A bumper team of 23 youngsters travelled to Reading to represent Southampton Diving Academy at the Albatross Novice Invitational Gala, bringing back a total of one gold, three silver and two bronze medals. They also came second in the team event.

The most successful member on the day was Danny Appleby (5), taking part for the first time at this level of competition, who brought home a gold medal.

Danny is following in the footsteps of his three elder brothers, who have all been successful on the national diving scene.

Ellie Hill (13), Max Brick (10) and Emily Batt (8) all did well to bring home silver medals in high quality fields and achieved scores qualifying them to compete in the forthcoming national intermediate championships to be held at Crystal Palace in July.

Bronze medallists Stephen Lingard (8) and Kristian Hornsby (16) both had reason to be pleased with their performances too, Stephen also qualifying for the National Intermediate Competition in July.

Ranging in age from five to 16 years, the team consists of some of the least experienced members of the club.

The academy's policy of moving their most successful divers into intermediate or age group competitions as soon as they qualify to do so meant that the team was stronger in the younger age bands. Southampton was lying in first position in the team event after the youngest groups had dived, but were edged into second position by the home club who had more divers in the upper age bands.

Senior coach at the event, Chris Jenkins, was justifiably proud of the youngsters' success. "The club is delighted by the way this group are developing," she explained.

"Although many of the younger ones have been diving for a relatively short time they are making great strides and can expect to be moving towards our elite squad over the next couple of years."

Several of the newest members of the novice squad came into the sport of diving through the Awards for All free diving tasters programme which has been run by the club over the past year. The same grant award has supported the training of new coaches, who have taken a major role in the development of these children.

Alison Farrow and Charly Tomkys were members of the coaching team in Reading who had benefited from the scheme.

"It is very expensive to pay for coaching courses and to travel to events to develop your skills," explained Charly.

"If we hadn't had the help from this grant it would certainly have meant that we couldn't have got so much experience so quickly."

Director of coaching, Lindsey Fraser, was in no doubt about the benefits that the grant has brought to the club this year. "We have been able to introduce several hundred children to the sport of diving through this scheme," she said. "Some of them have really taken to it in a big way and we have been able to cater for them by training new coaches, many of whom are also showing great potential."

Any child aged between six and 13 years can apply to take part in the taster scheme by asking for a form from reception at the Quays.

RESULTS:

Erin Marshall, 9th; Kristian Hornsby, bronze; Richard Snook, 8th; Ellie Hill, silver; Heather Bilsby, 10th;

Emily Burden, 12th; Chesca Ferguson, 14th; Francesca Godfroy, 16th; Robert Knight, 11th; Sam Colmer, 14th; Kate Hicks, 5th; Lucy Winch, 11th; Max Brick, silver; Jack Howsham, 7th; Nicholas Farrow, 10th; Andrew Dowling, 12th; Emily Batt, silver; Georgia Wingrove, 5th; Bethany Watts, 11th; Stephen Lingard, bronze; Ciaran Allen, 4th; Alexander Cameron, 6th; Danny Appleby, gold.

Divers qualifying to compete at National Intermediates were: Ellie Hill, Robert Knight, Kate Hicks, Max Brick, Jack Howsham, Emily Batt, Stephen Lingard.