‘Abundance of exciting young divers’ make Talent Games a ‘fantastic success’

An ‘abundance of exciting young divers’ from clubs across the country have taken part in the Swim England Talent Games.

A total of 72 youngsters aged between eight and 11 years old attended the two-day event at the John Charles Centre in Leeds.

The Talent Games are the biggest testing event of the year and divers are put through a series of physical and technical exercises.

Day one sees everyone perform a series of dryland tests where power, strength, speed, gymnastic ability and form are all analysed.

All the athletes then compete in the pool on day two on 1m and 3m Springboard and 3m Platform.

The best youngsters will be invited to join the Swim England Talent Pathway as part of Diving Team Z.

Suzie Collins, Swim England Talent Development Officer Diving, said: “The event was a fantastic success.

“It was great to see an abundance of exciting talent from clubs in across the country. We will be announcing the new cohort of Team Z in the coming weeks and look forward to seeing them on their first camp in January.

“In conjunction with the Diving Leadership Group, this event was used to prepare the volunteer team from Corby Steel Diving Club for National Skills in 2020.

“It was brilliant to have so many new faces amongst our fantastic volunteer team, who without this event would not be possible.”

Medals were awarded for dryland, pool and the two combined, while there were also knockout competitions on 1m and 3m Springboard and 3m Platform.

Divers from Luton, Sheffield, South West London Diving, Plymouth, Star as well as guests from Edinburgh all picked up medals.

Sheffield won the boys’ trophy and also the overall team title, while Luton won the girls’ trophy.