Southwest Regional Skills
This weekend provided the first major opportunity for the Plymouth Skills divers to test
themselves against other divers from across the South and showcase their talent. The
Southwest Regional Skills competition supported by Pilkington Estates, was held at the Life
Centre and saw 50 divers competing and aiming to qualify for the National Skills Finals,
which will take place in Leeds on 9 th and 10 th of July.
Group D girls set the tone for the Plymouth divers scooping all three podium positions with
Alice Jones having an incredible round of dives finishing with the gold medal. She was
closely followed by Isla Applin who took the silver medal and Teagan Mousley in the bronze
medal position with Eva Tsianavas in fourth. All four divers making the qualifying score for
Leeds.
Not to be out done, the D Group boys put in some superb dives with Daniel Jones finishing
fourth in his first competition and Isaac Ide taking a well-deserved gold medal after an
excellent round of dives which also saw him achieve the required score for the finals.
More success for Plymouth quickly followed, with the podium positions for both the C
Group girls and boys being dominated by Plymouth divers. A fiercely fought battle in the
girl’s competition ended with a superb gold medal for Abi Bishop, having produced some
outstanding dives. The silver being taking by Ava Cowper, the bronze by Poppy Jones and a
14 th place finish for Mia Tickle, in her first competition, rounding off a brilliant performance
from the girls.
With the pressure to perform mounting, the C Group boys were up to the challenge, with
Kaiwen Dun taking the bronze medal and Lincoln Stephens the silver. It was Louie McCue
who got the better of his club rivals, winning the gold with some very consistent diving.
The B Group competition saw both Plymouth divers put in some excellent dives against
some experienced divers. Kiri Pethick winning the silver medal despite narrowly missing the
finals qualification score, but with more competitions on the horizon she has plenty of
positives to build on. Laura Burrows was also in action in this closely contested group and
performed well and getting the bronze medal.
The divers were coached by Sally Freeman, Fito Gutierrez, Claire Roberts, Tommy Davis with
a batch of newly qualified coaches assisting. The weekend’s success again highlights that the
future of diving in Plymouth is looking good and with the ongoing support of Plymouth
Active Leisure and Pilkington Estates, Plymouth Diving is hoping for continued success at the
finals in July.
