National Skills 2019 Review
The National Skills diving competition recently took place at the Plymouth Life Centre. It is the biggest skills competition. A total of 261 divers took part from 32 clubs. Plymouth divers were out in force representing the club in a supportive manner with a great team spirit.
In the youngest category (group E) William Heath won the silver medal – only 1.7 points behind the top spot. Oscar Westbury claimed the 4th medal position and Dylan Philpott just missed out on a medal in 7th.
Eva Lang won a medal for her 6th position out of 24 in the girls D1 group. In the same category Evan Walker for the boys won the silver medal – only 1.7 points away from gold. Alex Whittaker medalled in 6th position and Freddy Parnell finished in 9th.
The girls D2 group was huge with 35 competitors. Lily Walker finished in 12th, Amelie Moor 13th, Sophie Millmore 24th and Erin Healey was 29th – competing for the first time at this level. In the D2 boys group, Jake Harrison-Bennetton won the 6th medal place and George Prior finished a respectable 14th out of 23.
All of the group C1 girls dived consistently in a strong group of 33 competitors. Madeleine Elliott narrowly missed out on a medal position by 1.5 points to finish 7th. Harlie Stringer was 13th and Tilly Tassart 14th.
The only girl for the club in group C2 was Ella-Poppy Cornish who medalled in 4th position out of 23 and was only 1.7 points off bronze. In C2 boys; Alex Snell earned the 4th medal position, Ben Hall was competing for the first time at National Skills and did well to finish 12th in a tough group of 18.
Lexi Davies, Rose McCabe and Pheobie Pickering all qualified to compete in the competition but unfortunately had to withdraw due to injury or illness.
Plymouth Diving would like to sincerely thank the Plymouth Depot of the Co-op, who donated a cheque for £300 to the club from the Local Community Fund. It was presented by Mr and Mrs Hendrick to head coach; Alex Rochas. This money helped to subsidise the cost of kit required for the competition.
All of the young, up and coming divers are either coached by Tonia Couch, Fito Gutierrez, Ashley Hendrick or Ryan Wills.
