As if competing in the Commonwealth Games as a mere 16-year-old will not be hard enough, world youth long jump champion and straight As student Arantxa King will also have plenty of school work to be getting on with when she is not charging towards the sandpit.

Speaking from Tufts University yesterday where she is assistant athletic director, the teenager?s mother and coach Branwen Smith-King said her daughter was determined to not let her academic performance suffer at the expense of her burgeoning athletic career.

?We?ve been really worried about her missing a lot of school ? particularly in junior year when it is time to start thinking about what college she wants to go to,? she said.

?Arantxa doesn?t want to be treated any differently from everybody else and we?ve had a lot of conversations with her teachers about how we are going to balance the two. So, as you can imagine, recently she has been working very hard to get ahead with her school work and she will be taking some to Australia with her to do when she is not preparing or competing. But that?s the reality of life when you are trying to balance two important priorities.?

Bermuda?s Athlete of the Year, who attends Medford High School near Boston, leaves for Melbourne on Sunday travelling with national coach Gerry Swan and 1500 metre specialist Ashley Couper.

Given her daughter?s still tender years, Smith-King was keen yesterday to play down her chances of winning Bermuda?s first medal since the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Games, when bowlers Antoine Jones and Conrad Lister claimed silver.

But the fact remains, however, that King?s personal best jump of 6.39 metres ? set when she became world youth champion in Morocco last year ? would have placed her fifth at the 1998 Games and only 10cm short of the bronze at the Manchester Games in 2002.

But Smith-King insisted that they had not even discussed the possibility of a medal since training began in earnest last September.

She did admit though that attempts to shield her daughter from the pressures of expectation had proved particularly difficult since the world youth championships because her enormous potential was now well and truly ?out of the bag?.

?To be perfectly honest my moniker to her will be to just go out and enjoy the experience and do her best,? she said.

?People have got to remember that she is still a kid really and her body is still developing. I don?t really want to use the word ?under-train? but I have made a concerted effort to make sure her training levels are kept at an acceptable level and she does not suffer from burnout. She has surprised even me with the quality of her performances for somebody so young ? but the step up to competing with senior athletes is huge and it is not realistic to expect great things from her just yet.?

The words ?just yet? however shed some light on the high esteem in which her talent is held ? not just by her doting mother but the national coach as well.

There are those also who believe her best event could ultimately be the triple jump ? a discipline in which she excelled last June when she won the US National High Schools Championships with an effort of 41.10 feet, having only decided at the last minute to give the event a try.

She is also set to run in the 200 metres at the US Indoor National Championships the day before she flies to Melbourne, as she seeks to develop her all-round athletic ability ahead of specialising at a later date.

?If she stays healthy and she wants to take it all the way, I?ve got do doubt in my mind that she can get there,? said Smith-King.

?There will be a lot of sacrifices that will have to be made and like I said, I?ve been determined all along to make sure that she continues to perform well academically and gets into a good college which can nurture both her mental and physical capabilities.

?It is also very important that we make sure she enjoys her teenage years. She still goes to the mall with her friends and other stuff like that which I cannot support enough.

?There will come a time when she may decide to devote her life to becoming a world class athlete, but for now I?m just happy to her to enjoy herself and get a broad experience out of life.?