At first glance, water polo player Chow Yong Jun does not appear to be your typical 14-year-old boy with his 1.86m and 80kg frame.
It is not just his physique that sets him apart from his peers. In a few days, the teenager will be travelling over 9,400km to the Serbian city of Valjevo, where he will be based on his own for two years with Valis Valjevo's youth water polo squad as he chases his sporting dreams.
The longest he has been away from home was just over two weeks in 2022 for a training camp in Serbia with his local club Pacer.
It was during that trip that Yong Jun caught the eye of Valis, who compete in the Serbian Water Polo League A, the country's top league.
A powerhouse in the sport, the Serbia national men's team are twotime Olympic winners and threetime world champions.
Yong Jun said: "The environment there and in Singapore are quite different. In Singapore they prioritise studies, but over there they play sports. They're very passionate and they have a lot of drive.
"By going over there, I can improve much faster. The training there is much more tedious and they have a different kind of experience they're all bigger, stronger, more aggressive."
This story is from the January 17, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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This story is from the January 17, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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