Sandwell Showdown 2026
Sandwell, this weekend played host to the penultimate National qualifier for our Age Group and Skills divers with the club fielding a large team of 6 Age Group: Naya, Ariana, Ellie, Harry, Kate and Myla and 16 Skills: Poppy, Lokesh, Makar, Edward, Oliver, Ruby, Matthew, Albert, Isabelle, Miriam, Pippa, Molly, Hamish, Ada, Livi, and Misha. The team were supported by coaches Malcolm, Charlie, Claire, Hernan and Betty.
A strong start on Friday saw a silver medal on 3m from Ariana, a new PB dive from Ellie with her front 2.5 somersaults, and a narrow 4th place for Myla.
A Super Saturday for the club saw Harry taking the Age Group podium slot with a silver on 1m with Ellie and Myla both gaining their national qualification points on platform. Naya and Kate both put in strong performances with a single dropped dive putting Naya just outside the medal positions.
With the majority of our Skills divers competing as well on Saturday the Albatross team kit featured strongly in the line ups. In the boys C event Oliver took the podium bronze and having already qualified for National Skills in London with his brother Edward and Hamish they will now be joined in July at the finals by Matthew and Makar who gained their points with a solid set of dives. In the girls C Pippa shone in 8th position in a large field and will now join Ruby and Molly at the finals. Isabelle and Miriam too dived really well in their first event at this level with Isabelle only missing the qualification score by 3.1 points – we look forward to seeing them again at the Southeast qualifiers next month. In the younger D girls Ada and Livi both put in consistent dives showing how far they have come in the past months of training.
In a fantastic Sunday finale to a wonderful weekend of diving, Myla and Ariana both secured bronze medals on the 1m board in their respective events.
Misha, who had already qualified for National Skills last month, delivered an outstanding performance, scoring 304 points to take 4th place in the Girls E Skills. In Group B, Poppy and Lokesh (competing in his first event) both put in strong performances. Poppy narrowly missed the 280-point mark, but showed it is well within reach at next month’s Southeast Qualifier.
The coaches are incredibly proud of all the divers. Those who had competed previously showed significant improvements on their earlier qualification events. Harry and Kate will now join already qualified Ellie, Ariana, Naya and Myla at the National Age Group Championships in June.
At the National Skills Finals in July, the club will currently be represented by Misha, Matthew, Edward, Oliver, Makar, Hamish, Molly, Ruby and Pippa, with one final opportunity to qualify coming up next month in Reading.
To round off the weekend, the club placed 4th overall in the team trophy out of 15 competing clubs — a fantastic achievement.
Our thanks go to Sandwell Diving Club and Swim England West Midlands for hosting, as well as to our parents, coaches and officials for their continued support. Most importantly, congratulations to our divers, who made us all incredibly proud.
