HE MAY be a star in the pool but Rainer Ng isn't the most popular chap in his classroom.

During school assignments or projects, some classmates tend to view the 17-year-old Singapore swimmer as a liability, due to his packed schedule.

'There have been occasions where some classmates may not want to work with me as they think that my schedule doesn't allow me to be flexible.

'And there's really nothing I can do about that, other than to work really hard to change their perception,' said Rainer with a tinge of helplessness. How does he solve the problem?

By doing double the work in half the time, it seems.

'What others might do in a week, I try my best to finish within a day or two,' added Rainer.

But schoolwork isn't the only thing Rainer has had to juggle.

Since the age of six, the now Raffles Institution (Junior College) student has been balancing swimming, school and family commitments.

A typical day for Rainer, who counts the backstroke as his pet event, starts around 5.30am and ends close to midnight. Then he rests and repeats the entire cycle all over again the following day.

In any given weekday, his time with his family takes a back-seat, only getting to see them for about half-an-hour during dinner.

Which is why he tries to make it up to them on his only free day - Sunday.

Said the crew-cut teen: 'I usually leave Sunday free to hang out with my mum or my sister, who I'm both very close to.'

But the sacrifices don't stop there. His friends have also felt the sting of his packed schedule.

Rainer admits: 'Sometimes, my friends ask me out for movies, but I have to turn them down due to prior commitments.

'And that frustrates me.'

On the occasions when his friends postpone their outings so that he can join them, Rainer can't help but feel guilty for causing the inconvenience. 'It's never nice to have your friends always work their schedules around you,' he said.

Pressure

With all this pent-up frustration and guilt, the normally bubbly boy sometimes buckles under pressure, causing him to question himself.

'Why am I putting myself through all of this' Why can't I just go out with my friends whenever I want?' he wondered aloud.

But whenever the frustrations come to a head, he always takes perspective from the death of a close friend.

'I had a friend who played netball competitively, and after awhile, she just couldn't handle all the pressure and she just committed suicide,' Rainer confided.

'But it helped me realise what pressure can do to a person. So I make sure that I handle it well, and it also helps that I can't keep frustrations in me for very long.

'I usually forget about them after 10 minutes or so.'

And just like the effort Rainer puts into his studies and other commitments, he'll be giving his all for the upcoming Asian Youth Games.

'For the AYG, I just plan to beat my personal best timing (26.9sec) in the 50m backstroke and try my hardest.'

Just don't ask him out for movies though.

Shannon Rezel, newsroom intern

This article was first published in The New Paper.