His hands were tied but his spirit was free. He became a part of history without even getting his feet wet. Mr Vincent Poon got up at 7am yesterday as usual, but could do nothing for his former student Joseph Schooling other than willing him on.
He put his classes on hold to watch, on TV, his former student win Singapore’s first Olympic gold medal.
Mr Poon, who is Schooling’s first swimming coach, told The Sunday Times: “My heart was beating faster and faster before the race. We (he and his wife) were clapping and cheering. It’s so unbelievable.
“I thought to myself before the race: Bronze would be very good. But Joseph wanted gold and he was so confident he could do it.”
The 70-year-old first taught Schooling, then aged three, at Tanah Merah Country Club.
“He worked really hard and listened. There was a difference with Joseph and you could tell he would be a good swimmer,” he said.
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To Mr Poon, Schooling’s quest to win was evident early. During the four years of tutelage, the coach would pit him against older and bigger boys.
Thus, yesterday morning must have brought a sense of deja vu for Schooling when he stood on the block next to Michael Phelps, 9cm taller and 10 years older.
“I remember a 50m butterfly race and this boy stood beside (Joseph) and he was so much taller and bigger,” Mr Poon recalled.
“Joseph didn’t want to swim. He didn’t want to lose but I told him size didn’t matter that much. He must have the right mindset and be fearless and try his best.” Schooling won that race.
“Now he has that mindset. He’s so confident of himself. The learning process he’s gone through shows,” the coach said. Mr Colin Schooling, Joseph’s father, agreed that Mr Poon showed his son the way. He said: “Vincent inculcated that hunger in him to win.
“Joseph is not only a swimmer but also he’s a racer. There’s a difference. There are thousands of swimmers in the world but only a few of them can be called racers.”
Champ will always be his Auntie Yolly’s ‘waterboy’
Coaches, teammates and rivals may have seen the evolution of Joseph Schooling the swimmer.
But very few would have witnessed the boy-to-man story of Singapore’s Olympic champion from diapers to the Mizuno trunks who went prospecting in Rio de Janeiro and struck gold.
Ms Yolanda Pascual, or “Auntie Yolly”, is Schooling’s loyal domestic helper who has seen him through his formative years to adulthood, although in her loving eyes he is always her “waterboy”.
In a Sunday Times phone interview yesterday, she said: “I’ve always believed in him. I was watching and shouting for him. I cannot express how happy I am… I was jumping and crying after he won.”
Still working for the Schooling household after 19 years, the pair have always been close. The 21-year-old Olympic gold medallist has even called her a “second mum” in a YouTube video made by Singtel, where he showed his appreciation for her support.
Twitter screengrabs, Facebook screengrabs, Facebook/SGAG
She said: “When I miss him, I read our messages (on the phone). He’s like my own son.”
The Filipina started working for Schooling’s family in 1997. She recalled: “He was playful like all boys, but (has) always been loving and caring and a very good boy. He never shouts at me or anybody.”
The 56-year-old has a file filled with newspaper clippings of him. She said: “He’ll always say ‘I want to be No. 1’. I remember once we were watching (Michael) Phelps on TV, he told me he wanted to be there and be like him, and I knew he could do it. He has a very strong will; if he wants something, he’ll get it.”
But he never quite had a normal childhood – a sacrifice he made to get into the record books. “When friends asked (him) to go out, he usually couldn’t because he had practice early the next day,” said Ms Pascual, who is married with two daughters.
When he experienced lows, she would always be there, behind the scenes, to pick him up.
She said: “He told me when he was very tired, and I’d give him a massage. Even now, when he comes back, he still asks for massages and he’s still like the young boy he was before he left.”
This article was first published on August 14, 2016.
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