Plymouth Diving supported by Pilkington Estates and Plymouth Active took a strong team of 17 divers to compete at the Southeast Regional Age Group event in Southampton. The event provides the opportunity for the Age Group divers to test themselves against divers from across the south and southeast and try to meet the qualification standard for the National Finals. The competition was fierce with some fantastic performances from the Plymouth divers with the fantastic support of their coaches Tommy Davis and Cody Powell-Tuckett.
The A category for 16 to 18 year-olds saw Ben Hall produce some outstanding dives on all boards and test some of his new high difficulty dives. He finished with 2 medals securing bronze in both the 1m and Platform events while nearly making it a hat-trick of medals on 3m where he finished 4th. Rose McCabe was also in action on the Platform and was aiming to hit the scores needed to be in the running for the National Finals, she performed some great dives and finished 7th in a tough category but did get the scores needed. Erin Healey was also competing on all boards aiming to test her new dives and did an amazing job securing 3 top 10 finishes. She finished in 10th on 1m and 6th on 3m but her best performance was undoubtably in the Platform event where she narrowly missed out on a medal in 4th.
The bulk of the Plymouth team were in the B category for 14 and 15 year olds Lexi Davies, Eva Lang, Evie Royal, Martha Ticehurst, Poppy Jones, Lincoln Stephens, Will Heath and Oscar Westbury competed. Eva, Evie and Martha produced very good dives on all boards while testing new dives in a competitive environment, with all 3 divers securing scores to be selected for the National Finals. From the girls it was Lexi and Poppy who stole the show. Lexi was aiming to test some big new dives especially in the 3m event where she was competing backwards 2.5 somersaults for the first time. Nerves were evident but she produced a brilliant performance to win gold, having already secured the bronze in the 1m event. Poppy dived well in the 3m and Platform events, but she saved her best for the 1m event where she produced the best dives of her life and won gold.
This category also saw Oscar, Lincoln and Will dive with all 3 doing some excellent dives to hit the required scores. The 3 Plymouth divers spent most of the weekend fighting each other for the medal positions, with Lincoln just missing out to the more experienced duo of Oscar and Will, finishing 4th in the 1m and 3m events. That left Oscar and Will swapping positions throughout each event. Oscar with some brilliant dives ended the weekend with a medal of each colour winning bronze in the 3m, silver in the Platform and a well-deserved gold in the 1m event. In the platform event Will, despite hitting the board with his feet, recovered to win gold. He also won a bronze in the 1m event and a brilliant silver on 3m to complete his set of medals with some superb diving.
In the C category for 12 and 13 year olds Alice Jones, Teagan Mousley, Isaac Ide, Harry Westbury and Charlie Clinick competed. Alice having not long recovered from a serious broken arm, dived well and learnt some valuable lessons for the future. Teagan was hoping to build on experience and dived well across all 3 boards with 2 top 10 finishes and narrowly missing out on a medal finishing in 4th on 3m. For the boys Charlie dived wel on all 3 boards and gained some valuable experience in the competitive setting with 3 top 10 finishes. Isaac also produced some good dives finishing in the top 5 on 1m and 3m. He saved his best for the platform event where he won a fantastic bronze medal. Harry rounded out the C category for Plymouth with a 4th place finish on the Platform and 2 medals in the other events. He won bronze in the 3m event and had some excellent dives on 1m to win a gold with national scores achieved on all boards.
The youngest divers in the competition were in the D category for 10 and 11 year olds with Seth Greentree representing Plymouth. He had an amazing weekend making the top 5 on all 3 boards. He finished the weekend with an excellent 5th place on 1m and bronze on platform. To top a brilliant event for Plymouth Seth produced a great performance on 3m and won gold to cap a brilliant team performance from all the divers.
Overall, the weekend was a resounding success for the Plymouth divers and bodes well for the National Finals in Birmingham in June 2024, where Plymouth Diving will be aiming to retain the title of Best Age Group Diving Club in England.
