On the 29th April Albatross took a small squad of 5 novice divers to the Kent county skills competition in Tunbridge Wells. This is a qualifying event for National Skills final to be held in Manchester in July.

Tunbridge Wells is a lovely pool with 5M boards, and unusually two 3m springboards. It used to be the national synchronized diving training centre.

First up for Albatross were Aiden Jones and Austin Bradbury in Boys C (12 13 yrs).  Aiden dived consistently throughout the competition with his standout dive being his back tuck dive on one meter achieving 31.5 points. Aiden was thrilled to have achieved the qualifying score for National Skills, with a total of 273.8 points. Austin dived incredibly well, never getting less than a 6 from any judge, and scoring 8’s for his back dive pike for 36.8 points, a personal best. His final score of 291.45 won the silver medal and qualified for National finals.

Next for Albatross in girls B (14-16 yrs) was Amber Cowan. B group divers perform 10 dives selected from a list, 6 off the 1M springboard and 4 off the 3M springboard. This was Amber’s first ever competition away from her home pool. Her stand out dive her back dive piked on 1M, which scored  33.6 points.  Amber placed 9th and booked her place at the National finals with a qualifying score of 251.05.

Harry Healy and Zachary Cooper competed in boys B (14-16 yrs).  Zac put in an excellent performance, including a superb reverse dive pike on 1M scoring 38 points, to win the silver medal and achieve National qualification with 255.75 points.  Team mate Harry also performed some good dives to win bronze with 226.15.

All in all a successful day for Albatross, with well-deserved medals and National qualifications!