Southampton Diving Academy

About Southampton Diving Academy

Southampton Diving Academy was formed in January 2000, incorporating the former City of Southampton Swimming and Southampton Diving clubs. Its home venue is the Quays Swimming and Diving Complex on Harbour Parade.

Click here >> to see a Powerpoint Presentation about Southampton Diving Academy.

Facilities for diving at the Quays are some of the best in the south of England. There are two each of 1m and 3m springboards and 1m, 3m, 5m, 7.5m and 10m platforms, all suitable for competition at International level. Bubble-making machines give divers extra cushioning when they execute new dives. In addition there are excellent studio facilities, including a dry board and trampoline.

Membership now stands at around 100, with divers aged 7 – 60+ years, diving from recreational to elite level. Some of the latest recruits had their first taste of diving through the Quays "tasters" scheme. At the top of the club Pete Waterfield became the first British diver to win the gold on highboard at the Commonwealth Games for 20 years in 2002. He was also the European Champion of Champions on highboard, the first British diver ever to achieve this result. In August 2004 he took a silver medal at the Olympics in the synchronised highboard event and 5th in the individual highboard competition. In 2005 he took bronze in the synchronised highboard event at the World Diving Championships, making a new British record. In March 2006 he took the silver medal on highboard at the Commonwealth Games. In August 2008 he represented Great Britain at his third Olympic Games and in 2009 he took 4th place at the World Championships on 1m, making the highest score ever by a Briton on this board and the highest ever finish by a Briton on any springboard.

Members of the Elite squad who have been selected to compete at the 2010 World Cup are Peter Waterfield, Stacie Powell, Max Brick and Chris Mears. Max Brick represented GB at the World Championships in Rome in 2009, partnering Thomas Daley in the synchronised platform event.

Director of Coaching, Lindsey Fraser, was herself a member of the British Olympic Team in 1980 and 1984 and the British Team Manager for the Olympic Games in 2000 and 2004, she was also one of the Team GB coaches in Beijing. In 2002 she was the English Commonwealth Diving Coach. She is a trained secondary school teacher and continued her teaching career alongside her coaching until she moved to Southampton in 1999. She now holds the post of Diving Development Officer at the Quays. She was awarded the Helen Rollason medal as the top female UK Coach of the Year in 2004.

The team of coaches includes Charly Tomkys, who was awarded the Young Sportscoach of the Year Award for 2007 in a ceremony presided over by Princess Anne (for full details visit our website). Charly has also coached with the England Development programme (a national initiative which fast tracks exceptionally talented young divers). Chris Gravestock and Fran Godfroy have been coaching with the Southern England Development programme. Many of the elite divers have also qualified to join the team. The club also has two tutors for diving coaching, Lindsey Fraser and Chris Jenkins.

The Academy recruits its members primarily through the diving lessons programme, which takes place at the Quays. Children are invited to join the Academy from these lessons, choosing either a recreational or competitive route, with the option to swap their chosen path at a later date.

In 2004 Southampton was chosen as one of only 5 centres in Britain to become a Talent Identification Centre for British Diving, involving selection of youngsters through visits to local schools. The children identified as having outstanding potential during testing are then offered fast-track training in the sport. Another round of this initiative was undertaken last summer and the Diving Programme is about to repeat this again.

There is also an adult diving programme, with members who have achieved great success both on the national and international Masters scene.

The club aims to ensure that all their members have the opportunity to fully enjoy the sport of diving whilst reaching their individual potential.