Joseph Schooling with his parents May and Colin in August 2012. (Yahoo Photo)

You don’t want to mess with the most important woman in Joseph Schooling’s life.

The Singapore swim star’s mother, May, is the self-professed “bad cop” and the stricter parent to Joseph compared to her husband Colin.

“If he says a foul word, I’ll slap him,” the outspoken lady said, dead serious.

May, who is in her 50s, put her tough, no-nonsense approach to good effect when she and Colin famously negotiated for their son’s long-term deferment from National Service (NS) in October this year.

It was a groundbreaking move that saw Joseph, currently studying and training at Bolles high school in the US, become the only Singaporean athlete to ever be permitted up to three years of undisturbed training.

The target for the 18-year-old is a historic Olympic medal for the country come 2016 in Brazil. With five individual national records and hugely-impressive butterfly timings that rank amongst the top in the world, Joseph is on track for greater heights – barring the obstacle that is NS, said May.

“So far, all our prominent swimmers have been girls,” argued the finance director at a trading company founded by herself and Colin. “Pat Chan, Junie Sng, Joscelin Yeo… where are the boys?”

Loyalty to country

Determined to not have their son’s progress derailed by NS, the Schoolings opened talks in 2010 with the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), the then-Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, as well as the Singapore National Olympic Council.

“They asked if he can serve six months (three months of basic and vocational training each) then go back to the States to train,” May revealed to Yahoo Singapore.

Her response? “You might as well forget it.”

“I told the MINDEF people very clearly: I’m trying to teach my son to be loyal to this country,” said May. “But why should he be loyal to a country that doesn’t even support him when he wants to achieve swimming success for (it)?”

“In fact, if you represent the country and make people stand for your flag, you’re doing ‘national service’,” she added.

But the real clincher, according to May, was the assistance that poured in from all corners of the globe.

“Top authorities in the world came in to help us and supply us with all the information we needed,” she said.

“For example, Gregg Troy, the men’s head coach at USA swimming then, and Bill Sweetenham, who was an advisor to the Singapore Sports Council, all wrote letters supporting Joseph.”

“They’re the ones who can see talent, and they say he will be world-class,” she added.

May, understandably proud of her son, joked that his deferment was approved because “they want to show (him) off at the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore, the year he’s supposed to be in NS.”

But she ultimately stressed that she and her husband were not looking for Joseph to escape a duty expected of all Singaporean men.

“He can come back and do (NS) when he finishes swimming,” said May. “It’s okay to get him into the pool of soldiers. Not a problem.”

View photos May receiving the 2012 Sportsman of the Year award on Joseph's behalf. (Yahoo Photo) More

Household name

She admitted, however, to initially anticipating backlash over Joseph’s deferment.

“I was worried it would have an adverse effect, with people getting jealous, etc. But in the end a lot of support came in, and his fan base grew bigger,” she smiled.

Now arguably the de facto poster-boy for not just swimming, but all of Singapore sport, Joseph commands attention from both media and admirers on the street whenever he returns home.

“I told him, you’re a public figure, you better behave yourself,” said May. “People are ever-ready to criticise. They’ll forget you’re still a kid and will just pick on your faults.”

And that doesn’t even include the athletic expectation weighing on his young shoulders – a fact Joseph is well aware of, said his mother, and a non-issue, because “he’s already aiming higher than what they want”.

Joseph’s next excursion in the public spotlight is December's Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar, where he is set to dominate his events if all goes as planned.