Team Z divers return to Sandwell for weekend training camp

Swim England’s Team Z (Zone squad) are back in Birmingham for a three day training camp as they continue their development.

21 athletes are heading to the Sandwell Aquatics Centre – which also hosted the squad in March – as a number of the divers prepare for the GoCardless Swim England Diving National Age Group Championships later this month.

Both first and second year divers will train, learn and develop their skills from Friday 7 to Sunday 9 June where they’ll be supported by a 15-strong team of coaches and team staff.

The focus of the camp for the first year divers will be on forward and inward dives whilst second years will work on spotting and bouncing skills.

Second years will also get the opportunity to prepare for testing later this year as they look to move up to Team Y and onto the next phase of the Swim England Diving Talent Pathway.

They’ll be headed up by Swim England talent and inclusion officer for diving, Charles Calvert and the camps head coach Kirsteen Mitchell – who won Swim England’s Diving Coach of the Year award in 2022 (get your 2024 National Award nominations in here).

Coaches will also receive a presentation from Aquatics GB’s diving head coach Alexei Evangulov who will present to coaches on how he delivers spotting and bouncing skills at the elite level.

Speaking ahead of the camp, Calvert said he’s looking forward to seeing how far the athletes have progressed.

He said: “We’ve seen some incredible development from our divers so far this year with their positive and focused attitudes towards training and competition helping them to some fantastic results so far this season.

“At the Aquatics GB Junior Elite Championships we saw some strong dives from this group and this camp will give those preparing for the national age group championships later this month a great opportunity to train at the venue and get their lists competition ready.

“We’ll also have a number of athlete workshops and plenty of dry dive and pool time to support the athletes development as we approach the end of the season.

“It’s set to be an exciting weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing how much the athletes have progressed since the last camp in March”

You can find out more about the Swim England Diving Talent Pathway here and you can see the full list of divers and staff on the camp below.