Hello Diving Community!

Welcome to our June edition of the Diving Queensland “Dive In” Newsletter.  It has been a busy month since our last edition.

• In case you missed it, a few weeks ago we shared the results of our Community Survey, and announced several initiatives which we will bring to life over the next few months. Keep an eye out on your inbox for more details over the next few weeks.
• We hosted our Queensland School Sport Diving Trials and selected our team to represent Queensland at the Schools Sporting Championships in August. Congratulations to everyone who will be putting on the maroon tracksuit, especially those for the first time!
• We then saw the Australian Open Championships and Olympic Nomination Trials in Adelaide – where our Queensland, and Queensland based divers did us incredibly proud. 
• Whilst the competition was heating up in the Dive Pool in Adelaide, Paul (our DQ President) and I were in two days of workshops with the Board of Diving Australia and other State Presidents and CEOs to finalise the Diving in Australia Strategy.
• We made one more appointment to the Board of Diving Queensland to fill our last remaining casual board vacancy. Welcome Kate Holmes to the board, who brings additional Communication and PR experience and expertise help level up how we showcase our sport.
• We hosted our first Diving Queensland Corporate lunch, with the goal of establishing partnerships and pathways that support both Diving, and our Athletes… and
• Our 2024 Paris Olympic team was announced!

You can find more detail on each of those topics, as well as upcoming date claimers in the newsletter below. Plus, details of the Queensland Government Fair Play Voucher program, and Diving Queensland Memberships for 2024/25.

Also, one quick calendar change to note: due to its proximity to our upcoming Queensland Elite Junior State Diving Championships (on 13 and 14 July), we have decided to postpone our next State Qualifying Competition. Originally scheduled for Saturday 29 June, it will now take place on Sunday 25 August. We will open entries for our athletes aiming for qualifying scores in early August.

Thank you once again for everyone who contributes to our community. As always, do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about Diving in Queensland – lisa@divingqld.org.au

Lisa Wright
Chief Executive Officer
Diving Queensland

FairPlay for all Queensland Kids

Funding available to offset the cost of Diving by $200

Diving Queensland and each of our clubs have supported the Queensland Government’s FairPlay program over the past few years. FairPlay has allowed families with a valid Health Care Card to access vouchers valued at $150 to offset the cost of sport participation for children aged 5 to 17 years.

In the recent Queensland Government budget, it was announced that the eligibility for the FairPlay program will be extended to all children aged 5-17, with the vouchers increasing in value to $200 each. Vouchers can be used for membership, registration, or participation fees.

We expect the 200,000 vouchers available in the program to be exhausted quickly, so if you are interested in taking advantage of FairPlay, visit https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/sports/funding/fairplay/apply for more information. Applications open on 1 July.

2024/25 Diving Queensland Memberships

Same or lower fees than 2023/24

Earlier this week the board reviewed and approved the Diving Queensland Membership categories and fees for the 2024/25 Membership year.  This review considered the additional costs incurred to facilitate Diving in Queensland, and additional fees passed down from Diving Australia. Despite these increased costs, the board made the conscious decision to not increase membership fees this year – recognising the cost-of-living challenges faced by many.

Two key changes for the new membership year were approved, focused on reducing barriers to participation in Diving / reducing administration burden on our clubs:

• A new “learn to dive” membership category, providing affordable insurance coverage for a Diver’s first eight weeks in the sport – upgradable to a recreational diving membership upon completion of the first 8 weeks; and a
• 30% reduction in membership fees for recreational divers.

Additionally, the decision was taken not to pass on the Diving Australia capitation fees to registered volunteers, parents, and/or technical officials who do not dive or coach. These fees will be covered by Diving Queensland.

All other categories and associated membership fees remain the same as 2023/24.

Renewal of memberships for the 2024/25 membership year will open shortly via https://www.divingqld.org.au/membership/

For those interested in learning more about the National Insurance Program provided on behalf of Diving Queensland and registered members by Diving Australia, visit https://www.diving.org.au/about/Insurance/

Championing - Celebrating the success of our Divers

Queensland School Sports Team announced

Congratulations to all of our divers who participated in the Queensland School Sport Trials on Saturday 18 May. We are proud to announce our team who will represent Queensland in August at the Australian School Sport Championships in Adelaide:

Lincoln Eden, Alfred Tarrant, Lana Coleman, William Humphries, Teesha Manage, Khloe Levinson, Lara McLaren, Hope Bancroft, Tayla Lourens, Kobi White, Olivia Liu, Lexie Hinchcliffe, Madelaine Bailey, Teagan Stafford, Archie Sharp, Lachlan Richardson, Eli Sexton, Chiara Spiccia, Lillie Connors, Emma Ryan, Sophie Dennis, Abagail Dennis, Amelia Chambers, Jasmin Visser, Anabella Stanford-Modini, Kaya Black, and Annie Lohman.

The team will be coached by Jeff Arbon, Ben Fox, and Xiangning Chen, and managed by Tandi Hinchliffe

Best of luck to you all! Wear the Maroon tracksuit with pride, and we look forward to sharing your success later this year.

Queensland (and Queensland Based) Divers shine at the 2024 Australian Championships

From 5-9 June the Australian Open Championships, including nomination trails for the Paris 2024 Olympic games team were held in Adelaide.  It was great to see both experienced, and fresh faces bring their best to our marquee Diving event in Australia.

Results (Queensland, and Queensland-based athletes):

Women’s 1m:

• Kiarra Milligan – Silver

Women’s 3m:

• Maddison Keeney – Gold
• Alysha Koloi – Silver
• Georgia Sheehan – Bronze
• Kate Roseman – 5^th
• Kiarra Milligan – 8^th

Women’s Platform:

• Emily Meaney – Bronze
• Emily Boyd – 4^th
• Maggie Grey – 9^th (PB)

Women’s Platform Synchro:

• Maggie Grey / Kayla Davis – Gold (PB)

Men’s 3m:

• James Wood – 7^th (PB)

Men’s Platform:

• Cassiel Rousseau – Gold
• Archie Forsyth – 9^th (PB)

Men’s 3m Springboard Synchro:

• James Wood / Archie Forsyth - Bronze

A big thank you and congratulations to our Queensland based technical officials who travelled to Adelaide for the Championships - Lisa Wright, Caitlyn Bowell, and Jane Bowell.

Olympic Team Announced

On Monday 17 June at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, Diving Australia officially announced our Diving team to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Congratulations to the entire team – our Queensland or Queensland based athletes - Alysha Koloi, Cassiel Rousseau, Domonic Bedggood, and Maddi Keeney – and their equally deserving teammates Anabelle Smith, Ellie Cole, Jaxon Bowshire, Kurtis Mathews, and Melissa Wu.

You can catch our Olympians in action from Saturday 27 July, starting at 7pm with the Women’s 3m Synchro, and wrapping up on Saturday 10 August with the Men’s 10m Platform Semifinal and Finals.  For dates and times of all the Diving events, visit https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/schedule/diving and select “My time”

Diving in Australia Strategy

As many of you may know, over the past 12 months Diving Australia has been working towards developing a whole of sport strategy. Many readers will have participated in this process via consultation opportunities like surveys and focus groups.

On the sidelines of the Australian Championships in Adelaide, the board of Diving Australia, Diving Australia CEO Alex Newton, and all of the state-based Presidents and CEOs met for two days to finalise the strategy, and workshop actions to bring it to life. Diving Queensland was represented by Paul Woods (President) and Lisa Wright (CEO).

From a Diving Queensland point of view, it is pleasing to see there is clear alignment between the priorities we have set as a board, and those in the Diving in Australia strategy. We are also encouraged by the recognition that the diving eco-system is more than just high performance, and that participation is the foundation for ongoing, sustainable success. The strategy nicely balances both participation and high performance, with the potential to raise the tide for all in the sport.

We look forward to ongoing knowledge sharing with our state-based peers across the country, and DA’s leadership on a few whole of sport initiatives that will benefit all states, not just Queensland.

Diving Australia will be publishing the Diving in Australia strategy shortly. We will share a link to the document once it is available.

Bon Voyage - Diving Queensland Corproate Lunch

As part of our efforts to build stronger partnerships within the Diving eco-system and with industry, on Friday 14 June we hosted our first corporate lunch. 17 people attended including special guests Cassiel Rousseau, Alysha Koloi, and Ady Hinchcliffe, who we officially bid “bon voyage” on their journey towards the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The lunch was a great success, with a strong interest from many attendees to help amplify the success of our divers, and the broader diving community. A big thank you to DQ Board Member Isaac Coonan for organising, and Proptech BNE for sponsoring the lunch.

Our corporate partnerships program will launch in July. If your organisation is interested in partnersing with Diving Queensland to deliver better outcomes for our atheletes, and help incease capacity do deliver Diving across Queensland – please do not hesitate to contact lisa@divingqld.org.au

Date Claimer for upcoming Diving events

Finally, we would like to remind you of some important dates coming up in the next few months, which we hope you will mark in your calendars and join us for:

• Brisbane City Council Holiday Chillout Program – SOLD OUT
  • Get on board and learn how to leap off springboards safely, with an opportunity to transition into the sport of Diving. Suitable for 6-17 year olds
  • Brisbane Aquatic Centre, Brisbane
  • July 2, 3, 4
    
    
• Diving Queensland Junior Elite State Championships
  • July 13 and 14 at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, Chandler
  • Athlete Registration now open (closes 30 June)
  • Volunteer/Judge Registration now open (closes 12 July)
    • First time volunteers more than welcome – training and mentoring provided!
       
• School Sport Australia Diving Championships
  • August 10-16 in Adelaide
  • Good luck to our Queensland Team!
     
• Diving Queensland Adult Program
  • Wednesday Mornings at either the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, or Centenary Pools
  • All diving abilities (including new divers!)
  • Register each week via the Diving Queensland Events Page
  • https://www.divingqld.org.au/events/

• Diving Queensland Qualifying Competition
  • Sunday 25 August at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, Chandler
  • Registration will open in August
  • https://www.divingqld.org.au/events/