![](https://i.imgur.com/CLvY2jA.png")
31-07-2021, 11:35 PM
I've been quiet on Joseph Schooling, for the simple reason that he is family. I felt that anything I had to say would be treated as parti pris. But an offhand, ignorant remark yesterday really REALLY got to me. Here it is, in all its glory:
"So it’s ok to use state money but come in last in the heats as defending champion? "
I felt I had no choice but to reply. So this is for Joseph Schooling, for his Mum, May Yim Schooling, dad Colin, and for all those who refused to go with the flow and make defeat an orphan:
[To: Name withheld]
I am Joseph Schooling's uncle. I reply not to take a position on your point of view, to which you are perfectly entitled and the right to express which must be respected. I write to offer certain points of fact regarding "use of state money" as you put it. I've known Joseph almost since he was a toddler. He left for the US when he was in Secondary 1 or 2 . I remember helping with his English and History at the time, via email and phone from Sydney. He had a difficult time adjusting to the US system at Bolles Academy in Florida.
His travel was not paid for by "state money" but by his parents. His fees at a very expensive school--chosen because it was a school that specialised in combining academics and sporting excellence in swimming--were paid for not by "state money" but by his parents. His accommodation in North Florida was not paid for by "state money" but by his parents. The same source of "money" was what paid for his specialist coaches, his trips to various competitions, and so on. Because of the taxation regimes in the US, his parents had to give up their normal lives so that one of them at a time could be with him when needed in his early years in the US . Those very expensive necessities were not paid for by "state money" but by his parents.
A lot more at https://tinyurl.com/2vvswvdj
"So it’s ok to use state money but come in last in the heats as defending champion? "
I felt I had no choice but to reply. So this is for Joseph Schooling, for his Mum, May Yim Schooling, dad Colin, and for all those who refused to go with the flow and make defeat an orphan:
[To: Name withheld]
I am Joseph Schooling's uncle. I reply not to take a position on your point of view, to which you are perfectly entitled and the right to express which must be respected. I write to offer certain points of fact regarding "use of state money" as you put it. I've known Joseph almost since he was a toddler. He left for the US when he was in Secondary 1 or 2 . I remember helping with his English and History at the time, via email and phone from Sydney. He had a difficult time adjusting to the US system at Bolles Academy in Florida.
His travel was not paid for by "state money" but by his parents. His fees at a very expensive school--chosen because it was a school that specialised in combining academics and sporting excellence in swimming--were paid for not by "state money" but by his parents. His accommodation in North Florida was not paid for by "state money" but by his parents. The same source of "money" was what paid for his specialist coaches, his trips to various competitions, and so on. Because of the taxation regimes in the US, his parents had to give up their normal lives so that one of them at a time could be with him when needed in his early years in the US . Those very expensive necessities were not paid for by "state money" but by his parents.
A lot more at https://tinyurl.com/2vvswvdj
