Southampton's young diving talent, who train with Active Nation at the Quays Swimming and Diving Complex, took on competitors from across the nation and came away in third place, despite fielding a depleted team.
All eight members of the group who were available to compete performed well in the first ever "TID Games", held in Leeds on Sunday 14th November, with Madeleine Angell (11) and Cameron Delve (9) taking silver and bronze positions respectively in the pool.
Scoring a perfect 10 on her forward tuck roll and making consistently high marks across all the skills Madeleine demonstrated how well she has mastered the sport over the past year. She also took an impressive 5th place in the dryland, despite missing her footing during the speed jumping test.
Cameron's performance on the 3m springboard was his strongest suit and was underpinned by solid skills on both poolside and 1m springboard. The excellence of his line-ups on 3m reflected the hard work and effort he has put into consolidating them over the last few months. His back jump with tuck on the 1m springboard was also particularly polished.
The TID Games was an invitation only event for youngsters recruited through Sport England's Talent Identification programme, which seeks out children showing the most promise of becoming successful divers through visits to schools.
The Games has a unique structure, giving entrants the opportunity to compete both on dryland and in the pool, since the basic skills mastered in the gym and on the trampoline and dryboard are crucial to long term success.
During the summer of 2009 coaches from Southampton's Diving Programme visited 7 schools across the city and also held open sessions during which children were selected for their ability based on simple gymnastic exercises. After further testing at the Quays Swimming and Diving Complex, where they were put through their paces both in the gym and the pool, the TID-09 squad was formed and began training together at the end of September 2009.
All of the 24 children from the TID-09 intake who continue to dive achieved considerable success during their first season, with 4 competing at National level during the year.
Diving Development Officer and Head Coach for the TID squad, Lindsey Fraser, was delighted by the team's success. "I am thrilled with how well the children performed in such a challenging environment. They showed that Southampton has plenty of talent on its way."
The squad has also had the benefit of coaching from British Diving's Chinese coach, Xinde Zhang, who accompanied them to the event. "It was a very interesting experience," he explained. "I was able to see how divers in other programmes in England are being prepared and was pleased to see how well our children compare."
Full results were as follows:
Boys 9 & under dryland
Cameron Delve, 11th; Sebastian Sheath, 12th; Thomas Bailey, 7th; Tyler Lane, 9th
Boys 9 & under pool
Cameron Delve, 3rd; Sebastian Sheath, 10th; Thomas Bailey, 7th; Tyler Lane, 6th
Girls 9 & under dryland
Jade Brindley, 9th; Hannah Wright, 12th
Girls 9 & under pool
Jade Brindley, 6th; Hannah Wright, 7th
Girls 10 & over dryland
Rachel Hiller, 14th; Madeleine Angell, 5th
Girls 10 & over pool
Rachel Hiller, 11th; Madeleine Angell, 2nd
Or Karin Brindley (Press & Publicity Officer) on 023 80779161 or email: karinb01@tiscali.co.uk
Members of the SDA TID programme who travelled to Leeds with their coach Xinde Zhang.
Back row:- Cameron Delve, Hannah Wright, Xinde Zhang, Jade Brindley
Bottom row: - Seb Sheath, Tyler Lane, Thomas Bailey, Rachel Hiller, Madeleine Angell
Medal Winners, Madeleine Angell and Cameron Delve
Cameron Delve, who won bronze in the Boys 9 and under group
Cameron Delve
Cameron Delve
Madeleine Angell, who won silver in the Girls over 10 group
Madeleine Angell
Madeleine Angell