SINGAPORE – At the Under-20 Volleyball European Championship in September, the Finnish team finished seventh – their tied-best result at the event. And a key figure in that achievement was Singaporean Daryl Tay.

Tay, a former school volleyball player, has found an unexpected career in coaching a long way from home.

The 28-year-old has been an assistant coach with Finnish Volleyball since August 2018 and noted that working with the team has been one of the main highlights of his time there.

He said: “I was already with them since they were 16 and they’re now 18, 19. We went through the highs and lows together – there were a few times during the pandemic when they qualified for a tournament but, because of the pandemic, we didn’t go, so there was a lot of disappointment... and this (tournament) was really good for one last dance.”

Tay began playing volleyball when he was a student at Geylang Methodist Secondary School. Despite his mother’s apprehension at his decision to pursue a career in sports, he moved to Finland in 2016 to read sports at Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences.

While he did some volunteer coaching in Singapore, he had expected to pursue a role in sports management or administration after graduation, but a stint with a women’s volleyball team in Finland’s third league set him on the path to coaching.

He also landed a 10-month internship with Finnish Volleyball, where he worked with players from the national age groups at the Kuortane Olympic Training Centre.

Even after his stint ended, Tay continued with the team after seeing how motivated they were. He also felt that there was a lot more he could learn from the coaches at the national sports association.

What he learnt in school and his stints made him realise this was what he wanted to pursue as an occupation, even if it meant moving from the Finnish capital Helsinki to Kuortane, a small municipality with a population of 3,500.

As the approach to coaching in Finland was different from what he had experienced in Singapore, Tay said he had to learn things from scratch.

One thing that stood out was how strict the Finnish teams were when it came to warming up before games.

Coaches would set aside exactly 45 minutes before a game to warm up so that players are “mentally and physically ready”.

The narrow age gap between Tay and the players was initially a challenge as they regarded him more as an older brother than a coach, which sometimes led to them taking his instructions lightly.

But things have improved and he has also been entrusted with more responsibilities over the past four years with Finnish Volleyball.

He has since added planning and team management to his strength and conditioning duties.

Tay recalled how stressed he was when taking charge of a game but he is grateful for the opportunities that he has had.

He hopes to share the lessons he has learnt with those in Singapore and wants to be involved in the SEA Games when the multi-sport event is held here in 2029.

Tay said: “The ultimate goal is to be head coach of a professional team. It doesn’t have to be a big team right off the bat, whether it’s women’s or men’s, whether it’s in Finland, somewhere small in Sweden, Estonia or wherever, it’s good to start off somewhere and build a reputation out of it.

“I’m trying to focus my sights in Europe and then there’s the possibility of Japan and Korea because volleyball is pretty big there – the dream is to be a head coach somewhere and see how far I can go.”