By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The chance meeting took place during an orientation meeting for international students at Bridgewater State University.

Desmond Ng, a native of the southeast Asia nation of Malaysia, was on the BSU campus for the first time at the start of the fall semester this year after transferring from Sacramento State University in California.

One of the orientation leaders he met that day was BSU senior Jenna Fiebiger, a native of Johannesburg, South Africa who is in her second year at the school.

Fiebiger is also a member of the Bears' women's swimming & diving team and she learned that Ng had been a swimmer in Malaysia before coming to the United States for college in December 2021.

So Fiebiger suggested that Ng look into joining the BSU men's swimming & diving team for the 2024-25 season.

"It took me about a good 10 days for me to make up my mind," said Ng, a junior majoring in finance. "I did captain's practices before (preseason camp opened on Oct. 1) to see how I feel. That helped me make my decision.

"The teammates are friendly and welcoming. We have a saying: The pool is a second home. That helped a lot for me to make my decision."

Ng, who said he had not swam competitively in four or five years, made a full commitment and was in the lineup when the season started on Oct. 12 against Saint Michael's College.

Two months into the BSU schedule, Ng is glad that he made the decision to return to swimming and his new school.

Ng has been named the Little East Conference rookie swimmer of the week four times this season.

He was selected this week after winning the individual medley, the 200 breaststroke and the 50 breaststroke in addition to being part of the winning 200 freestyle and 200 medley relay teams at the BSU Invitational.

Ng, who graduated from the Sri Emas International School in 2016, moved to California where an uncle resides and spent nearly three years at Sacramento State.

He transferred to Bridgewater State earlier this year to be close to a brother, who will be enrolling at BSU in the spring semester in January, and a sister, who has lived and worked in Massachusetts since 2018.

Ng wasn't thinking about going back to swimming until that chance meeting with Fiebiger.

"We didn't know anything about him," said Bears coach Michael Caruso. "Jenna came in one day and said, 'There's this really good swimmer who hasn't swam in a few years, but he was a national-level swimmer in his home country.'

"I met him in September and it started to blossom from there. He works hard. He understands the sport very well. He's a very cerebral swimmer. He's got a great attitude. He's never too high or never too low. He's just a great teammate."

Ng was dedicated to the sport while living in Malaysia.

He said he would train 20-30 hours per week, working six days every week. Ng represented Malaysia in the international Commonwealth Youth Games.

"I was really, really into swimming," said Ng. "I started racing when I was 10. I spent a lot of time with swimming."

Once he got to America while the COVID pandemic was going on, Ng moved away from swimming, barely getting into a pool.

That changed when he got to Bridgewater State and started working out with the Bears in the days leading up to training camp this fall.

"I missed swimming a lot and got myself back into the pool," he said. "It was tough at the beginning in the first month. I'd been out for a good four or five years. I only swam no more than 10 times in that time.

"I had stayed active working out, but not in the pool training. Every morning here when I started swimming again, I'd wake up in pain, but once I got used to it, it was fun and something I had missed a lot.

"It helped me with meeting people. Making friends was a good thing to me."

In his first collegiate meet against Saint Michael's, Ng was second in the 100 individual medley, fourth in the 1,000 freestyle and helped the 200 medley relay team place first.

Against Clark University, Ng won the 100 breaststroke and the 1,000 freestyle and was on the winning 200 medley relay team.

"I'm definitely surprised," said Ng of his early-season success. "I still have swimming in me. It's getting back the stamina now.

"Right now, I'm just trying to get back close to where I was as a swimmer, not having too much expectations. It's been four or five years. I was training for 10 years. It'll be difficult to get back to that."

Ng is enjoying his time in Bridgewater, getting used to the campus and the town.

"It's been really great so far," said Ng, who is from Petaling Jaya. "The school is great, the town is great. I love it.

"I grew up in a big city, so I like this town. There's not much traffic, not much hustle. It's a nice place. Bridgewater is pretty cool. I'm just not used to the weather. It's cold."

Ng will graduate in December 2025 and hopes to become a financial advisor.

He has been away from home, a culturally diverse country of 32 million people, for three years and has learned a lot about the United States.

"It's very different how people behave here," said Ng. "In America, people ask, 'How are you? How's the day going?' That's not common back in Malaysia. It makes me become more outgoing here.

"It's really great being here. It's something I was looking forward to. I wondered how good it is, how good the opportunities would be. The lifestyle is so different."