March - Edinburgh Diving Club

EDINBURGH DIVINGNEWSLETTERMarch 2004We are now nearing the end of the Spring term andyet again re-booking is upon us. All divers shouldhave received a re-booking slip from their teacherletting them know which class they are in. All theDiver 1 classes are now full so any diver wishing tochange their day will have to speak to their teacherbefore re-booking. There are no changes to squadtimes at present. Each squad member will receive aslip with details of the new prices for next term. Anydiver moving squad will be given this informationfrom their coach. The new term dates are:Monday 19 April – Saturday 26 June.As you will all be aware, this is Carol Farrell’s lastweek of coaching. We are all going to miss herterribly, but are delighted that she is going to ASANovices in Sheffield this weekend.Thank you to all the supporters at the Scottish NoviceLeague last Saturday. The PA system should be upand running by the next competition which will makethe event run more smoothly. Please keep watchingthe notice board for the venue of the Aprilcompetition.Finally, we hope that you all have a good Easter andlook forward to seeing you all next term.Easter Camps5- 8 April 10-12am FULL12-15 April 10-12am FULLDue to popular demand, we arerunning a third camp on:5 - 8 April 2 - 4pmThere are still some spacesavailable. Please book atreceptionTeachers CourseScottish Swimming is hoping torun an Assistant DivingTeachers Course on thefollowing weekends.11 – 13 June18 – 20 JuneTimes still to be confirmed.Places may be limited .Anyone interested, pleasecontact Mary. Tel. 477 8438Edinburgh Diving Club NewsGood Luck to all the divers competing in ASA Novices this weekend. Well done to all diverswho learnt their back fall or back tuck roll. Please could I remind everyone to travel in theirclub tracksuit or t-shirt. Also, please remember a bowl, spoon and juice bottle. Please handthe envelope you received from ASA offices to your coach.We are delighted to welcome another three novice members to the Club: Marcus Shaw, Neil Wilkinson andHannah Watson. These divers will be training in N squad.We are also pleased to welcome Natalie Ferguson back after a short break from training.Congratulations to all the squad “ Divers of the Term”. Nearly all squad divers have learnt new dives this term, andI hope you all agree that the new squads have been a great success, both for divers and coaches. Remember,points from the Scottish Novice League count for Diver of the Term.Our junior committee members, John Arthur and Ashleigh Laidlaw have organised a Suggestion Box, which canbe found on the table in the dry land area. Please feel free to put in any suggestions, however trivial. They will thenbe discussed at the committee meetings

Forthcoming EventsScottish Novice LeaguePrimary Schools GalaBritish NovicesThe next competition will be held on Saturday 24 April. Venue still to be decidedWednesday 31 March. 9am – 12.30pm. Open to local authority school childrenfrom P4 – P7. Please assemble at the diving pool when you arrive at the RCP.2/4 April, Sheffield. A team of 21 Edinburgh divers are competing in this very largeevent. We wish them all the best and hope to see a few top 10 finishes. The teamis as follows:Gillian Fleming 14/16 Andrew Marko 12/13Louise Fleming 14/16 Glenn Robison 12/13Stacey Henderson 14/16 Michael Weir 12/13Ashleigh Laidlaw 14/16 Hannah Burns 10/11John Arthur 14/16 Beth Dodds 10/11Stuart Robison 14/16 Ellen Hood 10/11Ellen Crofts 12/13 Laura Smith 10/11Megan Hughes 12/13 Gregor McMillan 10/11 IntCatherine Webber 12/13 Liam Greig 10/11Tommy Farrell 12/13 Grace Reid 8/9Anna Sless 8/9Team ManagerCoachesChaperonesDavy BennetCarol FarrellJenny LeemingMary SlessSusan GreigJulie BurnsNorthern CrossHydro NovicesEast District Championships16/18 April, Leeds. A team of 4 divers will be competing in this Age groupcompetition. We wish them Good LuckTom Chambers, Vicki Tomlinson, Grace Reid and Anna SlessSunday 9 May, Harrogate. We have only just received details of this competitionwhich is not on the calendar. It is open to all novice divers aged 8 –16. All diversmust have a back tuck roll or a back fall. We will be staying overnight on theSaturday only. Anyone interested, please put their name on the sheet on thenotice board. Further details to follow.10/12/14 May. These events are held on 1m,3m,and highboard. Further details ofrequirements on the notice board nearer the time. Open to all EDC members.Reports and resultsScottish Novice League 28 February and 27 March, RCPThe results of these competitions are at the back of the newsletter. It was excellent to see so many diverscompeting their back tuck rolls and back falls from 3 metre. Well done. Also it was good to see a big turn out of14/16 age group diversGBDF Spring Masters 20/21 March, SheffieldPlease see the Armchair coaches report on the trip.

Following the entertainment value of the ‘Black and Blue’ in December, the Armchair Coachdecided to accompany the Masters team to the GBDF Championships in Sheffield, 20-21 March, toget more of a feel for the Masters set up.Accompanying the Masters Team to Sheffield was made slightly harder by the fact ‘theteam’ (Sarah Bainbridge, Orla Gilmore, Stephen Walters and coach Tom Chambers) allseemed to be going on different trains, different days and staying in different hotels,unlike the ‘well organised’ trips run by Head Coach Sless and President Bennet.Eventually I travelled on the Friday evening with Sarah and Orla and large quantities ofcrisps. Luckily we weren’t in the Quiet Coach.Sarah and Orla, rosy cheeked and hair still dripping from their training session discussed their dive listsfor the weekend. Sarah confidently advised Orla on the merits of performing a 105c from 5m over a 405cfrom 10m (although it is a well known fact Sarah has never even been to look at the 10m platform). Therest of the carriage listened in amazement, convinced they must be travelling with the British OlympicDiving Team. Orla and Sarah laughed over the fact that due to a slip of Stephen Walter’s, the EnglishMasters were expecting to be treated to Orla’s back two and a half piked from 10. Confusing a 205 and a405 is easy, especially for someone who is not used to dealing with figures.More crisps were consumed. Then it was time to have the Alnmouth, Alnwick, Annickargument and much hilarity was had over references to ‘Davy Driver who drove the trainto Doncaster’. Then it was Newcastle where after Sarah’s ‘Well, I’m actually a Geordie’digression, they both got their books out. The books remained unopened as they weresidetracked by their mobile phones. Then it was Doncaster and time to change.In the half hour it took to complete the journey from Doncaster to Sheffield, Orla got out some lightentertainment in the form of the most recent articles she had to read for her PhD. Sarah amused herself bytrying to calculate the Scrabble scores of ‘GERONTOLOGY’ and ‘THANATOLOGY’ and didn’t worrytoo much that she had no idea what either of them meant.Training began in earnest at 0930 on Saturday morning at the Ponds Forge Pool, a venue I know wellfrom my own days as a top diver.“STEP STRETCH…STEP STRETCH…STEP STRETCH,” Sarah could be heard muttering to herself“What for you is the secret of the reverse take off?” Stephen was asking the other Masters in turn.“Did I really put down armstand somersault from 10m?” asked Orla in a sort of strangled voice to no onein particular.“FAST ARMS, SARAH…ARMS TO YOUR EARS, STEPHEN…FAST ARMS, SARAH…ARMS TOYOUR EARS, STEPHEN…DON’T THROW YOUR HEAD BACK… LOOK FOR YOUR TOES,”coached Tom patiently.Come the springboard competition, Orla dived consistently well and her big bold 105c gota big bold cheer. She came in with gold. Sarah, on the other hand, failed to distinguishherself on any dive and competed without a STEP STRETCH or the end of the board insight. She reluctantly conceded that perhaps conditioning did make a difference.Stephen ran through his platform set in the afternoon training session to gasps of amazement from theother Masters who like myself have seen some interesting diving in their time but had never witnessed theWalters forward 1¾ from 10m or his ¼ reverse dive from 5m. Sarah and Orla were conspicuously absentfrom this training session, preferring to save their strength.“I’m warm, comfortable and confident my performance will be better than on springboard,” Sarah saidwith an average score of 4 and a half to beat .“I could go up and do some armstands,” said Orla sinking deeper into her chair and zipping her top up toher neck. As they relaxed on poolside they were able to reassure the amazed onlookers that to Stephensuch a pounding as he appeared to be taking was water off a duck’s back…albeit a very pink back.

All then excelled themselves in some way or another in their respective highboard competitions. Sarahscored 8½ 6½ 7 7 6½ on her back dive and 6s from all the judges for her inward one and a half butcompetition was stiff and she placed 4 th . However, Tom called her a ‘Highboard Queen’ and suddenlymedals didn’t seem important. Orla competed lots of untrained dives courageously and came in onceagain with gold. But Stephen stole the show with his dive set of forward tuck, inward pike, forward oneand a half and back somersault straight all from 10m and back, reverse and armstand somersault from 5m.The reverse dive was a triumph of perseverance and went in more or less on his head…as opposed to hisback or side. But sadly he failed his armstand somersault…by forgetting about the somersault.I think fellow coach Tom was as impressed as I was with the standard of the Masterscompetition, the ‘gutsyness’ of the divers and the wonderfully good humoured andsupportive atmosphere. I know there are lots of up and coming adults in Edinburgh andwith another Masters competition coming up, this time at the superb new facilities inDublin, it would be a rewarding venture to get a bigger squad together…in fact, if MarySless comes, she could teach us to play Cribbage on the train…but if I have to travelwith Sarah and Orla again, remind me to book into the Crisp Free Carriage.DIVING IN EDINBURGH - PART XIIby BILL LAWThe run-up to the Commonwealth Games in1986 was fraught with difficulties, not only inDiving. Due to political reasons, the pre-Games organisation did little to excite eitherthose on organising committees or the publicat large.Nevereless, despite the boycott by theAfrican nations and the struggle we had toobtain new springboards, the diving eventswent well. HRH, Diana, Princess of Wales paidan enthusiastic visit to the diving events,much to the delight of the divers and spectators.Our representatives on the diving team were Jane Ogden, having won her fourthconsecutive highboard title, Steve Forrest and Peter Smith. All three divers had toachieve stringent qualifying points to make the team, even with the Games being in theirown pool.As mentioned previously, the year after a major event tends to be a little flat. Steve andPeter continued to compete at the highest level. Sadly, Jane’s swimsuit didn’t get wet toooften and Mary kept hers for sunbathing. This allowed Fiona Moffat to emerge, winningthe Junior 1 metre and silver in the senior 1 metre with bronze in senior 3m and highboard.The main challengers were coming from Dundee in the shape of Mandy Robbie, Kay Ingramand Angela BishopTo be continued……………

EDC HEAD COACH WINS TOP AWARDEdinburgh Diving Club Head Coach, Mary Sless, waspresented with the ‘John and Margaret Bell Award’ at theprestigious Scottish Swimming Awards Dinner recently, inrecognition of her diving development work in Scotland in2003The following account of her achievements is based on thecitation submitted by Sarah Bainbridge (former EDCPresident), Davy Bennet (East District Convenor) andStephen Walters (National Diving Convenor).NOMINATION FOR THE JOHN AND MARGARET BELL AWARDMary Sless has been involved in diving in Edinburgh for the past thirty years, first as adiver, then as a coach for Edinburgh Diving Club and more recently she has been at theheart of Diving Development in Scotland. For 3 years she worked with Diving DevelopmentOfficer/ National Coach Steve Gladding and although he set up the structure and did muchto revitalise diving in Scotland, Mary played a very important role in the success of thesedevelopments with her enthusiasm, dedication, foresight and constant ability to fill the gap.As Steve became increasingly involved with elite provision, Mary, still as a part time coach,took on increasing responsibility for other aspects of diving development, ensuring that theEdinburgh lesson programme ran smoothly and that the on going monthly SASA NoviceCompetition remained a popular and well organised fixture, with the event being held inEdinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee and Ayr. With the support of Edinburgh Diving Club, she hasalso organised and accompanied countless trips to competitions further afield and throughdiving has boosted the self esteem of many young people and adults.Mary is full of innovative ideas and with her fellow coaches masterminded a superbprogramme of dry land training challenges to ensure training did not stop during the threemonth closure of the RCP. These sessions proved extremely popular. She mobilised a largegroup of parent helpers and officials to organise The Thistle Trophy (the SASA NationalNovice Competition) which was a spectacular event in December. In the current absence ofa National Coach she has organised coaching for the Scottish Squad to ensure someprovision for our elite divers continues until this situation is resolvedSince Steve Gladding’s departure, Mary and fellow coach Carol Farrell have had fullresponsibility for the Edinburgh Leisure Diving Development Programme and have beenworking with Edinburgh Leisure staff to set up smooth administrative systems and newclasses for the ever increasing numbers of divers. Mary and Carol recently worked on anelaborate restructuring of the squads to maximise training time for the divers alreadyparticipating in mainstream competitions and to cater for the expanding area of ‘Masters’diving.No one has done more for diving in Scotland in the past year than Mary Sless who hasreally proved that diving is a sport for people of all ages and abilities.

FARRELL’S FAREWELLWhat started out less than three years ago as a one lesson a week job, evolved into somethingvery much fuller that is now extremely hard to leave!I am so sad to be leaving diving and will miss everyone very much. It’s been exciting,demanding, rewarding and most of all, it’s been great fun. So thank you to all my divers (andparents) for making my job so enjoyable. I have learnt so much working alongside such a strongteam of coaches; thank you all for your help and shared expertise.Congratulations Mary, on your new appointment as Co-ordinator of diving in Edinburgh. It’sbeen fabby working together and I will miss that but I know you will do a fantastic job.I hope I catch many of you to say goodbye in person before Tommy, George and I finally moveto the Isle of Man in the summer – maybe a wee dram at the ceilidh??But in case I don’t, best wishes to you all.CarolDiver of the TermDiver of the Term has been awarded to a beginner diver (chosen from our 14 beginner classes), adiver from the Diver 1 classes (there are 8 diver 1 classes per week) and also from five of the clubsquads. The award is given to the diver who has improved the most throughout the term, both ondry land and in the water, learnt the most new dives and improved their scores in competition (squads only ). There has been a great deal of improvement this term, with loads of new dives from allthe squad members. Well done and keep up the good work. The winners for this term are asfollows:BeginnersDiver 1J SquadN SquadS SquadD SquadC SquadCALLUM TURNERFIONA MATRUNDOLAHANNAH DODDSHANNAH BURNSBECKY SHIELDSLAURA SMITHGILLIAN FLEMING

CongratulationsTo All “ Divers of the Term”To our new club members - Hannah Watson, Neil Wilkinson and MarcusShawTo Orla Gilmore for her medals at MastersTo Grace for learning an Inward 1 ½ s/s from 3 metreFinally, remember the EDC Ceilidh on Saturday 12 th June.This is the day we will be officially saying goodbye toCarol. We hope you will all be able to come – we want itto be really special.

March - Edinburgh Diving Club

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