Kenneth Kee was a former Captain of the National Water Polo Team which won an unprecedented and unbroken link of gold medals in the SEAP/SEA Games since its inclusion in the Games in 1965.  He was also the son of the legendary swimming coach, Kee Soon Bee.

Like his father, Kenneth too became a coach when he volunteered at the newly-formed Queenstown water polo training centre in the early 1970s.  He was a qualified international referee and having been a national player, he knew there was no shortcut to success.  As such, right from the onset, he set high standards for training and made it quite clear that this was not to be a charitable organization or a half way house.  Those who could not make the cut were left by the wayside.

What made his contribution all the more significant was the fact that the majority of his charges came from the then rough and poor Queenstown neighborhood.  In spite of this, he was able to produce many outstanding water polo players.  Up to 75% of the national players in those days were from Queenstown.   In fact, in the 1979 and 1981 SEA Games and the 1982 Asian Games, all the national water polo players were from Queenstown. 

From being thrashed, his team began to turn the tables and toppled all the more established swimming clubs like the Chinese Swimming Club and Armed Forces. Queenstown became the premier water polo club in the late 1970s.
Coach Kenneth not only took care of their training, he fed them the much-needed diet for their development from his own pocket -- “We were damned poor and Kenneth fed us,” recalled Ang Guan Hin, one of his protégés.  Coach Kee took his team out on weekly lunches and satay nights. Although he worked his charges hard, Kenneth also took time to bring them out on annual camps and to chalets which were luxuries at that time.  At these outings, he ensured that they had beef steaks, something his charges did not dare hope to get in their homes.

Coach Kenneth Kee indeed left a deep impression in the lives of these water poloists.  Many recalled with deep respect and awe for him.  Tan Hong Boon, a national player from 1984-89 and now a FINA certified referee, recalled, “To me, the coach is like my father.  He brought you up.  In my seven years there, he groomed me.”  Ang Ban Leong, the “Fandi” for water polo, aptly put it, “we were a bunch of hardcore Hokkien peng (soldiers), and Kenneth transformed us into an international team.”