefit of taking part in training camps with Thor Nielsen keeping an eye on things.”

“But what I learned was not just about rowing, but how to organise a programme and a training centre in a systematic way. It was more about programme management, which Thor was brilliant at,” Perry says.

The programme management built on top of his athlete-centred coaching philosophy.

“My coaching style is very individualised. I like to deal with athletes as individuals and to coach them as humans. I think that things have to be athlete-centred and coach-driven. The coach has to be the one that coordinates everything around the athletes to give them the right environment.”

He pauses and then adds, “The well-being of athletes has always been something quite close to me, even before it was trendy. I’ve involved myself a lot in the safeguarding and mental health projects.”

Perry also credits the unwavering support that he’s had from the Hong Kong Rowing Association throughout his tenure.

“I’ve been here almost 36 years and it can only be because of the very strong support from the federation. You can’t survive in that kind of post without it,” he says.

But Perry’s work extends far beyond his successful Hong Kong team. Since 2002, he has worked on development and coaching for World Rowing throughout all of Asia.

“I must say, the involvement in the development programme has also been something really wonderful. It has been a great learning experience. I’ve been to almost every Asian country, including North Korea. I am really satisfied about that and it’s very close to my heart,” Perry says.

His retirement from the Head Coach position will free up more time for Perry to dedicate to the development and coaching work. And, he says, he hopes to enjoy his early retirement years together with his wife, while they are both still in good health.

But it’s not with eyes shut that Perry leaves the Hong Kong team – he has high hopes for their future, despite uncertain times.

“There are a lot of challenges ahead. We’ve run a predominately, if not entirely, lightweight programme. We’ve already started trying to make a shift. We’ve taken delivery in the elite team of coastal boats. We’re not abandoning classic rowing, but we are strengthening our coastal rowing arm and we’re looking at ways of branching out,” Perry says.

The recruitment for Perry’s replacement is still on-going, but one thing is for sure, they will have big shoes to fill.