White Rose 2009
The Cambridge Dive Team took a ten man strong team to Leeds to compete in the White Rose Novice competition and came home with a silver, a bronze and two other top six finishes.
Matthew Goodfellow showed tremendous concentration and dived with a great self belief to qualify for his final in first place. The final was a very tightly fought battle with just 0.3 points separating first and second going into the final dive. Unfortunately a slight loss of body tension combined with the dive of the entire competition performed by his competitor meant Matthew had to settle for the silver medal in the Boys Group C event.
Rosy May Trewin-Marshall dived in the Girls group D event alongside fellow team-mates, Pamela Chicken and Florence Simmons. All three girls put in some very high scoring dives, Florence starting her campaign with a forward dive straight being awarded 9, 9 & 10 from the judges. Rosy showed consistency across all height boards and disappearing through the water with that elusive ripped entry to finish in bronze medal position.
Competing in their first National level events, Owen Harrison and Daniel Murphy dived with confidence and skill to both finish in sixth place in the Boys Group E and Boys Group D events respectively. Owen was the youngest member of the team at 8 years old and the least experienced having only been diving for six weeks but competed with a maturity noted by the other coaches. Daniel's back fall from the 3m springboard impressed the judges and was duely awarded 8.5s out of 10 and was a highlight from a striking performance.
Also competing for the Cambridge team were Lucy Watson, Alice Clark, Amelia Brasnett, and Emily Douillot-Redfern. All four girls competed with the desired Cambridge attitude of diving with a smile on their faces and enjoying the competition. Some impressive dives were shown by the girls in tough competitions. Coaches Sam Buck and Marc Holdsworth were very pleased with all the divers and it was a fantastic weekend. The novice section within the Cambridge Dive Team is not only growing in size but also in quality. Things are looking promising for the National Novice competition early next year.
Silver medallist Matthew Goodfellow
Posted 23/10/2009