4th August 2010
A PORT Elizabeth pupil is the only diver from the Eastern Cape to make the national team that will represent South Africa at the Fina World Junior Diving Championships in Arizona in the United States next month.
But that’s not all for gold medallist Danielle Wilson, 16, a Collegiate High School pupil, as she has also been invited by the Canadian national swimming team to train with them in Vancouver for a week because of a lack of training resources in Port Elizabeth.
Danielle’s trainer and mother Adrienne, a Fina judge for Africa, said this was because the pool at St George’s Park, which they used for training, had closed down in March because of water shortages.
Among the several medals Danielle has brought home are a gold at the SA Telkom National Champs in Durban in April; two golds for high board and springboard at the Eastern Province Champs; and golds at the High School Trials and the SA High School Champs in Bloemfontein.
She leaves for Canada today. Adrienne’s friend and Canadian judge Bev Boys would put Danielle up for two weeks, she said, adding the Canadian team had two members who were divers. The South African team leaves for the US on August 29.
The 18th Fina World Junior Diving Championships will run from September 1 to 6. The national team is made up of Micaela Bouter, Nicole Gillis, Julia Vincent and Danny Verhagen from Central Gauteng, Chereze van der Sluys and Addy van der Sluys from Pretoria and Danielle from Eastern Province.
Nandi van der Sluys is a reserve and the team’s manager and coach is Dominique Philippopoulos.
Danielle said she was excited and nervous at the same time. Her mother said this was because she had never been given an opportunity to train with the “big teams” such as Canada.
Danielle, who started diving at the age of eight, promised to give the competition “my best shot”.
Adrienne, a diver herself who represented Zimbabwe in competitions from 1972 to 1979, said: “I’m proud of my daughter’s achievements.”
As the trip is self-funded, Danielle’s hockey player sister Jennifer, who among other things is a double Olympian and a Springbok capped 148 times, will be giving a hockey clinic to 20 hockey players at the Collegiate astro on Monday, August 9, to raise funds for Danielle’s trip. The clinic for primary school pupils runs from 10am to noon and from 2pm to 4pm for high school pupils. R200 secures you a place.
