Para swimmer Jamery credits family for success at international stage
THE 2017 Kuala Lumpur Asean Para Games will always have a special place in swimmer Jamery Siga’s heart.
It was here – at the KL Games – that he finally got the chance to win medals in front of his family.
“My family had never seen me compete for Malaysia. This year’s Asean Para Games was the first time they got to see me swim and win medals. I can say it’s one of the most rewarding moments in my career,” he said of his gold-medal feat in the S5 50m butterfly gold medal at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil in September.
Jamery, who hails from a small village called Kampung Kuala Mendalam in Limbang, Sarawak, has dedicated the last eight years of his life to be the among the best para swimmers in the Asian region.
And as he contemplates retirement, the 32-year-old can look back to an eventful last eight years where he competed in two Paralympics – London 2012 and Rio 2016.
He also won a silver in the men’s S5 (cerebral palsy) 200m freestyle event at the 2014 Incheon Asian Para Games.
In the Asean region, he won the two gold medals in the 200m freestyle and 50m butterfly at the 2015 Singapore Asean Para Games. He also won silver medals in the 50m and 100m freestyle events.
Speaking to him, it is clear that his family is his bedrock.
His parents have supported Jamery, the youngest of five siblings, from day one.
Jamery said that his father Siga Wing, a longhouse headman, and his mother Unjong Wan had never stopped him from living his life normally despite his disability.
Jamery also shares a close-knit relationship with his older brothers – Awie, Larry and Cassidy – and sister Tini.
He acknowledged the integral role his siblings had played in him picking up the sport.
His biggest worry has always been his wife Anissa Saksriprapa Nantharat and son Christian Laja Jamery who, he said, bore the biggest burden when he’s away training at the Kampung Pandan Sports Complex in Kuala Lumpur.
“I think I need to start thinking about my family. I have given my everything to the country. My family has sacrificed so much for me and I think it’s time for me to focus on them now,” said Jamery.
“For the last eight years my aim was to bring glory to the country. I think I have done that by winning medals at the international stage.
“My son is older now and he always asks me when I’m coming home to spend time with him whenever I attend training in Kuala Lumpur.
“I also have to be fair to my wife, who has helped me take care of my parents.”
Jamery plans to quit after the 2018 Asian Para Games in Indonesia. But he won’t turn his back on the sport that has given him so much joy.
He intends to continue giving back to the sport that he loves by becoming a swimming coach and focusing on his jackfruit farm in his village.
“The 2020 Japan Paralympics are three years away. By then I’ll be 35 years old. I just can’t bear the thought of being away from my family again,” said Jamery, who is of the Tabun tribe.
“I plan to become a swimming coach in my hometown after my retirement. I can coach up-and-coming para and able-bodied swimmers in Limbang. I want to do my part in developing new swimming stars for the country.
“Besides, I also have a jackfruit farm to oversee. This is a pilot project by the government in my village. It should keep me occupied when I’m not at the swimming pool.”
Recalling his formative years learning swimming, he credited his brothers, especially the second eldest Cassidy, for teaching him to swim in the river near his house, which is now infested with crocodiles.
“I began swimming when I was seven years old and my brother Cassidy was my coach back then. Those days there were no crocodiles,” he said.
“Nowadays, when I return home during breaks I would go swimming with my son and the other children from the longhouse – but at the pool in town and not the river!
“I began to take things seriously in 2003 and went on to represent Sarawak in the National Para Games before I was asked to join the National Sports Council’s (NSC) training programme full time in 2009.
“I started from the bottom and learned a lot from my mistakes. There wasn’t much I could learn about the sport in the first two years, but now that I’ve done it for nearly 10 years, I have gained a lot more experience.”
Jamery said that his five-year-old son Christian has begun to show interest in swimming and he intends to groom him to become Sarawak’s next big swimming star since Daniel Bego.
“My son is showing a lot of interest and potential in swimming. He always asks me to take him to the river or the swimming pool but he’s still very young,” said Jamery.
“He still has a lot of growing up to do. I want to spend more time bonding with him after I retire and then I’ll teach him everything I know about swimming.”