Fun and faith guide Philippine diver Perez

LOS BANOS, Philippines: When she was growing up in the southern Philippines, Sheila Mae Perez's favorite game was to clamber up on to ships in the harbor of her home town and dive into the water.

"That was my playground," Perez says of the Sasa Wharf in Davao City. Nowadays the petite 22-year-old is considered one of the best divers in southeast Asia and life is much less carefree as she prepares for the Beijing Olympics in August.

At the Trace College sports camp in Laguna province, south of Manila, Perez repeatedly jumps from a 3m springboard, twisting and somersaulting before plunging into a deep pool.