By JARROD POTTER
MAKING a splash, or more correctly as little splash as possible, is Garfield diving up-and-comer Naomi Fitzgerald.
The 14-year-old diver is one of the star divers set to represent School Sport Victoria at the Pacific School Games in Adelaide later this year and also at the Diving National Championships in July.
She earned her place in the SSV team after a stellar weekend winning medals at the state championships and helping secure her spot in the Pacific School Games trials.
It left her to fight through six events in three days, but with plenty of pluck and a bit of determination, Fitzgerald made her mark on the scorer’s table and the team selectors.
She almost captured state championship gold on Friday in her pet event – the seven metre platform – but was edged out by 12 points – a scant margin in diving – to finish with a silver and also two bronze medals on the springboards.
“I was winning the seven metre platform for the sixth round, but a girl with the VIS had a really hard dive and boosted up and only beat me by 12 points – pretty close result,” Fitzgerald said.
She’ll hope to impress with her signature dive – the front, one-and-a-half on the 10m platform – but is also improving her repertoire ahead of a jam-packed schedule.
Honing her aerial abilities in gymnastics and aerobics before finding her way onto the diving platform, Fitzgerald was captivated by the Olympic Games and turned her curiosity into pure passion.
“I was a gymnast since I was four, but then I started diving at eight,” Fitzgerald said.
“I just loved flipping and then I saw it on at the Olympics and thought ‘I’m going to try that’ and fell in love with it and just stuck with it ever since.”
Before she heads to Adelaide though, she’s off to Sydney to battle in her seventh Diving National Championships in July, and hopes she can come home with a couple of medals from her upcoming diving campaigns.
“I’m hoping that I can win a medal on platform – because I can’t really get that good on springboard yet,” Fitzgerald said.
“All the girls are my age but double my height so that’s why I prefer platform.”
Fitzgerald wanted to thank her diving coach Kim Hynen-Furler – who has really helped ease her nerves in competition.
“This (state championships) was the first competition where I’ve actually relaxed and all the judges, all the officials and coaches came up to me and said I was going really well and that was a good confidence boost as well,” Fitzgerald said.
The Pacific School Games is held in Adelaide from 21-28 November.
