Talented young divers Matthew Riley and Danielle Plumb have brought home top medals from a national competition.
The youngsters, both members of Hemel Hempstead’s Dacorum Dive Club, shone during the British Diving National Skills Final in Southampton at the beginning of May.
Matthew won the gold medal in the category for boys aged 10 and 11 after competing against 38 other young divers. He performed a forward 1 1/2 pike and a back dive pike.
Danielle won bronze in the category for girls aged 12 after competing against 27 other divers.
Matthew’s coach Chris White said: “I’m over the moon. I couldn’t believe how well he did. It just shows that the hard work he had put in really paid off.
“I wasn’t surprised at how well he dived but I couldn’t believe how we surpassed all these professional clubs.
“We will now be working on his dives instead of skills over the next few weeks.
“The future looks bright for Matthew and hopefully he will continue to be enthused by diving and keep up the hard work.”
Matthew is now training for the regional age group competition, which takes place in Southend.
The Dacorum Dive Club, which trains at the Sportspace swimming pool, is coached by part-time, volunteer staff, while the other clubs in the competition have full-time, professional coaches and state-of-the-art facilities, including Crystal Palace, Southend, Southampton and Leeds.
Competitors had to complete 12 dives, two picked by themselves and 10 set skills.