Shipley

Two young divers from Shamrock Diving Club which is based in the National Aquatic Centre, Blanchardstown, travelled to Southampton on October 23rd to compete in one of the elite UK platform and springboard diving competitions, the Southampton Invitational.

Shamrock return with medal from Shipley

Shamrock Diving Club completed a highly successful trip to the Shipley Novices returning in 6th place. The trip was rounded off with a medal winning display from Adam Walsh.

In all, with eleven divers, parents and coaches the travelling party consisted of 22. The team of divers ranging in age from 16 to 10, the majority competing for the first time abroad put in a remarkable performance. The club spirit shone through with immense camaraderie displayed through out the weekend. The laughter was evident all weekend and a special mention must be made of Oliver Redmond in that regard. Oliver is our newest member whose antics and humour was a real bonus on this trip.

On the diving side the competition was stiff but all the divers showed tremendous resilience and maturity, doing themselves and their club great justice. The highly competitive group D saw Lucy Jack and Mathew compete abroad for the first time. Sonya Kerr (head coach) was delighted with their performance. It is a difficult atmosphere and lots of lessons are gained from first competition. The fact that all three seemed a little disappointed demonstrates their competitive nature, and we are confident the medals will come.

At group C Anna competed for the first time and demonstrated a remarkable ability to produce her best dives in the competition itself. This is always a fantastic sign in an athlete. You could see her improving in training all weekend and no doubt there is a lot more to come. Josh and Adam both on their first trips gave us the real excitement. The countdown to their 6th and 3rd places respectively was a great highlight. There was very little separating the two lads on this occasion Adam getting the podium finish. It was a tremendous achievement for Adam. He was disappointed after the Nationals but put in the extra training and reaped the rewards.

The boys group B was a first for Dylan and Oliver. The lads had to work hard to put a list together and were very keen competitors. They have now set their benchmark and got the experience under their belt. The technical improvements they have made, have given them a good base to build their lists and we have no doubt the results will come.

Our 3 competitors in girls group B had to overcome some self confidence issues in the lead up to this competition. When confidence is low and competition is stiff it shows remarkable character to compete at the level they demonstrated. Michaela, not only produced a PB she did it in every dive. After a slow start Roisin grow in confidence producing a very credible 11th place finish. She hasn’t seemed as happy on the boards for some time, and came home with renewed vigour. Olivia gave us great excitement in the countdown just missing out on a medal with an excellent 4th place.

We came away with tremendous enthusiasm for the rest of the season. The national skills final in April will see eight Divers compete. The following weekend sees Jack and Sean compete in the highly competitive G Star in Leeds. We will climax the season with a trip to the Hydro Novices in Harrogate where we will bring the largest group of Divers ever to travel from Ireland.

Well done to all