With his skills on the court, you would never know that Thomas Cheng took two seasons off from his high school handball team to focus on academics.

But with plenty of practice, the Francis Lewis High School senior was able to pick up right where he left off and help lead his team to a PSAL city championship this past spring.

"When you're out of the handball world or just sports in general for two years, you kind of regress," Cheng said.

"But I didn't let that scare me at all," he continued. "I was like if I am able to work hard, if I'm able to invest time in practice, then I'll be able to improve just as fast as the people who have already been in the sport."

Cheng's coach, Jack Heller, said he hardly missed a beat, excelling on the court and putting in extra time to guide younger players.

"He's extremely helpful, he's a motivator. He encourages them to practice more and more and more," Heller said. "When he tackles something, he tackles it 100 percent."

The same can be said about the way Cheng approaches his schoolwork. The honors student has worked hard for his 4.0 GPA. He excels in his Advanced Placement (AP) English and government classes.

And he is always willing to help his peers in the classroom, too.

"The minute he walked into the class, you just knew he had knowledge. Not only that, he was willing to help all of his classmates in any way, shape, or form," said Linda Bell, a Government and Economics teacher.  "From note-taking, to studying, to sharing information."

Cheng has a long list of other extracurricular activities he dedicates his time to. He's a member of the yearbook club and a mentor for underclassmen in the "Big Sibs, Little Sibs" program. He is also a reporter and photographer for his school's newspaper.

Cheng says he hopes to inspire others through his photography and plans to pursue a career in journalism.

"Sometimes I just want to use my photography as like, 'Oh, here's a nice cup of coffee with latte art!'" Cheng said. "But sometimes I want to be a bit more serious and be like, 'Oh, these are the issues that are going on in our school, community, or internationally, and I want to show that these issues are not just things that other people go through; it can happen to you."

So for extending a hand in more ways than one, Thomas Cheng is NY1's Scholar Athlete of the Week.

------

The Spectrum News NY1 Scholar Athlete Program recognizes exceptional public high school student athletes with academic scholarship awards of $1,000 each for use towards college expenses. Nominees must be high school seniors enrolled at public high schools within the five boroughs of New York City in order to be considered.

If you are a public school coach, teacher, administrator or school counselor who would like to nominate a student athlete who excels both in the classroom and on the court, click here to fill out a nomination form.