Meet two youngsters who are different from the rest of their age group.

At a time when people of their age hang out somewhere along the Jumeirah stretch, or some swanky shopping mall, Rebecca Fletcher and David Kelly had a different agenda the swimming pool at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel.

Both swimmers in their early teens were in Dubai last week to fuel their dreams and keep themselves on track for an appearance at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

For Rebecca and David both full-time athletes from the Kelly College in Devon - used up an entire week here on the pretext of a holiday - to get acquainted with the climate in Dubai and stay abreast of their common vision in three years' time.

"I dream about that day at the Olympics almost every night," admits David, on his first trip to Dubai.

Kelly and Fletcher forced themselves to train twice daily at the Jumeirah Hotel pool during their stay here.

"I can picture myself over and over again as one of the top finishers in the 2008 Olympics. I am up there on the victory podium and I can barely hear the cheers from the crowd as I desperately try to seek out someone known to me in the stands," he says.

Action replay

This dream plays itself continuously in his teenage mind. It is this action replay that helps the youngster focus on what is yet to come.

It eggs him on to waking up in the early hours and dashing off to a cold, uninviting swimming pool for the morning session.

"I really hate it sometimes," juts in Rebecca Fletcher. "Sometimes I sit back and ask myself whether I really want to do this. I feel so desperate and down that I want to take the first flight back to Dubai," she admits.

Rebecca's swimming career took off in Dubai. But the shortage of facilities forced her to leave father Ian and elder sister Megan and go to Kelly College along with mum Fiona.

The past few months have been nothing short of phenomenal for her as she improved on her personal best timings rapidly.

While swimmers normally show an improvement of around three per cent in the course of a year, Rebecca stunned director of swimming Robin Brew with a seven per cent improvement in her first year at Kelly College.

"I have my goals very close to me. I see Beijing before me every time," she shrugs.

David, 17, has been at Kelly College since September last year, the same time as Rebecca. However, since then he has gone on to win the Irish national title in his age group while also representing his country at the Youth Olympics in Paris.

"The beautiful thing is that these two youngsters are giving it their best shot," states Fiona.

"This is definitely a huge sacrifice for their age. But both are willing to dole out the huge amount of dedication and motivation to achieve a dream."

And who knows where these dreams are going to end up.

"Maybe one of the reasons I am swimming is because the feeling of failure is unbearable for me," Fletcher admits.

"I know there is no turning back now. I've got to do it," she insists as the duo head back into the pool for yet another set of punishing rounds.