From pool to corporate world: Time is right for Schooling to make career change

SITTING by the poolside at the Tanah Merah Country Club in August 2002, I watched a charming and slightly chubby kid making waves in the turquoise waters.

The boy’s coach, Vincent Poon, was putting Joseph Schooling – aged just seven then – through his paces. Poon would later tell me that “this boy is special”.

He was so extraordinary that, during that morning session, Poon instructed Schooling to chase his older teammates who were given a head start. They could even use flippers.

This routine was repeated at every subsequent training session – and punctuated by the occasional tantrum – and marked the beginning of a long and tedious journey that eventually led to Olympic glory 14 years later in Brazil.

Through the years, new chapters to this story were added. Those of multiple Sea Games titles, Asian Games crowns, Commonwealth Games honours and gritty endeavours that placed the Little Red Dot among the titans of the swimming world.

On Tuesday (Apr 2), the final chapter of this compelling book was penned, with solemn words from Schooling as he announced his retirement from competitive swimming at a packed press conference. A visibly forced smile held back his emotions.

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The historic Chinese Swimming Club along Amber Road, where many athletes such as Singapore’s “Golden Girl” Patricia Chan were moulded into champions, was the perfect venue for the declaration.

Later, when I sat down for a chat with Schooling, who is just two months shy of his 29th birthday, the first thing he said was: “Uncle” – as he has been addressing me since our first meeting all those years ago – “it’s finally over.”

“All these years, I had been blessed,” he reflected.

His next plans in life are to focus on a venture capital business with two partners, devote more time to his Swim Schooling academy, and to play more golf. There was some talk that he could enter politics one day. While the subject was not on his current agenda, he did not outrightly dismiss the possibility.

Family of athletes

Schooling was born into a family of super athletes. His late father, Colin, was a hurdler, water polo player and represented Singapore in softball. His mother, May, played tennis professionally, and his granduncle Lloyd Valberg was a high jumper who was Singapore’s first Olympian at the 1948 London Games.

His sporting lineage wedged him in further into a life of big-time sport. Apart from swimming, Schooling was once a single-handicapper on the golf course.

He was of the right stock for a career in high-level sports, especially swimming. Poon, his coach, knew that long ago. Colin strongly believed in it. May held powerful faith in it.

But countless sacrifices – including giving up much of his teenage years to put in more hours in the pool – had to be made along the way.

Money was the biggest issue for the family. After much soul-searching, the Schoolings went for broke. Colin was said to have sold properties and secured huge bank loans for his son to have the best possible chances at success.

After completing his primary education at Anglo-Chinese School (Junior), 13-year-old Schooling jetted off to the US for further studies and training at The Bolles School in Florida.

Later, he attended the University of Texas at Austin, the steep tuition and training fees borne solely by his loving parents.

Over the years, as he charted his path to Rio de Janeiro, there were many heartbreaks and setbacks. But a determined Schooling persevered.

When he realised his dream of an Olympic gold by touching the wall first in the 100-metre butterfly final in August 2016, he instantly became a hero.

The nation celebrated its first Olympic gold. I felt that euphoria as I stood near him on an open-top bus parade to celebrate the gold medal, as the bus made its way from Kallang to the Padang and Singaporeans lined the streets in the thousands.

At a private dinner that same week, Schooling confessed to me that he had felt confident yet nervous while waiting to make his way out to the pool for that butterfly final.

“Nervous, but not in the negative sense, but the body was primed and the competitive juices were overflowing,” he said, beaming.

A little over 50 seconds – 50.39, to be exact – was what it took for him to outlast his competitors, including his idol Michael Phelps, Chad Le Clos and Laszlo Cseh. The New York Times ran an article with the headline “Somebody (His Name’s Joseph Schooling) finally beats Michael Phelps”.

In the years since Rio, Schooling has had to deal with plenty, including added family responsibilities after his father died in 2021. The time seems right for Schooling to make this career switch.

He’s certainly more mature, independent and level-headed. He looks ready to face the unknown in the business world.

But no matter what he goes on to achieve in life, for the likes of Poon and many others who are rooting for him, he will always remain a “special boy” who achieved the impossible.