The Forest City Diving Club (FCDC) competed in its first of three provincial meets in Windsor, Ontario at the end of November, as eight national-level athletes – and two coaches – represented the club at the event.
These meets serve as qualifiers for the Canadian junior national championships. Three of our divers achieved a qualifying score, and two divers achieved full qualifying scores for Nationals. Alexa Fung set two provincial records for her age group. What a great start to the year for these young athletes and their coaches, Wing Hu and Luda Zakharenko!
The Windsor event, meanwhile, was also a qualifier for an International competition in Madrid, Spain, and Abbigail Haygarth of FCDC earned the right to represent Ontario at this international event! (Katelyn Fung, a former FCDC diver who now trains in Toronto, is also heading to the Spain event after earning four medals at the Junior Pan Am Games this past summer).
In December, four of our national-level divers (aged 13 to 17) and Coach Wing travelled to an open invitational meet at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where they competed against a 12-team field that included a mix of university diving clubs and other prominent clubs – including the Guangdong Diving Club from China.
All four divers finished strong on tower: Nathan Marshall finished 4th, Nigel Chambers placed 6th, Camryn Hughes was 7th, and Abbigail Haygarth finished 12th. One of the highlights of this competition was the synchronized diving event on 3m springboard. Abbigail Haygarth and Nigel Chambers competed together for the first time in mixed synchro and finished in the top 6.
Attending this international event was an amazing experience for our divers. They competed against accomplished international athletes, including some Chinese national champions. The memories and experiences they brought back will help our young athletes develop – both as divers and individuals.
For more information on our ‘learn to dive’ and competitive programs, please visit our website at: www.forestcitydiving.com.
Submitted by Forest City Diving Club
