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A team of 20 young divers from Southampton Diving Academy took to the boards in their home pool, the Quays Swimming and Diving Complex, in April and proved themselves to be the top club in Britain at the National Age Group level of the sport. Taking a total of 18 individual medals and 9 medals in the synchronised events the youngsters amassed 6 gold, 13 silver and 8 bronze medals between them. Leading the medal table for the Academy was Lewys Oakley (8), one of the youngest members of the group, taking 2 gold medals in the individual springboard events and only being beaten on platform by divers one or two years older than him. "This was a brilliant performance for his first Nationals at this level," said his coach, Charly Tomkys. With partner Alistair Khakoo (9) he also took 6th place in the 1m synchronised event. Nine year old Chloe Pook also put in an outstanding performance when she took a gold medal on the 3m springboard, with a score that would have put her in 2nd position in the age group above with one less dive! With scores that included an 8 for her reverse dive in the tuck position she showed the qualities that have recently earned her an invitation to train as a guest with the prestigious Southern Zone Junior Talent Programme. Diving with Eleanor Fleming (11), also training this week with the Talent Programme, in the 1m synchronised event Chloe gained the podium for a second time, taking a silver medal. Ryan Strudwick (12) excelled in the platform event, to take the team's fourth individual gold medal. His back 2 ½ somersaults from the 5m board attracted scores of 7 ½ and with an overall score of 63 points it was the highest scoring dive of the meet. He also performed an inward 2 ½ somersaults from the 5m platform, the hardest dive attempted by any of the competitors over the weekend. All four of the individual gold medals were taken by divers coached by Charly Tomkys. "I am really thrilled that they all performed so well," she said. "This is an important stepping stone to the top level of competition in Great Britain and they demonstrated that they are right to be aspiring to break into the ranks of the elite divers in the future." The synchronised events were dominated by an excellent new partnership between Rosie Medlock (10) and Eleanor Phillips (10) who, on their first outing together, took the only score of 10 in the meet when they performed a back dive with tuck on the 1m board. For Eleanor it was also her first experience of Nationals at the Age Group level. Many of the team representing the Academy were recruited into the club through the National Talent Identification programme. In November 2004 over 2,000 children in schools across the city were tested for their potential as divers using simple gymnastic exercises and of these just over 20 were selected to be "fast tracked" in the sport. The dividends of the high quality coaching input are now being realised. Leader for the National Age Group squad, Tom Owens, was very impressed by the children's results. "Particularly given that we had a very difficult run up to the meet with the pool out of order for several days immediately before it and other technical problems affecting training for the last 3 months I was really pleased with how the divers managed to step up to the mark and give such a good account of themselves," he said. "I am very proud of them all and of the coaches who helped them to achieve such an excellent standard." Full results were as follows: 1m springboard
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| For further details call Lindsey Fraser, Director of Coaching on 023 8072 0922 / 07810 305355 or Annie Clewlow, Chair of SDA on 023 8072 0922 / 07910 300232 |
| Photo opportunities can be arranged |