Peter Waterfield Invitational Novice Diving Competition
2022-11-12 | Southampton
Peter Waterfield Invitational Novice Diving Competition
This weekend saw the Plymouth Diving Skills Divers sponsored by Pilkington Estates get their season off to a start and testing their ability at the Peter Waterfield Invitational Novice Diving Competition at the Quays in Southampton. The small team of 5 divers were excited to compete against divers from across the South and follow up last seasons success.
First to dive was the D girls with a strong field of 28 divers trying to claim a top 3. The competition was fierce at the top with the lead changing with every dive but some superb diving from Eva Tsianavas allowed her to end the competition in a well-deserved 6th place. Hot on her heels was Teagan Mousley who produced a solid set of dives to finish 8th overall and building on the experience of last season.
Next up was the Group C girls, where hopes were high, with 2 Plymouth divers due to compete. Spurred on by some fantastic support Abigail Bishop and Mia Tickle produced some excellent diving on all boards against some very talented divers. Abigail finished in 12th place overall and less that a point from finishing in the top 10. Mia in only her second competition gained some valuable experience early in the season and finished 27th overall.
The last Plymouth diver to compete was Kaiwen Dun who was competing in the Group C boys’ competition against a smaller field of 6 divers. Kaiwen was keen to start the season as he finished the last with more medals. Some excellent dives kept him in contention throughout with the lead changing hands several times as the divers rotated around the boards. As the competition ended, he was delighted to end in the silver medal position.
The divers enjoyed their first skills competition of the year and were coached by Harry Mason and Josh Freeman.
The weekend’s success was a great start to the season and with the ongoing support of Plymouth Active Leisure and Pilkington Estates, Plymouth Diving is hoping for continued success this season.

FINA World Junior Diving Championships
2022-11-27 08:00 - 2022-12-02 17:00 (Europe/London) | Devon
Taking time off from his apprenticeship at Neil Hogarth Building Contractor,
Plymouth diver Euan McCabe and Southampton diver Robbie Lee have just
finished competing for GBR at the 24 th FINA World Junior Diving Championships
held in Montreal, Canada. With over 250 divers from 40 nations this is a high
profile event with the best of the best vying for a podium finish. Pairing up for
the platform synchro their synchronisation was on point throughout. Lying in
fifth place after the third round, their fourth dive an inward three and a half
somersault brought them back into medal contention. Finishing off with a
superb back two and a half somersault with one and a half twists resulted in a
deserved silver medal for this established pairing.
The final day of the event was the individual group A platform. With only
twelve places available for the final, the preliminary round of 31 divers was
tough. Euan did extremely well to achieve a place. He was the only diver to
perform a challenging back three and a half somersault in the pike position and
finished in eleventh place in the final.
As Euan returns home, Amelie Underwood prepares to fly out to Montreal to
compete at the International CAMO Invitational where she will represent
England. This will be Amelie’s first competition at this level and her family
along with Plymouth Diving are proud of her progression and success in being
selected.
Both Euan and Amelie are coached by Sally Freeman at the Plymouth Life
Centre. Aidan Heslop another diver formerly coached by Sally has now taken
up residence in Montreal where they have the facilities for him to concentrate
on his High Diving career after huge success on the Red Bull circuit. Last month
Aidan won the British Swimming Outstanding High Diver Award for 2021-2022.

Christmas Gathering
2022-12-03 19:00 - 23:00 | Stoke Dameral Church, Plymouth, PL1 5QL
Plymouth Diving would like to invite you, your family and friends to a night full of fun, laughter and dance moves like no other! Can’t dance, unable to follow instructions without making mistakes – then this evening will be perfect. A ceilidh is a very sociable event but if you really don’t want to strut your stuff then come along to soak up the atmosphere. Intended for all, regardless of age. It would be lovely to meet new and old faces so please save the date. Bring your own alcohol and nibbles. More details to follow nearer the time.

ESSA Schools
2022-12-11 | London
On Sunday the 11th of December, English Schools Swimming Association held their 67 th National Diving Championships
at the renowned London Aquatic Centre home to many Olympic divers. The South West entered a
team of 22 Divers aged between 10 and 17 representing eighteen different schools in the region.
Medals were secured in all age groups and the South West should be proud of the talent being
developed in the region. Primary competitors, Isla Applin (Montpelier Primary) secured a silver
medal with Teagan Mousley (Oreston Community) a worthy 5 th . Harry Westbury (Stoke Damerel
Primary) missed out on a bronze by just one point and Isaac Ide (Morley Meadow) came an
honourable 6 th .
Last month Isla and Isaac competed in the Swim England Talent Games. Selection
alone for this competition is an honour and is an indication of their potential to do well in a
challenging sport in the future.
The Juniors gained points with Will Heath (Plymouth College) and Oscar Westbury (Devonport High)
coming 5 th and 6 th respectively. In the girls Ava Cowper (South Dartmoor Community College)
finished with an impressive hard fought bronze just 8 points from a gold. Intermediate, Ollie Heath
(Plymouth College) dived impressively for his silver. The intermediate girls faced fierce competition.
Scarlett Colbourne (Stoke Damerel) achieved points which were on par to a 5 th place finish in the
boys section. For the seniors, Katie Martin (Tor Bridge High) and Archie Waines (Lipson Community
College) both achieved bronze medals.
The day ended with mixed synchro. It transpired that the South West were a force to be reckoned
with. A new event for Will Heath and Ava Cowper who were just edged out of gold to finish with a
silver and brother Ollie Heath with Maia Pearson (Devonport High) also concluded the competition
with a silver medal.
Other divers who contributed towards the South West winning the Team Trophy included; Alice
Jones, Sophie Hamlin (Bournemouth Girls), Poppy Jones, Louie McCue, Noah Underwood, Alex
Whittaker, Ben Hall, Erin Healey, Lexi Davies and Ellie Pearce. To win overall out of the eight regions
was a triumph for this talented squad of divers, the South West and Plymouth Diving. A tremendous
achievement made possible by the schools that supported the divers along with the hard work of
coaches and volunteers, all of whom the Club would like to thank. Coaches on the day were Fito
Gutierrez, Harry Mason and Josh Freeman supported by Team Managers Bridget Heath and Emma
Waines.

CAMO
2022-12-16 08:00 - 2022-12-19 17:00 | Devon
Amelie Underwood a former gymnast was spotted on a scouting trip by
Plymouth Diving coach Sally Freeman where she attended Montpellier Primary
School. An invitation to join the Talent Squad followed which was accepted
and Amelie made steady progress. She took part in her first skills competition
in 2018 at the age of ten where she finished in the top six.
Between 2018 and 2020 there were numerous top six finishes and several
podium placings for Amelie at age group level competitions.
In 2020 Sally recognised that Amelie had the credentials to become part of the
National Elite Squad and compete at a higher level of events. This was a big
undertaking for Amelie; it meant joining an established group of divers who
were much older and with greater experience than her. Amelie took the move
in her stride and fitted in well due to her maturity, hardworking attitude and
level headed approach.
At the British Elite Diving Championships in October 2021 Amelie was
successful and won a silver medal for her 1m and 3m performance. By April
2022 at the same competition Amelie was stronger and more polished,
bringing home the gold medal for the 1m and 3m. Acknowledged for her
continued development Amelie was selected to represent England at the
CAMO Invitational in Montreal, Canada.
The 3m board at CAMO was the most lucrative for Amelie. After the
preliminary round she was in sixth position but gave the final her absolute all
to win the silver medal. Juliette John from Crystal Palace Diving Club joined
Amelie on the podium in third place.
On the 1m board Amelie finished fourth in the preliminary round and
upgraded this positon to win a bronze medal in the final. Juliette finished in
first place. Corin Burrows-Mackley from Dive London Aquatics Club finished in
fifth position on both the 1m and 3m boards making the English trio a force to
be reckoned with.
Parents Paul and Zoe along with Brother Noah are incredibly proud of Amelie’s
achievements to date. As part of the Swim England Y Camp Development
Programme the next chapter for Amelie is set to be promising with many more
successes to come. Sally continues to nurture Amelie’s diving and credit has to
be given to Sally for detecting her potential at an early age.

Legacy Open
2022-12-19 08:00 - 17:00 | Dive London, London
A team of six Plymouth divers headed to London to compete in the inaugural London Legacy Open in the run up to Christmas, headed by coach Sally Freeman.
The new competition, based at the London Olympic Aquatic Centre, was held in memory of David Jenkins, a Dive London, British Diving and Tokyo 2020 Team GB diving coach who sadly passed away in October 2021
The three-day event was a huge success for Ollie Heath, who dived on all three boards and secured two gold medals on 1m and 3m, with excellent diving on all 9 dives. He continued to hold his nerve in the final with a brilliant display and a huge 67.20 scored on his reverse two and half somersault in tuck. Whilst making it through to the finals in first position in prelims on platform, he just missed a podium position by shy of two points but achieved his third PB of the weekend.
Also diving in the B category was Theo Stevens, who claimed 4th place on the 1m with consistent solid diving and a grabbed a PB on platform.
Joining his brother, Will Heath made a last-minute entry on the 3m board in boys C event and achieved both a PB and a silver medal.
Also diving at the competition were Archie Waines, who dived on the 3m board in the boys A event, whist not feeling 100% but managing to secure some great dives. Maia Pearson, in the girls A event, made it through to the finals on 3m in 4th place, and finished her 1m with a solid dive; and Summer Radcliffe who dived in the Women’s open on 1m and 3m finishing well in a very tough group.

National Cup
2023-02-02 08:00 - 2023-02-05 17:00 | Devon
British National Cup,
Royal Commonwealyh pool,
Edinburgh

Armada Cup
2023-02-11 08:00 - 2023-02-14 17:00 | Life Centre, PLYMOUTH, Devon, United Kingdom
Last weekend saw the biggest event in the Plymouth Diving calendar take place at the Life Centre, with over 150 divers from clubs across the country battling it out for honours at the Pilkington Estates 2023 Armada Cup Diving Competition.
Junior Elite A Boys saw Euan McCabe win gold in the 3m with club mate Archie Waines scooping the silver. In the B boys category Oliver Heath produced some outstanding dives achieving some 9’s (the only ones of the competition) to win the 1m, 3m and Platform events with Theo Stevens earning a bronze in the 1m event and silver in the Platform with all 4 boys qualifying for the National Finals. In the Junior Elites girls events Plymouth divers Scarlett Colbourne, Katie Martin and Maia Pearson dived superbly all weekend with Katie and Maia making the National Finals.
The outstanding performances from Elite divers Euan, Oliver and Amelie Underwood were hot the heels of the Junior divers participating in the British National Diving Cup held in Edinburgh which is a Senior competition. As with all sports at an elite level, injuries are common forcing Amelie to withdraw but Oliver represented Plymouth on 3m and Platform with Euan joining him on 3m. Both boys produced some outstanding dives against Olympians and the experience was invaluable.
Unlike many competitions the Armada Cup sees Age Group divers compete alongside the Junior Elites which makes for a very busy and frantic weekend. The Age Group competition was fierce and there were some fantastic performances from the Plymouth divers. In the A category for 16 to 18 year-olds Ben Hall, Ellie Pearce, Madeleine Elliott and Mathilde Tassart achieved the qualifying score for the National Finals. The best result in this category following some excellent dives was a brilliant bronze in the 1m event for Ellie.
In the B category for 14 and 15 year olds Noah Underwood, Erin Healey, Lexi Davies, Eva Lang and Yvie Tucker all made the National Finals qualifying scores. The divers also walked away with plenty of medals with Noah collecting bronze medals in the 1m, 3m and Platform events following some brilliant and consistent dives. Erin and Lexi battled it out on Platform pushing each other until the last dive where Erin held her nerve and produced an amazing final dive to win gold, pushing Lexi into second. Lexi rounded off her competition with another well-deserved silver in the 1m event. Rose McCabe and Martha Ticehurst were also diving in the B category and came away with some great scores.
In the C category for 12 and 13 year olds Will Heath, Oscar Westbury, Isaac Ide, Poppy Jones, Ava Cowper all made the National Finals qualifying scores. Not to be outdone by his brother Will dived superbly and won gold in the 3m and Platform events following some excellent dives. Lincoln Stephens and Eva Tsianavas also dived in their first Age Group competition performing well and gaining valuable experience at this level.
The youngest divers in the competition are in the D category for 10 and 11 year old divers with Teagan Mousley and Isla Applin achieving National Final qualifying scores. Harry Westbury dived well all weekend and won silver in the 1m, 3m and Platform event. In the girls events Isla produced some great dives to win gold in the 1m and bronze in the 3m and Platform. Teagan and Alice Jones produced some of their best diving when it counted with Teagan winning silver in the 3m and Alice winning bronze in the 1m events.
The competition also saw various synchronised diving events take place where once again Plymouth produced some fantastic results. Katie Martin and Maia Pearson, Oliver Heath and Archie Waines, Ava Cowper and Isla Applin all winning gold in their respective events. The other pairings also fared well with Oscar Westbury and Will Heath winning silver just edging Harry Westbury and Isaac Ide into the bronze medal place. Lexi Davies and Scarlett Colbourne, Madeleine Elliott and Erin Healey also competed and placed well in their events.
The outstanding effort by all the Plymouth divers was rewarded by the club winning the Armada Cup Team Trophy after amassing the most points beating 12 other clubs in the process.
Overall, the weekend was a resounding success with the Plymouth divers once again showing why the city has a reputation for producing some of the best divers in the country. The club would like to thank all those involved in making the event such a success but particularly the amazing coaches Sally Freeman, Fito Gutierrez, Tommy Davis and Harry Mason and Tamar Fresh for the continued support. Special thanks to Jayne Glynn our Chief Recorder who hung up her score pad for the last time after 20 years dedicated to the club.

British Junior Elites
2023-04-13 08:00 - 2023-04-16 17:00 | Devon
The British Elite Junior Diving Championships, which was hosted by British Diving and Plymouth Active returned to the Life Centre, concluding its four-day event on Sunday, where the best young divers in each age group competed for the national title.

An achievement to even compete, athletes from across the nation and guests from Canada, Germany and Finland competed. Plymouth Diving was represented by a small but strong team of seven coached by Sally Freeman and Fito Gutierrez.

In group A boys (16-18) Plymouth were represented by Euan McCabe who claimed the gold medal after qualifying first in the preliminary round and a huge PB of 31 points. Teammate Archie Waines took the silver medal in the same event with a great performance which saw him move from 5th place in the qualifying round to second in the finals. He also competed on the 1m.

The boys were further represented in the B group with Oliver Heath and Theo Stevens. Theo reached the final on the 1m board, and finished in 4th place, just 3 points off bronze; a great achievement following being besieged by injuries and sickness which led to him almost being unable to compete. He also competed on the 3m. Team-mate Oliver had a fantastic competition on all three boards, making it through to the finals on each, and continuing to keep his nerve and gain a silver on both the 1m and 3m, and a bronze medal on platform.

For the girls, Amelie Underwood in group B had a great competition qualifying in first place in the preliminary rounds for both of her events and going on to win silver on 3m missing the gold by less than 2 points and bronze on the 1m.

Katie Martin and Maia Pearson represented Plymouth in group A girls. Katie qualified for the finals on 1m qualifying in 4th place and going on to compete a lovely set of dives and finish in 5th place. She narrowly missed out on the finals on 3m in 8th place.
Maia stepped up to her first Junior Elites Championships which provided a wealth of experience to build upon and whilst did not make the finals finished in 13th on 3m with some great dives and on 1m.

Katie and Maia also paired up for the synchro event on the 3m board. The pair managed to recover an unfortunate dive to finish in 4th place. Amelie Underwood and her partner Corin Burrows Mackley from Dive London Aquatics also competed and finished in 6th.

The boys synchro saw Oliver and Archie finishing in 5th position whilst Euan and Jake Passmore from City of Leeds Diving claimed another gold bringing the tally of medals for Plymouths team to 2 Golds, 4 Silvers and 2 Bronze medals.
Having coached them through the championships, coach Sally said “The team continues to go from strength to strength, bearing in mind these athletes lost 17 months of training in Plymouth through Covid, but they are still here and justifiably earnt their place in a British Junior final, which is fantastic. True resilience!”

Euan, Oliver, and Amelie have now to continue their training to prepare them for their next competition, representing Team GB in Dresden, Germany at the International Youth Diving meet from 27th April.

Dresden
2023-04-27 - 2023-04-30 | Dresden, Germany
Three divers from Plymouth Diving and coach Fito Gutierrez have just spent the last week in Dresden, Germany representing GBR at the 10th Youth International Meet.
Euan McCabe is an experienced international diver and first competed at this meet back in 2019. Bravely finishing his round of dives in the boys group A final with a reverse three and a half somersaults paid off and secured the silver medal on the 3m springboard. Fellow team mate Leon Baker from Southampton Diving Academy joined him on the podium to claim the bronze. Both of them put in a sterling performance to achieve a score of over five hundred points.
Group B divers Amelie Underwood and Ollie Heath both made their debut for GBR at this competition. Having previously dived for England last year, Amelie has already experienced this level of competition. Training at an elite level takes its toll on the body and unfortunately Amelie has recently been battling against injury. Despite this, Amelie qualified for both springboard finals. She finished sixth on 1m and ninth on 3m and was the highest placed GBR diver in her age category on both boards.
Ollie first became interested in diving at the age of four after watching the 2012 Olympics. Starting out in the Mighty Mini Squad when he progressed to the Elite Development Squad the gymnastic lessons were shelved due to his commitment to diving. In November 2019 after a gruelling selection process Ollie made the grade to join the Swim England Z Team. Breaking his foot on the 1m springboard in February 2020 followed by lockdown meant that this talented team of divers did not experience the full benefit of this achievement. Now part of the Elite National Squad, Ollie has a busy schedule juggling his studies at Plymouth College with training at the Life Centre where he is coached by Sally Freeman.
So far, this season of diving has been particularly fruitful for Ollie. Winning an individual medal on every board at the Armada Cup and British Junior Elites his performances did not go unnoticed by the GBR selection team.
At Dresden the 3m preliminary round was going particularly well for Ollie and he was lying in fifth place until the final dive. Over twisting on his back one and a half somersaults with two and a half twists cost him several points. Unperturbed and determined to perform well in the final he clawed back points to finish in fifth place. Ollie put his heart and soul into the 1m board to finish fourth in the final. Team mate Oscar Kane from Dive London Aquatics Club was outstanding in both of the springboard events to win two golds for GBR.
Plymouth Diving is steadily growing thanks to the inspirational results achieved by our divers. Their success is down to raw talent nurtured by the coaches, the facilities at the Life Centre, Plymouth Active Leisure and financial support from Pilkington Estates.

Great Britain Diving Federation Spring Masters
2023-04-29 08:00 - 2023-04-30 17:00 | Southend
Harry Is Back On Board!
Harry Mason began his competitive diving career in 2010. With many competitions under his belt and a plethora of medals he unfortunately had to retire in 2018 due to injury. At the age of twenty-four and a five year absence Harry could no could no longer ignore the yearning to compete again. Last weekend he travelled to Southend to take part in the Great Britain Diving Federation Spring Masters where he represented Plymouth Diving. His opening event on the 1m springboard could not have gone better. After a consistent round of well executed dives there was only one possible outcome which was to finish at the top of the podium to win the gold medal. This calm and unswerving approach continued onto the 3m springboard event where he finished with the silver medal.
Harry is a coach at the Plymouth Life Centre and is responsible for the progress of the Development Age Group and Mighty Mini Squad. Without doubt his performance will inspire his divers on to succeed.

South East Regional Age Group Qualifiers
2023-04-30 - 2023-05-01 | The Quays, Southampton , United Kingdom
Plymouth Diving supported by Pilkington Estates, took a strong team of 16 divers to compete in Southampton at the Southeast Regional Age Group Competition. The divers were aiming to win medals to add to their collection but more importantly the necessary qualifying scores to compete at the National Age Group Finals in June.

The competition was fierce with some fantastic performances from the Plymouth divers. In the A category for 16 to 18 year-olds Ben Hall produced some outstanding dives to achieve the qualifying score for the National Finals on 1m and walk away with bronze medals and PB’s on the 1m, 3m and Platform.

In the B category for 14 and 15 year olds Erin Healey, Lexi Davies, Eva Lang, Rose McCabe and Alex Whittaker all made the National Finals qualifying scores. The divers also walked away with plenty of medals and lots of PBs. Lexi winning a silver medal on 1m and a superb gold on the Platform following some brilliant and consistent dives. Eva and Martha Ticehurst also put in some amazing dives in all events. PB’s were achieved by Erin, Lexi, Eva, Rose, Martha and Alex. However, diver of the day in this category was undoubtedly Erin who produced a string of excellent dives to finish with a full set of medals with gold on 3m, silver on Platform and bronze on 1m.

In the C category for 12 and 13 year olds Ava Cowper made the National Finals qualifying score on Platform also getting a fantastic bronze medal and PB. Oscar Westbury put in a strong performance across all 3 events with two 4th place finishes and bronze on Platform. Isaac Ide, Lincoln Stephens and Poppy Jones despite carrying an injury, also performed well and gained valuable experience at this level with a raft of PB’s being achieved.

The youngest divers in the competition were in the D category for 10 and 11 year old divers with Alice Jones, Isla Applin and Harry Westbury achieving National Finals qualifying scores. Harry dived well despite just returning from injury and won silver in the 1m and 3m events. In the girls events Isla produced some great dives to win bronze on the 1m and 3m board. Teagan Mousley and Alice produced some of their best diving when it counted with Teagan winning bronze on Platform and Alice coming 4th.

Overall, the weekend was a resounding success with the Plymouth divers once again showing why the city has a reputation for producing some of the best divers in the country. The club would like to thank the amazing coaches Tommy Davis and Harry Mason along with Mark Jones for taking on the judging responsibilities.

Southwest Regional Skills
2023-05-13 | Devon
This weekend provided a major opportunity for the latest batch of Plymouth Skills divers to test themselves in their first ever competition and was a chance for the more experienced divers to showcase their talents. The Southwest Regional Skills competition was held at the Life Centre and saw 25 divers competing and trying to qualify for the National Skills Finals, which will take place in Leeds on 15th and 16th of July.
This year’s event featured 5 divers in the youngest age category which sees divers aged 8 and 9. In the boy’s event Leighton Mossford won Gold with some fantastic dives and in the process qualified for the finals. The girls event saw 4 Plymouth divers going head-to-head and they all produced some excellent dives. It was a very close competition with the lead changing hands throughout, but it was Phoebe-Mae Evans who finished with the gold medal. She was closely followed by Bethany Hockaday who took the silver medal, Ivy-May Davey in bronze medal position and Honor-Grace Kelly in 4th place. Amazingly they all achieved the finals qualifying score with ease.
Group D boys pitched club mates Seth Greentree and William Gregory against each other. The standard of dives from both of them was excellent but it was Seth who managed to finish with the gold medal with a near perfect back jump in tuck from poolside leaving William with a well-earned silver medal. Both divers scored highly throughout and will also be heading to the finals in July.

The girls group D event was the biggest event of the day, seeing 8 divers competing for the title. The competition bought out the best in the divers with some superb scoring dives from poolside, 1m and the 3m boards. In the end the top 3 were separated by less than 10 points with Isabella Stringer breaking the 300-point mark and winning gold with high scoring dives throughout. She was closely followed by Margot Elliot who took the silver medal and Rae Mossford who took the bronze medal with both divers excelling in the 1m dives. The divers in 4th to 8th were even closer with less than 5 points between them all. They finished with Lottie Tucker in 4th, Imogen-Rose Hockings in 5th, Ivy Dart in 6th and Emily Williams in 7th with all 7 Plymouth divers achieving the finals qualifying score.

With the pressure to perform mounting, the C Group boys were up to the challenge. Kaiwen Dun scored the only 10’s of the event with a perfect forward dive tuck from poolside, helping him score well over 300 points to win the gold medal by over 20 points. Charlie Clinick took the silver medal and Alex Jones the bronze medal in their first ever competition, both scoring highly in several dives and getting the scores needed for the finals. In the C girls’ event experienced club mates Abi Bishop and Mia Tickle dived superbly throughout but it was Mia who took the gold medal with a new PB of over 300 points, leaving Abi with the silver medal. Isla Newton in her first competition also produced some brilliant dives and finished in 4th and easily achieved the final qualifying score.

The B Group competition involved a few divers from other clubs but it was Plymouth’s Louie McCue who stole the show winning the gold medal. He produced some brilliant dives off both the 1m and 3m boards to finish with a superb 389 points and over 100 points above the score needed to qualify for the finals.

The divers were coached by Sally Freeman, Fito Gutierrez, Harry Mason, Tommy Davis with a group of younger coaches assisting. The competition 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 more success in July where they will have a huge squad of 21 divers vying for medals.

British Diving Championships
2023-05-25 08:00 - 2023-05-28 17:00 | Devon
Plymouth divers; Amelie Underwood, Euan McCabe and Ollie Heath were in action once again representing their club at the British Diving Championships held in Sheffield over the bank holiday weekend. The competition encompassed talented divers across Britain for juniors and seniors with guest divers from Greece, Italy, Jamaica and Sweden.
The 3m board was particularly fruitful for Ollie where he set the bar high for himself with his opening dive and continued to score an average just short of fifty-three points per dive giving him a new pb score. Ollie finished in eleventh place with Euan alongside in twelfth. On 1m Euan had greater success. Just missing out on the final by one placing in ninth position after an excellent round of dives. Ollie finished fourteenth with both boys setting new pb scores for themselves.
Amelie also had a superb competition with pb scores on both the 1m and 3m boards. Finishing eleventh on 1m Amelie then went on to make the final for the 3m event. In the auspicious company of four Olympians and three Commonwealth divers Amelie finished seventh which was a huge achievement.
The trio will represent Great Britain this August at the LEN Junior European Championships in Croatia. This will be the first time for Amelie and Ollie. Euan already has a proven medal record at this competition.
All three divers who are supported by Pilkington Estates are coached by Sally Freeman at the Plymouth Life Centre where the diving facilities are second to none.

National Age Groups
2023-06-22 08:00 - 2023-06-25 17:00 | Ponds Forge, Sheffield
Plymouth Diving were awarded the Dawdon Shield Trophy for top club at the Swim England Diving National Age Group Championships 2023. As the competition reached the later stages, it looked to be between Plymouth and home club, City of Sheffield. But with a total of seventeen medals won overall across the four days, it was Plymouth who got their hands on the trophy. Plymouth (249.00) and City of Sheffield (217.00) were the only clubs to break the 200-point mark – and Southend Diving were the third placed club with 162.00.

On winning the trophy, Plymouth coach Fito Gutierrez, said: “It’s pretty good. It gives us incentive to keep doing what we’re doing. I think since surviving the pandemic as a club, I’m so glad that all those kids were able to come here and compete. We kept them going for so long and it was so difficult, so I’m very pleased. As a club, it’s like the cherry on the top, it’s fantastic! To see the athletes on the podium is great, but to see them doing their best is what counts and that’s what we’re trying to do – to push them to that level that they might get on the podium or in the top six. That was our target and we achieved that.”

The 4-day competition saw divers from 10-16 years old competing for medals in the 1m, 3m and Platform categories with divers from across the UK. Plymouth Diving selected a team of 17, who had all qualified through regional events were keen to represent their club and demonstrate their ability.

The youngest divers at the event were the D Group Boys and Girls with Harry Westbury, Isla Applin and Alice Jones looking to secure medals. Harry had dived at the finals before and showed his experience with a 4th place in the 1m event and some excellent diving to finish with a bronze medal on 3m. Isla and Alice were competing at this level for the first time and were not fazed at all. Alice produced some solid diving across all three boards finishing 9th on 1m, 7th on 3m and 8th on Platform. But it was Isla who produced the best performance in this group, with some brilliant dives to go super close to a medal with 4th on 1m and Platform. However, she went one better on 3m winning bronze after some great dives.

The Group C events saw Will Heath, Oscar Westbury and Isaac Ide for the boys and Ava Cowper for the girls. Isaac diving in his first finals produced some solid dives to finish 10th on 1m, 12th on 3m and 9th on Platform. Oscar and Will as they have done in previous competitions battled hard on all boards with Oscar winning bronze on 1m and coming 8th on 3m and 4th on Platform. But it was Will who topped this group for Plymouth winning a brilliant silver on 1m, bronze on 3m and coming 5th on Platform, a superb performance. Ava also at her first finals showed her skills and produced good dives all round finishing 9th on 3m and 8th on Platform and just missing out on a medal in 4th on 1m.

Not to be outdone by the younger divers, the more experienced Group B divers of Alex Whittaker, Noah Underwood, Eva Lang, Erin Healey, Rose McCabe and Lexi Davies held their nerve to win a total of nine medals between them. Alex dived well throughout the competition and finished in 8th on 1m, 6th on 3m and 5th on Platform. Noah was the star of the show for the boys with some brilliant diving across all boards. He finished 7th on 1m and won a splendid silver on Platform narrowly missing out on gold. However, on his last dive on 3m he produced arguably the best dive of the whole event with an excellent back 2 ½ somersault in tuck dive scoring a 9 in the process to win a superb gold on 3m. It was the highest score for a single dive during the event and the only one to be awarded a 9 from the judges. The girls also rose to the occasion with Eva, Erin, Rose and Lexi producing more great dives on all boards. Eva finished 16th on 1m, 14th on 3m and 15th on Platform. Rose finished 13th on 1m, 20th on 3m and 17th on Platform. Erin finished 6th on 1m, 7th on 3m and 9th on Platform, with all 3 girls showing their skill with some fantastic dives. However, it was Lexi who stole the show in this group with some excellent diving across all the boards. She won bronze on Platform and a brilliant silver on 3m and was crowned National Age Group Champion on 1m with an outstanding last dive.

Plymouth were aiming for more success in the Group A events with divers Ben Hall, Madeleine Elliott, Tilly Tassart and Ellie Pearce trying to add to the teams’ impressive medal collection, and they didn’t disappoint. Ben produced a string of excellent dives to finish 5th on 3m with a super bronze on both 1m and Platform. Madeleine finished 17th on 1m, 10th on 3m and narrowly missed out on a medal on Platform finishing a brilliant 4th. Tilly only competed on Platform finishing a very respectable 12th. This group also had a sensational diver in Ellie who produced some outstanding dives to finish the event as National Age Group Champion on 1m and 3m.

Aside from the individual success Plymouth also tasted more success in the synchro events with Ava and Isla teaming up to finish 4th in the C/D girl’s competition. In the C/D boys event Will and Oscar won a super silver medal with some amazing synchronisation. Not to be out shone by the younger pairings Ellie and Rose finished 6th in the A/B girls’ event with Erin and Lexi winning bronze. But the A/B boys pairing of Alex and Noah proved too strong for the opposition and won a fantastic gold with yet more excellent diving.

The club would like to say a huge thanks to all the divers, parents and volunteers that have worked tirelessly to help the divers reach their potential. A special thanks to Plymouth Active for the ongoing support and sponsors Pilkington Estates whose financial assistance is invaluable. Finally, to the coaches Tommy Davis, Harry Mason and Fito Gutierrez who have mentored all the divers over the last four days.

Fito was also awarded the Margaret Davies Trophy as the Top Coach of the competition. On winning the award, he added: “You don’t expect it, it’s just something that when it happens, it happens. I’m very pleased and happy that it was me for this competition.”

National Skills
2023-07-15 08:00 - 2023-07-16 17:00 | Devon
Swim England National Skills Final
Leeds

Junior European Diving Championships
2023-08-19 08:00 - 2023-08-22 17:00, 2023-09-05 08:00 - 17:00 | Devon
A sixteen strong team of divers left the UK for Rijeka in Croatia to compete in the Junior European Diving Championships earlier this month. The week long competition concluded on Friday with the three representatives from Plymouth Diving show casing their talent amid 300 plus divers from across the continent.
Ollie Heath delivered the first medal for GB in his opening event on 1m in group B. Against a stunning back drop of the Adriatic Sea his outdoor performance could not have gone better. Finishing the preliminary round in fourth position he remained calm and collected in the final. With all three medallists opting to perform the same final dive, a forward 1 ½ somersaults with 2 twists in the free position, it was Ollie who outperformed the others to take the lead and land the gold medal.
Amelie Underwood comfortably fought against twenty-two other divers to make the final in third position on 3m. Going into the final Amelie had some points to claw back from her required dives which get carried over. Against competitors of this calibre it left Amelie little space to do this but she put in an excellent performance to finish fifth overall with only 6.4 points from a medal. In the 1m event Amelie was once again in contention with twenty-two other divers to make the final in fifth position. With a higher required score from her preliminary dives, Amelie was right in the running. She just missed out on the bronze medal in fourth place by 4.9 points. Amelie was the only group B girl to represent GB in both events and she did this with determination and style.
Having recently formed a new synchro partnership Euan McCabe and Leon Baker from Southampton Diving Academy were ready to put their training into action. The boys 3m synchro event was thrilling and a display of competition at its best. With all three medal pairings going into the event with the same tariff it was always going to be exciting and literally the last dive decided the podium positions. With Ukraine in gold, Italy in silver the GB pair took the bronze medal with a mere 0.96 points between the bronze and gold position. The individual group A 3m event for Euan started with an incredible display of ability in the preliminary round, scoring 535.8 points to finish in second position. In the final, one moments lack of judgement proved fatal when attempting a reverse 3 ½ somersaults. It was judged as a failed dive and sadly cost Euan any hope of a medal.
Ollie ended day six on the 3m board. Coming through the preliminary round with what appeared to be relative ease he knew that the final would not be so simple. Having to follow an impressive last dive by the Ukrainian did not intimidate Ollie in the least. He continued to execute a superb last dive to stand on the podium in silver position.
All three Plymouth divers are coached by Sally Freeman and it is a testament to her coaching ability that all of her divers were able to achieve every final. Ongoing training is supported by Pilkington Estates, the Plymouth Active Leisure Diving Programme coupled with the superb facilities on offer at the Plymouth Life Centre for which Plymouth Diving would like to express their gratitude.

Southampton Invitational
2023-10-21 08:00 - 2023-10-23 17:00 | The Quays Swimming & Diving Complex, 27 Harbour Parade, Southampton SO15 1BA, Southampton, United Kingdom
Invites from coaches have been sent out

Peter Waterfield Novice Diving Invitational
2023-11-11 | The Quays Swimming & Diving Complex, 27 Harbour Parade, Southampton SO15 1BA, Southampton, United Kingdom
A squad of 24 of the younger members of Plymouth Diving Sponsored by Pilkington Estates
ventured to Southampton to embark on their new competition season in the Peter Waterfield
Skills competition. The squad included 12 of the national finals squad from the previous season
and 10 debutants. Before the competition started the divers presented one of the coaches; Josh
Freeman a leaving card as this was going to be his last competition before embarking on a career
within the Royal Navy and will be sadly missed by all at Plymouth Diving.
The E categories started the event off in front of a large vocal crowd with 9 Plymouth Diving
competitors being involved. The girl’s event was hotly contested with dives being of the highest
calibre and the lead changing many times. When the dust had settled Phoebe-Mae Evans of
Plymouth Diving came out on top with gold producing some lovely dives from the poolside section
especially. Ivy-May Davey also finished on the podium with 3rd place bronze. Finishing in the top
10 was Honor-Grace Kelly in 6 th place, her highest finish to date, Lyra Johnson 8 th place on debut
with an impressive 240.95 points and Bethany Hockaday in 9 th with 238.70. Also, in E girls
debutantes Lacey-May Hocking finished in 14 th place on 222.40, Myia Lilley in 16 th place on 221.85
and Charleigh Sharpe in 21 st place on 184.85. Brilliant scores from all 8 of the Plymouth Diving girl
competitors and they will take a lot of confidence moving forward to the next competitions in the
new year.
E boys had 1 Plymouth Diving competitor and another debutant Bobby Cole who showed great
skill on the boards to produce a strong 4 th placed finish with a score of 229.55 and that will give
him great confidence moving forward.
After the medal ceremony from the session before it was time for the D category girls and boys to
take to the board and just like the first session the Plymouth divers were made up of national
finalists and debutants. The standard of diving was very high and the lead changed on several
occasions, almost a carbon copy of the first session. Once again it was a Plymouth diver that
reached the top at the end with Rae Mossford being crowned with the gold medal excelling on
each of the 1m and 3m boards with some extremely impressive scoring. Like the first session
Plymouth Diving had 2 people on the podium with Isabella Stringer finding herself in 3 rd place with
a score of 269.15 from her twelve dives. Also inside the top 10 was Margot Elliot in 7 th place on
260.65 and Emily Williams in 9 th place scoring 253.85 her personal best placed finish. Finishing
inside the top 20 in the D category were Imogen-Rose Hockings in 14 th place with the score of
243.80, Lottie Tucker 17 th scoring 241.10 and Aneya Burton on her competitive debut with a score
of 238.05 and a 19 th place finish. There were also very well-placed finishes for Ivy dart in 22 nd with
231.05 and another making their first foray into a diving competition Grace Norsworthy in 24 th
position and a score of 226.30.
In the boys D category section were 2 divers making their debuts for Plymouth Diving in the shape
of Noah Lees and Daniel Robinson. Both boys showed great composure in their 12 dives, not being
flustered against some divers who had previous competition experience, which will stand them in
goodsted for future competitions. Noah Lees finished in 5 th place with a score of 223.45 and Daniel
Robinson in 6 th place with a score of 218.45.
As the day went on it was C boys and girls to try and replicate what had happened earlier in the
day and in the boys’ section that is exactly what happened with Alex Jones taking the gold to go
alongside with his national skills title he won back in July, with a score of 275.55 and his 3m dives
scoring a particular highlight from his 12 dives.
C girls were represented by Eva Tsianavas and Abi Bishop. Both girls performed admirably during
their dives in a very strong and competitive field with diving of the highest quality on show. In the
end Eva finished with a top 10 finish in 9 th place on 257.85 and Abi Bishop ending her 12 dives in
12 th place with 247.05 points.
As the day entered the final session with B girls to go onto the boards, it was finally time for the
final Plymouth Diving debut Evie Royal. Entering a competition without any other teammates in
the same category can be a scary one, but it didn't faze her in the slightest producing some really
consistent dives on each of the boards. She finished with a very credible 6 th place finishing on
284.85 points.
Overall Plymouth Diving finished the day with 3 golds, 2 bronzes and 5 other medals for their top 6
finishes. Plymouth Diving would like to thank the two coaches Tommy Davis and Josh Freeman for
taking their time to coach the youngsters in what was for many of them their first competition.
With the continued support from Plymouth Active and Pilkington Estates the future at Plymouth
Diving looks golden.

London Legacy Open
2023-11-17 08:00 - 2023-11-20 17:00 | Dive London, London
Plymouth Divers shine at London Legacy Open

London, England – November 17-20th, 2023 by Stefanie Pearson

Plymouth Diving left an indelible mark at the London Legacy Open. The prestigious event, held at the iconic London Aquatics Centre, served as a stage for divers both nationally and internationally.

Plymouth Diving’s athletes demonstrated their prowess in various diving categories, supported by huge cheers from possibly the loudest teammates. Their commitment to excellence was evident throughout the competition, reflecting months of dedicated training from coaches Sally Freeman, Fito Gutierrez and Harry Mason.

With eight podium finishes Plymouth Diving medal winners were: Ollie Heath, who dived up an age group into A group boys. Ollie walked away with a gold medal and a PB, scoring over 500 points on the 3m board, as well as a silver medal on the 1m springboard.
His brother Will Heath also added to the medal tally in the boys C age group with an improvement to his preliminary round scores to claim the gold in the 3m final, and a bronze medal on platform.

Euan McCabe secured the silver medal on the 10m platform after a great scoring last dive resulted in him being a huge 61.7 points ahead of the bronze position having made a recent return to the platform after a hiatus which saw him concentrate on the springboard events during the last year.

A further medal for Plymouth Diving came from Noah Underwood, stepping up to the elite test after he secured a bronze on 3m in the boys B age group, whilst just missing the podium on platform in 4th place and 6th place on 1m.

Not much room was left on the podium in girls A group on the 3m after Amelie Underwood took silver and Katie Martin bronze in a tightly fought battle with four Plymouth Divers taking the eight finals spots. Maia Pearson finished just a point away in 4th and Ellie Pearce just behind in 6th with Scarlett Colbourne diving up an age in 13th. All girls competed again on 1m with Ellie finishing in 5th place in the straight final.

Lexi Davies stepped into her first elite test with a series of excellent dives on all three boards just missing out on the platform by a point but gaining valuable experience going forwards.

Archie Waines moved into his first men’s senior events on the 1m and 3m, diving against experienced athletes but kept his composure with some brilliant diving and supplying great experience for the next competition.

Theo Stevens, diving up an age category performed on the 1m and 3m boards, whereby he just missed out of qualifying for the finals by a fraction of a point.

In addition to their individual successes, Plymouth Diving also excelled in the synchronised diving events. The seamless coordination and synergy displayed by the duos underscored the team’s cohesion with Katie Martin and Maia Pearson placing 4th, and Scarlett Colbourne and Lexi Davies 5th. Family duo Amelie and Noah Underwood also added to the team points collected during the whole event by entering the SuperDave team event and placing 10th, with Plymouth Dive team finishing the team scores in 4th place.

Head Coach Sally Freeman’s leadership at the event played a pivotal role in Plymouth Diving’s success. Her guidance coupled with a keen understanding of each diver’s strengths, propelled the team to achieve their best performances.
“This event arrives very early in the season so was a tough ask of these athletes who stepped up and some standards for 2024 were achieved. For others a first step was made on the journey, but for all it was an important start to their year” said coach Sally.

The London Legacy Open served as qualifier for the British Elites Junior Diving Championships next year and provides insights into areas for improvement. Four of the divers now set their sights on the British Diving Cup held in Edinburgh next month.

Plymouth Diving’s success at the London Legacy Open reinforces their standing in the world of diving and into the season ahead. This was further bolstered by learning that Plymouth Diving won Swim England Dive Cub of the year, and Sally Freeman took the bronze as Coach of the year at the Swim England National Awards 2023 held in Birmingham this weekend.

The club thanks the continued support of Plymouth Active, Plymouth Life Centre as well as sponsors Pilkington Estates.

ESSA
2023-12-09 08:00 - 2023-12-10 17:00 | Manchester, United Kingdom
Trials will be held at the Life Centre on Saturday 14th October from 1pm

British National Diving Cup
2023-12-14 08:00 - 2023-12-17 17:00 | Royal Commonwealth Poole, Edindurgh, 21 Dalkeith Road Edinburgh, EH165BB United Kingdom, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Scottish National Diving Championships inc. the British Diving Cup 2023 Review
Plymouth divers; Amelie Underwood, Euan McCabe, Archie Waines and Ollie Heath were in action representing Plymouth Diving at the Scottish National Diving Championships incorporating the British National Cup, which was held in Edinburgh last weekend. The competition encompassed talented divers across the United Kingdom for juniors and seniors with guest divers from Czechia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Jamaica and New Zealand. With qualification for the Doha World Championships and consideration for the Paris Olympics at stake, this was a seriously contested event with all of the big names in diving present.
First up was Amelie on the 1m board. Finishing in fourth place overall in the final earnt her a silver junior medal. Amelie went one better on the 3m board to secure herself a gold junior medal. Increasing her preliminary scores on both boards meant that she was a strong contender in the finals.
The men’s 1m and 3m events saw Ollie and Archie up against Olympians such as Jack Laugher. Ollie qualified for both finals beating his personal best scores to do so. He finished sixth out of the juniors on 1m. Ending with a superb reverse 1 ½ somersaults with 2 ½ twists on 3m earnt Ollie a bronze junior medal.
With less exposure at this level than the other Plymouth divers, Archie finished in seventh place in the preliminary round in both of the springboard competitions. Gaining valuable experience and the opportunity to dive against the best of the best.
Euan only returned to the platform last month, after a long spell away from it to focus on springboard. The preliminary round saw Euan finish in second place overall and a whopping 62.8 points ahead of his nearest junior rival. In the final Euan continued to execute a steady and confident set of dives. Pushing his scores for a reverse 3 ½ somersaults and his forward 4 ½ somersault into the eighties. He finished in fourth place overall and won a silver junior medal, only 2.5 points off the gold junior medal.
All of the divers are supported by Pilkington Estates and coached by Sally Freeman at the Plymouth Life Centre where Plymouth Active Leisure offer a superb diving programme.

Armada Cup
2024-02-10 08:00 - 2024-02-13 17:00 | Life Centre, PLYMOUTH, Devon, PL5 3RZ
A thirty strong team of Plymouth divers spent four days of their half term competing in the Pilkington Estates Armada Cup held at the Plymouth Life Centre. In its 24th year it was a chance for the eighteen contending teams to showcase the talent each club has on offer. The event attracted teams from throughout the UK and as far flung as Dubai. The competition was split into two sections – Junior Elite and Age Group with South West Regional medals also up for grabs for the Age Group divers.
Seth Greentree our youngest and only Age Group D diver entered all three boards. Finishing fifth in the platform preliminary where he made a massive improvement on his previous best score, finishing fourth in the final. The 1m and 3m final resulted in two bronze medals. With a further three gold South West medals to his credit this was a very fruitful competition.
Alice Jones and Teagan Mousley represented the girls Group C Age Group divers. Alice broke her arm in two places at the end of October last year which severely hampered her training. Despite this Alice was determined to compete on 1m and 3m producing some solid dives. Teagan’s best result was on 3m where she finished in seventh position, missing out on the final by a mere 1.55 points. The duo paired up for the 1m synchro and in total scooped two gold, two silver and one bronze South West medals between them.
The Group C Age Group boys included Charlie Clinick, Isaac Ide and Harry Westbury. Charlie improved on his previous best springboard scores and took to the platform for the first time in competition. Isaac had a particularly good result on platform pulling off higher tariff dives and showed signs of steady progress. Harry had an all-round great competition winning a bronze on 3m. His best board was the 1m where he won a silver synchro with Charlie and an individual medal, coupled with three gold South West medals. Charlie and Isaac shared the remaining South West silver and bronze medals between them.
The Age Group B girls had their work cut out due to the amount of contenders they were up against. Eva Lang was impressive on 1m finishing ninth out of thirty. Poppy Jones was the highest placed Plymouth diver on 3m finishing tenth out of twenty-seven, closely followed by Martha Ticehurst and Evie Royal with limited competition experience. On platform Ava Cowper finished a very respectful ninth place out of twenty-six, performing a particularly neat 612C dive. Poppy and Eva also put in a credible platform performance finishing within eight points of Ava. All the girls won at least one South West medal.
The Age Group B boys also did themselves proud. After winning his group at National Skills in 2023 Alex Jones entered his first age group competition which is a huge transition. He made a valiant effort and dealt with the occasion admirably setting a set of scores to build on. Oscar Westbury, Louie McCue and Will Heath all reached the necessary qualification scores to compete in June at the National Age Group finals. Will won the preliminary platform round with Louie in fifth. Upping his game Louie finished the final in fourth. Will was not prepared to budge from the top spot and after a very close and exciting round of dives he topped the podium to win gold alongside his three South West gold medals with Oscar and Louie seizing the rest.
All of the Age Group A girls made a final. Rose McCabe qualified for the 3m final in sixth position, pushing team mate Maddie Elliott into seventh position. Cheered on by her team mates Rose went into the final with a determined spirit to finish fifth. Maddie also finished fifth in the 1m final. Both Maddie and Erin Healey gave incredible performances on platform which resulted in a deserved silver medal for Erin and gold for Maddie. The eight South West medals were shared amongst the three.
New to the elite category this was an important competition for Isla Applin our youngest Junior Elite C diver. In the process of gaining valuable experience Isla qualified to take part in the Junior Elite Championships this coming April.
Noah Underwood in the Junior Elite B section had a very successful few days. Fifth on 1m, a bronze for 3mand a further bronze for platform after giving the crowd a nail biting finish. A great start to his new elite journey.
Lexi Davies and Taluya Verwoolde competed in the Junior Elite B girls, a step up for both girls to try and gain qualifying scores for the Junior Elite Championships. Both fared well against tough opposition. Taluya recently moved to Plymouth and this was her first major competition since settling in. Lexi was on track to make the 1m final with a fabulous opening 401B dive. All was going well until the final dive which resulted in an eighth place finish, followed by Taluya in ninth. Lexi just missing out on the 3m final in seventh.
The expectation for the Group A Junior Elite girls to do well did not disappoint. All of them have now qualified for the Junior Elite Championships. Scarlett Colbourne finished in the top half of the 1m, 3m and synchro event with partner Lexi. Ellie Pearce finished in seventh just missing out on the springboard finals by the slimmest of margins. Not to be outdone by her brother, Amelie Underwood won a silver medal on 1m and a bronze on 3m with a silver synchro alongside her partner Caitlyn Costner from Dive London. Katie Martin and Maia Pearson are seasoned synchro partners with a proven track record. Once again they wowed the audience to win the gold. Maia also achieved great results with two individual finals and a silver 3m medal for Katie.
The Group A Junior Elite boys produced some inspiring dives. Theo Stevens’ best performance was on 3m. He unfortunately missed out on the final in eighth place. Ollie Heath and Archie Waines went on to give the crowd a display of diving at its best in the 3m final. With fewer points carried over from the preliminary round Archie had ground to make up. Undeterred he ploughed on and gave a steady but proficient performance to claw back points and win the bronze medal. Ollie’s final dive a 5335D whilst beautiful was not enough to put him in a medal position, just missing out in fourth. On the opening day of the Armada Cup Ollie had already put claim to the bronze 1m medal where he fought hard to regain points in the final and put himself in contention for a medal. Archie finished fifth on 1m.
Jon Pilkington made it possible for Plymouth Diving to host an event of this size. His generous sponsorship is invaluable for which we are truly grateful for.
Plymouth Diving would like to thank Outland Road Morrisons, Friary Mill Bakery and Fruity Roots who contributed towards the refreshments for the volunteers and officials. Plymouth Active Leisure for the use of the Life Centre facilities and Plymouth City Council for their continued support. The divers and parents would also like to show their appreciation to the dedicated coaching staff, judges and volunteers.

8 Nations
2024-03-22 08:00 - 2024-03-23 17:00 | Turin, Turin, Italy
Last week a ten strong British diving team competed in the Eight Nations Youth
Diving Meet in Turin. The two day competition gave the 14-18 year old
springboard divers the opportunity to compete against athletes from France,
Italy, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Amelie Underwood from Plymouth Diving, who is coached by Sally Freeman
and supported by Pilkington Estates is already an accomplished British diver
and once again proved her worth as a force to be reckoned with.
Producing one of her best ever rounds of dives on the 3m board, Amelie
finished in third position to claim the bronze medal. Closely behind her was
team mate Libby Duke from Edinburgh Diving Club.
Amelie joined fellow British diver Caitlyn Coster from Dive London Aquatics
Club for the 3m synchro event. The fledgling pairing just missed out on a
medal to finish in fourth position.
Following on from a great opening day Amelie could not have executed a more
consistent round of dives on 1m. Not one to be intimidated by her German
counterparts her steady and confident performance paid off. With the second
and third positions changing hands throughout it came down to the last dive to
decide on the podium position. Lying in third position Amelie performed her
closing dive, an inward 1 ½ somersault pike with greater finesse than her
nearest rival to bump her up to a silver medal with the Germans in first and
third.

Southwest Regional Skills
2024-03-23 | Life Centre, PLYMOUTH, Devon, PL5 3RZ
This weekend all eyes were on the Plymouth Life Centre where it hosted the South West
Regional Skills diving competition. Plymouth Diving sponsored by Pilkington Estate were
extremely well represented at the event from debutant divers aged 8 to the eldest member in
the young squad aged 14 all hoping to emulate Plymouth Diving greats Tom Daley and
Tonia Couch and make it to the very top of the diving boards . The competition which
consists of a 12 dive circuit with competitors providing dives, from 1 and 3 metre boards as
well as high poolside is the first opportunity for divers to try and qualify for their National
Finals in July being held in Southend.
It was the youngest members of the squad to take to the pool first in the E category and in
front of a large crowd they produced a real spectacle. This category was featuring 5
debutants all of whom are the youngest members of the competition squad performing with
great confidence in their 12 dive routine scoring extremely well with Millie McLaren Smith
finishing in 8th place with a score 226.65, Saphia Howells 7th Place on 229.50 and Olivia
Birkett finishing 6th place on 229.65. Fifth and fourth places belonged to, two more
debutants at this level in Aria Cole on 250.25 and Katie-Rose Wilkingson finishing on
259.40, both Aria and Katie-Rose achieved a monumental moment finishing with enough
points to qualify for their 1st national finals. The medal positions were a close fought battle
throughout, in the end it was Ivy-May Davey who upgraded a bronze medal she achieved
earlier in the season to a gold medal with an impressive display of diving from 3m board and
create a new PB in the process with a score 280.55. 1 point separated Silver and bronze
medals with Bethany Hockaday surpassing her own personal best by 10 points to secure
the silver medal finishing with a score 271.70 and rounding off the podium position was
Lacey-Mae Hockings on a score of 270.05 with another diver impressing on 3m board and
increasing her PB by a considerable amount,all 3 girls on the podium confirming their
participation at Southend in July.
Another large participating category was next up in the form of the D category which
featured both a boys and girls section. The open section of the category featured 3 boys
from Plymouth diving, all diving superbly throughout the 3 disciplines. It was Bobby Cole
taking the gold medal with a fantastic score of 291.55 and in the process joining his younger
sister in qualifying for his 1st National Final event too. Silver and bronze medals had two
theo’s taking them, with Theo Todd winning silver on 253.45 and Theo Wills score of 243.70
enough to collect the bronze medal, fantastic results from them both on their competition
debut.
D girls was a hotly contested event with many divers collecting some very high scores from
the judges. The event saw Phoebe-Mae evans collect the first 9 of the competition, Aneya
burton score 3×9’s from a back tuck roll from the 3m board, 7 competitors from Plymouth
Diving scoring over the qualifying score to book their places in their age group finals and all
9 of them creating new PB’s. The medal results was a close run thing with less than 14
points separating the top 5 positions, with Aneya Burton claiming the gold with a score of
293.55 from her 12 dives, Emily Williams finished in silver medal position 0.8 points behind
the winner on 292.75. Bronze medal was collected by Imogen-Rose Hocking to match her
younger sister earlier in the day finishing with a score of 285.45, particularly looking strong
on the 3m board. Beating her personal best by over 20 points to finish 4th was Honor-Grace
Kelly scoring an impressive 282.30, closely followed by Phoebe-Mae Evans in 5th position
scoring 279.70 with her high poolside dives drawing big scores from the 3 judges. Rounding
off the divers who have qualified for their National Finals was Stephaine Clarke finishing in
6th place with a superb score of 272.60 very impressive considering it was her first
competition and Myia Lilley who dived with terrific consistency throughout her 12 dives and
creating a new personal best score of 264.65 to find herself in 7th place. Finishing
tantalisingly close to making qualification score was Lyra Johnson in 8th position with 250.40
and Charleigh-May Sharpe finishing in 9th position on 248.45, but both girls increased their
own personal best scores and will be looking forward to their next events.
C Category for girls and boys who were born in 2011 and 2012 were next to show the crowd
and judges what they could do off the diving boards in trying to qualify for the finals. Just like
the previous two events, it was a brilliant display of diving. The Medal position for the girls
section was only separated by 14 points but just like earlier in the season in their season
opening event Rae Mossford came out on top of the podium with the biggest score out of all
the girls on the day of 308.65. with a stunning front 1 and half off the 1m board a particular
highlight of her dives. Another Plymouth diving competitor tipping the score over 300 mark
was Margot Elliot finishing in the silver medal position and getting the results from all her
hard work with her coach the last few months with a superb display of consistency across
the 3 disciplines. Both medalists will be joined in Southend by 3rd place Isla Newton scoring
an impressive 294.25 and Isabella Stringer finishing just outside the medal places on a score
of 292.00 with her 3m being a strong board for her. Two more increased personal best
scores were achieved in the girls section with Lottie Tucker finishing in 6th place with a final
score of 260.70 and Grace Norsworthy in 8th position on 252.35.
Only the 1 boy from Plymouth Diving competed in the open C category section. This was
Daniel Robinson who took home the gold with a score of 265.10 looking very assured on the
3m board.
There was only one boy from Plymouth Diving in the open B category, with Kaiwen Dunn
holding hopes of gaining enough points to take his place again at yet another National Final
for himself. Unlike the previous categories, B category is only judged from dives off the 1m
and 3m boards. Being by himself didn't faze Kaiwen, cheered on by the crowd and his
coach, producing 10 incredible dives on his way to a gold medal and score of 347.50 and
securing his place in the finals too.
With 18 Plymouth Divers securing their places in their respective National Finals, 28
personal best scores and 8 competitive competition debuts, it was an incredibly succuessful
day of diving for all concerned. The competition highlights that the future of diving in
Plymouth is very bright, along with the incredible continued support from sponsor Pilkington
Estates and Plymouth Active Leisure will hopefully yield even more success in July.
The Divers were coached by Sally Freeman, Fito Gutierrez, Tommy Davis, Cody Powell
Tuckett, Lucy Gutierrez and Ebony Colbourne. Plymouth would like to extend thanks and
appreciation to the coaches, judges and volunteers behind the scenes able to make the
competition run so well.

British Junior Elites Championships 2024
2024-04-11 08:00 - 2024-04-14 17:00 | Sandwell Aquatics, Brimingham
The British Junior Elite Championship, a pivotal competition on the performance pathway, invites the top junior divers from across the nation to the prestigious event.
Plymouth Diving sent a team of ten, who showcased their talent, hard work, and dedication at this year’s championship, a four-day event held at Sandwell Aquatics Centre, home of the 2022 Commonwealth Games from 11th-14th April. Guided by coaches Fito Gutierrez and Sally Freeman who added “We are really pleased to have qualified a big team this year and went with high expectations of good diving as the divers have worked really hard to increase difficulty and work on consistency to try to achieve finals and medals. To come away with both of these is really rewarding”’.
The competition began with Oliver Heath and Archie Waines competing on the 1m event in the A (16-18) category. Heath and Waines both advanced to the finals later in the day, finishing in 4th and 8th place respectively with new personal bests and an impressive set of dives.
Both continued their successful performances by competing again the following day on the 3m board. They again progressed to the finals, with Heath winning the bronze medal with an impressive 504 points.
Noah Underwood, in his first Junior Elites competition in B group (14-16), competed on all three boards with morning preliminaries followed by afternoon finals over the four days, achieving 4th place on the 3m and platform, and setting a couple of personal bests.
Having joined Plymouth Diving in September, Taluyah Verwoolde enjoyed her first Junior Elites, competing as a guest for Netherlands under her club PSV Schoonspringen. Verwoolde dived in B-group girls on 1m achieving a PB, and on 3m.
Isla Applin enjoyed her debut at this level of competition in C group (9-13) girls, 1m, 3m and synchro events, diving in prelims followed by finals, and achieving a PB on 3m. Applin later partnered with Ella Swete from Southampton Diving Academy in the 9-13 age synchro event on 3m, walking away with the bronze medal.
Plymouths A-girls saw our largest field, with five divers competing in the 1m and 3m events. In a large group of 23 divers, Amelie Underwood reached finals on both boards, and continued her consistent skills to win two individual medals, bronze on 1m and a silver on 3m. Scarlett Colbourne secured herself a place on the 3m final with a beautiful set of dives and finished in 7th place with a personal best.
Team-mate Katie Martin competed on 3m and reached the final on 1m, finishing just off the podium in 4th place with a personal best. Maia Pearson and Ellie Pearce joined the Plymouth team on both 1m and 3m events, where the finals where in sight to the last dives.
The 14-18 age group synchronized diving competition was won by duo Katie Martin and Maia Pearson. They demonstrated their strong proven partnership with a final dive that secured them the gold medal, marking their last Junior Elites competition. Amelie Underwood and her partner Caitlyn Coster from Dive London also performed well, earning a bronze medal and joining Martin and Pearson on the podium.
In addition to executing their dives under pressure to the highest standard, the team displayed a real team spirit supporting each other throughout the long days.
From standout performances by individual divers to the success of synchronized teams, their achievements underscored the collective effort and dedication.
As always, thanks to the coaches Sally Freeman and Fito Gutierrez, and Plymouth Active, as well as sponsors Pilkington Estates.

GBDF Masters
2024-04-12 08:00 - 2024-04-14 17:00 | Life Centre, PLYMOUTH, Devon, PL5 3RZ
Back On Board!
The Plymouth Life Centre hosted the Great Britain Diving Federation Spring Masters last weekend. The two day event proved to be popular with several divers from Plymouth who all dived in the 16-29 year old category. In their heyday all of them represented Plymouth Diving at either Age Group or Elite National competitions.
Harry Mason competed at the Spring Masters last year in Southend where he won a 1m gold and a 3m silver medal. Entering only 24 hours before this year’s event, Mason and Tommy Davis put on a platform masterclass. Both received a slew of 8’s on their ambitious dive lists. Winning the gold medal, Mason just pushed Davis into the silver position. Davis was a massive 82.8 points ahead of the bronze contestant -making it hard to believe that he last competed in 2019.
Connor West joined Mason on 3m to give the audience another great display of diving. Once again Mason finished first to make it a double gold, improving on his 2023 results. West took the silver medal and performed the dive of the meet, nailing a reverse 2.5 somersaults in tuck – one of the most difficult dives executed all weekend – which received a colossal score of 57.4 – the highest of the championships.
Cody Powell-Tuckett, Evie McCabe and Abby Fishleigh prematurely retired from competition in 2020 due to the pandemic and the lack of training facilities at the time in Plymouth.
At her peak Powell-Tuckett was an outstanding diver winning a plethora of medals, representing England and Great Britain on numerous outings. Powell-Tuckett put on a solid and consistent platform display which saw every judge awarding her nothing below a 6 on all her dives. Particularly impressive was her inward 1.5 somersaults which scored a huge 54 points. To that effect, she was full value for a silver medal after finishing only 10 points behind stiff competition in the form of the RAF’s Charlotte Goodman. McCabe who was the only diver from Plymouth to take on all three boards was awarded the bronze platform medal.
Just like old times McCabe and Fishleigh were closely matched on the 1m and 3m springboard. Fishleigh just edged ahead of McCabe on 3m to win the bronze medal with McCabe in fourth. The nail-biting 1m event was hotly contested with positions changing throughout. McCabe jointly finished in second to claim the silver medal which nudged Fishleigh into fourth.
Joel Trenchard is a Plymouth Diving volunteer and was the GBDF Communications Director and Officials Lead at the event. Speaking after the event he had this to say:
It was a joy for the annual GBDF Spring Masters Championships to be hosted at Plymouth Life Centre. Being able to witness some of Plymouth’s finest talent from the pre-COVID days take to the boards again was indescribably special, with parents and young divers showing up in huge numbers to cheer on their now-coaches and their diving did not disappoint! The competition has generated massive excitement and enthusiasm for Masters Diving in Plymouth, from coaches to lifeguards to parents. Hopefully we will see Plymouth’s ex-stars continue to shine in future competitions.

Dresden and America Cup 2024
2024-04-25 08:00 - 2024-04-28 17:00 | Devon
The end of April proved to be busy with competitions for three Plymouth divers. Our junior divers Amelie Underwood and Ollie Heath headed off to Dresden in Germany for the 11th Youth International Meet. Sally Freeman also from Plymouth Diving joined them as the Head Coach for the meet.
Group A1 divers Underwood and Heath made their debut for GBR at this competition last year. Both divers were selected for the Mixed Team Event and joined Hannah Newbrook from Dive London and Robbie Wood from City of Sheffield Diving. The quartet proved to be a good choice and complemented each other to secure the silver medal.
The individual rounds for Underwood and Heath were always going to be a challenge. Being the youngest in their category with a three year spread of ages and a lot less experience than the A3 divers. However, undaunted they absolutely gave it their best which was reflected in the results. Ollie finished the 3m preliminary event in 10th position out of 33. Upping his finish position to 8th in the final with a massive score of 501 points. Heath was not as well prepared for the 1m board because he had to step in to replace a fellow team mate at the last moment. Nonetheless he finished a respectable 16th out of 28 and got to trial some new dives.
Underwood had a very busy competition competing in four events. Caitlyn Coster from Dive London joined Underwood for the 3m synchro. Unfortunately Underwood struck her foot on the board on one of the dives and the pair finished in 8th position. Nursing a painful foot did not prevent her from qualifying in 12th position out of 35 to reach the 1m final. Delivering a confident set of final dives she finished in 9th place as the highest GBR contestant. The final day for Underwood was impressive. Into the 3m final with relative ease after finishing 4th out of 32. With a battle between four divers for the bronze medal Underwood just missed out in 5th by a shortfall of 1.05 points.
Meanwhile across the pond Euan McCabe was competing in the American Cup held in Indianapolis. Pairing up with Ben Cutmore from Dive London for the 10m synchro the duo were unbeatable. Performing the hardest dive list with the only forward 4 ½ somersault tuck in play they rightfully took the gold medal. McCabe also put in a sterling effort in the 10m individual round. Finishing in 7th position would have got him into the final if it had not been for the fact that only two GBR divers could qualify.
All three divers are coached by Sally at the Life Centre which has excellent diving facilities. The club is supported by Plymouth Active Leisure and Pilkington Estates.

South East Regional Age Groups
2024-05-06 08:00 - 17:00 | The Quays, Southampton
Plymouth Diving supported by Pilkington Estates and Plymouth Active took a strong team of 17 divers to compete at the Southeast Regional Age Group event in Southampton. The event provides the opportunity for the Age Group divers to test themselves against divers from across the south and southeast and try to meet the qualification standard for the National Finals. The competition was fierce with some fantastic performances from the Plymouth divers with the fantastic support of their coaches Tommy Davis and Cody Powell-Tuckett.
The A category for 16 to 18 year-olds saw Ben Hall produce some outstanding dives on all boards and test some of his new high difficulty dives. He finished with 2 medals securing bronze in both the 1m and Platform events while nearly making it a hat-trick of medals on 3m where he finished 4th. Rose McCabe was also in action on the Platform and was aiming to hit the scores needed to be in the running for the National Finals, she performed some great dives and finished 7th in a tough category but did get the scores needed. Erin Healey was also competing on all boards aiming to test her new dives and did an amazing job securing 3 top 10 finishes. She finished in 10th on 1m and 6th on 3m but her best performance was undoubtably in the Platform event where she narrowly missed out on a medal in 4th.
The bulk of the Plymouth team were in the B category for 14 and 15 year olds Lexi Davies, Eva Lang, Evie Royal, Martha Ticehurst, Poppy Jones, Lincoln Stephens, Will Heath and Oscar Westbury competed. Eva, Evie and Martha produced very good dives on all boards while testing new dives in a competitive environment, with all 3 divers securing scores to be selected for the National Finals. From the girls it was Lexi and Poppy who stole the show. Lexi was aiming to test some big new dives especially in the 3m event where she was competing backwards 2.5 somersaults for the first time. Nerves were evident but she produced a brilliant performance to win gold, having already secured the bronze in the 1m event. Poppy dived well in the 3m and Platform events, but she saved her best for the 1m event where she produced the best dives of her life and won gold.
This category also saw Oscar, Lincoln and Will dive with all 3 doing some excellent dives to hit the required scores. The 3 Plymouth divers spent most of the weekend fighting each other for the medal positions, with Lincoln just missing out to the more experienced duo of Oscar and Will, finishing 4th in the 1m and 3m events. That left Oscar and Will swapping positions throughout each event. Oscar with some brilliant dives ended the weekend with a medal of each colour winning bronze in the 3m, silver in the Platform and a well-deserved gold in the 1m event. In the platform event Will, despite hitting the board with his feet, recovered to win gold. He also won a bronze in the 1m event and a brilliant silver on 3m to complete his set of medals with some superb diving.
In the C category for 12 and 13 year olds Alice Jones, Teagan Mousley, Isaac Ide, Harry Westbury and Charlie Clinick competed. Alice having not long recovered from a serious broken arm, dived well and learnt some valuable lessons for the future. Teagan was hoping to build on experience and dived well across all 3 boards with 2 top 10 finishes and narrowly missing out on a medal finishing in 4th on 3m. For the boys Charlie dived wel on all 3 boards and gained some valuable experience in the competitive setting with 3 top 10 finishes. Isaac also produced some good dives finishing in the top 5 on 1m and 3m. He saved his best for the platform event where he won a fantastic bronze medal. Harry rounded out the C category for Plymouth with a 4th place finish on the Platform and 2 medals in the other events. He won bronze in the 3m event and had some excellent dives on 1m to win a gold with national scores achieved on all boards.
The youngest divers in the competition were in the D category for 10 and 11 year olds with Seth Greentree representing Plymouth. He had an amazing weekend making the top 5 on all 3 boards. He finished the weekend with an excellent 5th place on 1m and bronze on platform. To top a brilliant event for Plymouth Seth produced a great performance on 3m and won gold to cap a brilliant team performance from all the divers.
Overall, the weekend was a resounding success for the Plymouth divers and bodes well for the National Finals in Birmingham in June 2024, where Plymouth Diving will be aiming to retain the title of Best Age Group Diving Club in England.
