Set goals in the classroom, then field

GETTING more involved in sports and representing the country is a dream for many but setting your goals right was more important, a former PNG soccer representative says.
Loretta Yagum, 20, who recently graduated from grade 12 at Markham Valley Secondary School, said she decided to quit sports and concentrate on her education after she failed an examination.
“I failed my exams because I gave a lot of time towards sports trainings and didn’t take my education seriously,” she said.
She was part of the PNG under-15 women’s soccer team in 2014 and in 2016 toured the Cook Islands with the U20 for World Cup games.
She took part in the 2016 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup the PNG hosted in Port Moresby.
Yagum said she was enrolled at Goroka Grammar but because she could not handle training and studies at the same time, she didn’t pass her grade 10 examinations in 2016. “That was when I decided to quit sports after learning of my results,” she said. In 2017, she repeated her grade 10 at Emmanuel Lutheran School in Lae – a school allowing second chances to dropouts – and was selected to continue her grade 11 at Markham Valley Secondary the following year.
She was part of 207 grade 12 students who graduated on Thursday.
She won the principals award and was looking at continuing her education before taking another look at sports. “I never went back to sports and told my parents I wanted to concentrate on my studies first.”