Diving in New Zealand is on a high - no pun intended - and where it all started will be played out at Moana pool this weekend.
The pool is hosting the South Island diving championships this weekend with divers coming from all round the country to compete.
Divers will compete on the 1m and 3m springboards, 5m, 7.5m and 10m platforms in addition to 3m synchronised diving events.
Competition will begin tomorrow afternoon and go through the weekend.
Saturday will be a full day of diving, starting at 9am and at the same time on Sunday.
About 20 divers are coming from Auckland and just under 50 divers will be competing in events across the three days.
Diving Otakou diving coach Bruce Megget said there was about 50 divers of all ages in the Dunedin-based club and many would be competing at the South Island championships.
Divers had to have a varied blend of skills and the good ones trained for up to 15 hours a week.
"You’ve got to have no fear and a good awareness of your body," he said.
Many divers had a gymnastic and trampolining background and divers also worked out at the Dunedin Gymnastic Academy when out of the water.
Megget said it took a lot of strength to hold a position when diving. Forces were working against you, so divers needed to be resistant. Diving from a 10m platform led to divers entering the water at 52kmh, so that required some strength.
Next month, Diving Otakou will host the national skill testing, national age and masters diving competitions at Moana Pool.
Diving Otakou had proposed to the Dunedin City Council to build a multipurpose gymnasium/diving dryland facility at Moana Pool to enable Diving Otakou to host international events.
Two New Zealand divers, Anton Down-Jenkins and Lizzie Cui, have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. Judge Lisa Wright has also been selected to officiate at Tokyo.
