This entry was posted on Monday, December 9th, 2013at 3:05 pm by zoe.leahy@activenation.org.uk

Plenty Of Skill Coming Through Southampton Diving Academy

Divers from the Active Nation Southampton Diving Academy impressed when the club hosted the annual Peter Waterfield Diving Competition recently.

The Olympic silver medallist kept a close eye on the up-and-coming divers and watched as the host club proved there’s plenty of Southampton talent coming through by winning the team trophy and an impressive haul of 10 medals.

This event, held at Active Nation’s The Quays diving complex, is known as ‘Skills’ level and sees the divers aged 13 and under performing a set of 12 skills from three stations, poolside, 1m and 3m springboard and the divers aged 14 and above perform twelve dives from the 1m and 3m springboards. Some of these divers are just setting out on their competitive careers and this is a chance to compete against other clubs and set their benchmark whilst others are aiming to move onto the next competitive level.

Of the Southampton ‘novice’ level divers competing, many of them qualified for next year’s National competition at this level and with another six months to go before the qualifying deadline, these divers can now concentrate on upping their performance to get into the medals at national level and learning even more difficult dives to move up to the next stage of competition.

In the youngest age group of 9 & under SDA excelled in both the boys and girls events.  For the boys Ethan Bennett won the gold medal, attracting scores of 8 from the judges with his back jump tuck from poolside. Team mate Aidan McMullan joined in the celebrations, winning the bronze medal.  For the girls Dulcie Wilson won silver medal position with a steady performance whilst Milly Batten won the bronze.

Evelyna Johnson won the Silver medal in the girls 10/11 years where she performed two outstanding 3m springboard dives, earning 8’s and 8.5’s from all judges and only just missing the gold medal score by an agonising 1.45 points.  Georgia Milward also showed her strengths on the 3m springboard to win the bronze medal.

In the boys 12/13 years Jamie Bevan secured the gold medal with an outstanding performance achieving many 7’s and 7.5’s for his dives and particularly performing well on the 3 m springboard. For the girls in this age group, Serena Torpey executed an excellent set of dives scoring many 7’s and even some 8’s, and although just a fraction off the silver medal, was delighted with her bronze. 

In the boys 14+ Years, new to this age group, but rising to the challenge, Alfie Lakemen-Brown confidently executed twelve dives from both 1m and 3m springboards and his impressive performance was rewarded with a silver medal, leaving a comfortable gap of 20 points between himself and the bronze medal winner. 

Also In the boys 14+ Years, SDA diver Callum Weldon competed as a guest to defend his title and win the gold medal by a massive 43 points.

Other SDA divers making their mark by achieving top six placings in this competition were: Lucy Chandler, Andre Dance,  Leah Burston, Megan Curtis, Anna Burnston, Chantelle Beckett, Olly Walton and Oscar Kitchen.

Lindsey Fraser, Southampton’s Director of Coaching, said: “I was delighted with the way our less experienced divers handled themselves, which bodes well for the future. My thanks, as always to all the volunteers who help to make the event run so smoothly.”