Three members of a family here recently competed in a national diving championship, coming home with one medal and a carload of memories.
Garbriel, Vicky and Samuel Zieba have been involved in diving for three years, training and competing out of the KW Diving Club. This year, all three qualified for the Canadian National Junior Diving Competition, held July 12 to 22 in Saskatoon.
Divers qualify for the event by attaining a certain score on a given board twice during regular season competition. It was 12-year-old Gabriel’s second national competition, and the first for Vicky, 11, and Samuel, 9.
In Saskatoon, Gabriel placed 9th among 12- to 13-year-olds on the one metre board, 10th at the three metre height and 13th in the tower competition.
Vicky earned a sliver medal for second place in the 11-and-under category on the tower, 15th on the one metre board and 11th in three metre.
Samuel, who was competing above his age level in the 11-and-under category, placed 14th at three metres and 15th in one metre competition.
By finishing among the top 12 in some of their events at nationals (there were around 30 competitors in most competitions in Saskatoon), both Gabriel and Vicky qualified to participate in the CAMO Invitational, an international diving competition in Montreal in December, while Samuel missed the cut by four points.
Asked what they like about competitive diving, both Gabriel and Vicky said they enjoy the test of nerves that competition brings.
“I think it’s cool to learn new dives, and get a little nervous, but still perform well,” said Gabriel.
Added Vicky, “I like getting nervous thinking I’m not going to do well – then doing amazing. It’s a good feeling.”
Their mother Monika, on the other hand, admits she could sometimes do with a little less excitement.
“A little nervous? I’m a wreck,” she chimes in.
Samuel, for his part, enjoys “learning about dives and getting real good at them.”
But that takes a lot of hard work. All three attend training sessions in Waterloo six times a week. Their mother notes Gabriel puts in between 20 and 24 hours per week, while the younger two train “a little less.”
The KW Club is one of the largest diving clubs in Ontario.
