ASA National Age Groups 2008
The Quays, Southampton
27th - 30th March 2008
The Cambridge Dive Team put in a remarkable performance to come away from the ASA National Age Group Diving Championships as the most successful 5m club in the country winning 4 gold, 2 silver & 3 bronze medals, and had 20 out of 21 top ten placings. The team consisted of divers from a wide range of age groups starting with Group D divers aged 9 and working up to Group A divers aged 16. The Cambridge Dive Team Head Coach, Sam Buck, was said to be "delighted not only with the performances the divers turned in but also the manner in which they competed. We were the only club to compete with smiles on our faces."
Daniel Goodfellow and Nathaniel Doza lead the team performance by winning 3 gold & 1 bronze and 1 gold & 2 silver medals respectively. Daniel (aged 11) took gold on both the 1m and 3m springboards as well as the 5m platform, again showing to the diving community that he is a natural performer in the sport of diving. Daniel also took a bronze medal in the 1m synchro event with team-mate Sebastian Jaunzens. The pair's first two dives in the competition showed fantastic potential for the future scoring 9.5s for synchronization. Sebastian also took a bronze in the Boys Group C 3m competition proving he is a creditable diver in his own right. Nathaniel (aged 14) dived superbly to win his first national gold medal in the 1m springboard event. His performances highlighted what a talent he is after suffering from a long term elbow injury. Nathaniel also took silver in the Boys Group B 3m springboard and then joined up with team-mate Ben Sambrook for the Boys 14-18 3m synchro for an impressive silver medal. The pairing's result is a massive achievement considering the training facilities do not have two 3m springboards to train synchro on! This was Ben's first ever national medal and it was certainly well deserved.
Other stand out performances included both the youngest and oldest divers. Emma Watson, Martin Christensen and Anna Sambrook all competed in the group D age group (9-10 years old). After a shaky performance on the springboards Emma went into her 5m platform competition feeling anxious but with her last two dives she leapt from outside the top 10 to finish in 4th place. Teammates Martin and Anna have had very little competition experience at this level but didn't let their nerves show as the both dived with excellent form and technique to finish 6th and 8th in the 1m competition. Heading up the team was Vivien Cliff who showed some very clean splashless entries in the platform event and some surprising spring to dive into 6th place on the 1m. Vivien lead by example in how to compete and showed great maturity in helping team members prepare for the competitions.
This was a fantastic result for The Cambridge Dive Team's age group competitors and has set a very high standard for the novice divers to follow on the 12th April when they will be competing in the Regional Flip 'n' Fun event at Parkside Pools, Cambridge.
Posted 04/04/2008