Hello Diving Community!

Welcome to our May edition of the Diving Queensland “Dive In” Newsletter.

For those who I haven’t met, my name is Lisa Wright, the new CEO of Diving Queensland. I stepped into the role earlier this year when our previous CEO – James Connor – moved back to Melbourne to become the CEO of Diving Victoria. I am honoured to take on this responsibility and am committed to upholding the high standards set by James and continuing the great work of Diving Queensland.

I am super excited and honoured to join this amazing community, and to work with you all to promote and support Diving in our state. I have been involved with diving for over 20 years, as a competitor, judge, and administrator… and I am hugely passionate about the sport. I look forward to working in all aspects of the role, right from grassroots, through the pathways to high performance, with special emphasis on showcasing the amazing sport we have, and celebrating our athletes' achievements, as well as building a strong community where everyone belongs and feels welcome and supported!

Thank you for your warm welcome over my first few months here! I am excited to continue to meet and get to know you all! Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about Diving in Queensland – lisa@divingqld.org.au

We have a lot to cover in this newsletter, so let’s dive in.

Lisa Wright
Chief Executive Officer
Diving Queensland

Celebrating Success

Australian Age Diving Championships

Congratulations to all our divers who represented Queensland at the Australian Age Diving Championships during the Easter School Holidays in Melbourne. Thank you to all the Coaches, Parents, and Volunteers who contributed to a successful event.

The complete results can be found on the Dive Recorder website. Special congratulations to our Australian Age Diving Championships Award Winners:

• Violet Lemon (12-13 Girls)
• Amber Van Gool (Emerging Coach of the Year)

Chill Out Holiday Program

Thank you once again to the Brisbane City Council for supporting our “Chill Out” school holidays program over Easter School Holidays. We ran the program at both the Centenary Pool, and at the Sleeman Centre, with 80 participants over four sessions. A special thank you to our Level 1 Coaches who helped us deliver the program.

The Chill Out program is an important ‘first taste’ of our sport, and we look forward to welcoming participants who continue into our club based learn do dive pathways. Watch out for the Chill Out program once again in the next School Holidays.

Competing on the World Stage

Queensland (and Queensland based) Elite Divers shined on the international stage across multiple events in April. We are proud of all our Australian representatives!

World Aquatics Diving World Cup Super Final – Xi’an, China

• Emily Meaney (Bronze Mixed Team Event, 9th 10M Platform)
• Cassiel Rousseau (Bronze Mixed Team Event, 4th 10M Synchronised, 6th 10M Platform)
• Dominic Bedggood (4th 10M Synchronised)
• Maddison Keeney (Gold 3M Springboard Synchronised, Bronze 3M Springboard, Bronze Mixed Team Event)

International Youth Diving Meet – Dresden, Germany

• Maggie Grey (Gold Teams Event, Gold Girls B Platform)
• James Wood (9th Boys 3M Synchronised, 20th Boys 3M Springboard)
• Archie Forsyth (9th Boys 3M Synchronised, 11th Boys B Platform, 16th Boys 3M Springboard)

North American Tour – American Cup – Indianapolis, United States

• Georgia Sheehan (Bronze 3M Springboard)
• Alysha Koloi (Bronze in mixed team event, 5th 3M Springboard)

Red Bull Cliff Diving

Congratulations to Xantheia Pennisi for being named as a permanent diver on the 2024 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Tour. She will be competing at eight different events around the world, including the last leg in Sydney, on 10 November!

Community Survey

We are always looking for ways to improve how we support our clubs and the broader Diving ecosystem in Queensland. Whether you are an athlete, parent, coach, technical official, volunteer, or other stakeholder, your voice matters.

That's why we have created a short online survey to gather your feedback and suggestions. To help us understand what we are doing well, and where we need to put some focused effort.

Your responses will be anonymous and confidential, and will only be used for the purpose of informing the incoming 2024/25 Diving Queensland Board

A summary of the high-level trends from the survey, and proposed actions based on your feedback will be shared in our next news update.

To participate in the survey, please click on this link: https://forms.office.com/r/TjejxMpybB . The survey will be open until Friday 17 May, 2024. We appreciate your time and input, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Introducing the 2024/25 Diving Queensland Board

We held our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 24 April 2024, where we elected new board members and made several appointments for the 2024-2025 term. Representatives from all five Diving Queensland affiliated clubs were present for the meeting.

We are very pleased to introduce you to the following elected and appointed volunteer board members:

• President: Paul Woods GAICD, who is a Chief Strategy Officer, diving parent, recreational adult diver, and technical official (LinkedIn)
• Vice President: Danielle Spiccia, who is a Senior Pathology Scientist, diving parent and diving volunteer (LinkedIn).
• Treasurer: Sara Deed, who is a Paralegal, current age group diver and member of the Queensland Team at the recent Australian Age Championships in the 19-24 1M Springboard event (LinkedIn).
• Board Member: Ethan Warren OLY, who is logistics specialist, and represented Australia in the 3m Springboard at the 2012 Olympic Games (LinkedIn)
• Board Member: Isaac Coonan, who is an Investment and Strategic Partnerships Specialist and Independent Non-Executive Director (LinkedIn)
• Board Member: Ellie Bowden, who is a Workplace Relations Partner, Admitted Solicitor to the Supreme Court of Queensland, sports coach, and former U-20 representative Water Polo player for Queensland and Australia (LinkedIn)

The new 2024/25 Board will meet in person for the first time the morning of the School Sports Trials on Saturday 18 May, and will be there to cheer on our athletes at the start of the event at 12pm. If you are interested in meeting or talking to any of the board, we encourage you to drop by on the day and say hello!

In addition to the board members, we also have Finance, Technical, and Competitions Committees that assist us with the oversight and management of various aspects of Queensland Diving's operations. The committees consist of the following members:

Finance Committee:

• Sara Deed, Board Member and Treasurer Diving Queensland
• Lisa Wright, CEO Diving Queensland
• Isaac Coonan, Board Member Diving Queensland

Technical Committee:

• Russell Butler, Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist (1m Springboard – Auckland, 1990) and two-time Olympian (3m Springboard – Soeul 1988 and Atlanta 1996) – State Technical Officials Coordinator (STOC)
• Ben Fox, Head Coach Sunshine Coast Springboard & Platform Diving Club
• Lisa Wright, CEO Diving Queensland and World Aquatics Diving Official (A Category), Judge Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, World Aquatics Championships 2024 – Doha, and World Aquatics Diving World Cup 2024 – Germany

Competitions Committee:

• Jodie Gillam, former Manager Competitions and Administration – Diving Australia
• Julie Matkovic, adult competitive diver and President of RAPS Diving Club
• Toni Toohey, State Administrator Diving Queensland

Media Officers:

• Lisa Wright, CEO Diving Queensland
• Isaac Coonan, Diving Queensland Board Member

We are very grateful to the outgoing board members and committee members for their service and dedication to Diving in Queensland.

Finally, thank you to everyone who has volunteered to service on our board and committees. We look forward to working with the new board members to continue to grow and develop our sport in Queensland.

Important resources on sports governance and integrity

As a board, we are committed to ensuring that Diving Queensland operates in accordance with the highest standards of sports governance and integrity. We believe that this is essential for the wellbeing and safety of our members, as well as the reputation and sustainability of our sport.

To this end, we would like to share with you some important resources that we use to guide our decision-making and actions as a board.

• The Australian Sports Commission's Sports Governance Principles, which provide a framework for good governance practices in sports organisations. You can access them here: https://www.sportaus.gov.au/governance/principles
• Sport Integrity Australia's website, which provides information and resources on how to prevent and address issues such as doping, match-fixing, corruption, child safeguarding, and member protection. You can access additional resources here: https://www.sportintegrity.gov.au/resources, including “Your rights at sport”  (tailored for athletes aged 7-12, and athletes aged 13-17)
• The Queensland Diving Code of Conduct, which outlines the expected standards of behaviour and conduct for all members of Queensland Diving, including board members, staff, coaches, officials, athletes, and parents. You can access it, as well as other Diving Queensland Policies and Procedures at https://www.divingqld.org.au/about/corporatedocuments

We encourage you to familiarise yourself with these resources and to contact us if you have any questions or concerns about any aspect of sports governance and integrity within the Diving Queensland Community

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:

• Queensland School Sport Diving Trials
  • Saturday 18 May 2024 at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, Chandler
  • Registration closes Wednesday 8 May
  • https://www.divingqld.org.au/events/236837
    
    
• 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 Australia Open Championships & Olympic Team Trials
  • June 3-9 in Adelaide

• Diving Queensland Qualifying Competition
  • Saturday 29 June at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, Chandler
  • Registration will open shortly
  • https://www.divingqld.org.au/events/

• Diving Queensland Junior State Championships
  • July 13 and 14 at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, Chandler

Thank you for being part of the Queensland Diving Community.