Welcome to Wellington High Performance Aquatics

Wellington High Performance Aquatics (WHPA) aims to develop athletes to enable them to excel at an elite level. The foundation sport is diving, with other aquatic disciplines to follow as the centre grows.

What's New

WHPA's latest toy

Thanks to the support of the New Zealand Community Trust (www.nzct.org.nz) WHPA’s has this amazing video coaching tool. Designed by Mike Lovell and his team at Videopro (www.videopro.co.nz ). We gave Mike the brief and he came up with something very special. The 42” LCD screen along with a video camera, laptop and delayed playback software are all housed in a secure unit on wheels for easy transportation between the pool and dry gym. The coach opens the lid of the unit, presses a button and up comes the screen and camera ready to capture the diving session. The video camera runs throughout the session on a time delay of the coach's choice. This gives the coach time to speak to the diver about their dive, the diver can then see themselves on the screen take on board what the coach has said and prepare to make adjustments next time round. The feedback from the coaches and divers has been very positive.

College Sport

Gabe is in today's (21/07/2010) Dominion Post - College Sport section.
Click here to read the print version
Click here to read the online version

Good morning

Gabe Armstrong-Scott and WHPA Patron Lloyd Morrison featured on TV1's Good morning today (19/07/2010). Click here to view the footage!

Profile: Commonwealth Games diver Gabe Armstrong-Scott

The Dominion Post published a full page article about Gabe Armstrong-Scott in Saturday's (17/07/2010) Insight section. Click here to view the online version of the publication, which details all about Gabe's training, school work and most importantly The Commonwealth Games.

Facebook

Click here to join WHPA on facebook!

Youngest athlete pipped at post

An item on the television news last night surprised members of the 1974 Commonwealth Games swimming team in which thirteen-year old diver Gabrielle Armstrong-Scott was named as New Zealand’s youngest ever Commonwealth Games athlete. Read more from Olympic.org.nz

Sport Connector

Click here to view the "Sports Connector" publication from Sport Wellington.

Gabe Armstrong-Scott almost enters New Zealand Sporting history

Gabe Armstrong-Scott has almost created sporting history before she hits the pool. The St Catherine's College pupil, 13, will become New Zealand's third youngest Commonwealth Games athlete when a one-person diving team is named today for the Games in Delhi in October. Click here to read more...
Click here to view the video from TV1 News
Click here to view the NZherald.co.nz article

Australian Junior Elites - Perth, Australia

Day 3

Fiona Cameron and Janine Sharma have just competed in the Elite Junior C Girls 3metre finishing 8th and 16th respectively. Fiona finished with a total of 273.55 with Janine scoring 232.35. Queensland's Lara Tarvit won the event with a total of 367.80. Click here to read more from the event.

In other results, Fiona Cameron and Janine Sharma finished 9th and 12th respectively in the Girls 12-13 1 metre. Well done! Click here to view the Diving Australia site.

National Teams announced

The NZ Team to compete in the FINA World Juniors in Tuscon, Arizona from the 1-6 of September has been announced. Representing New Zealand will be WHPA brother and sister combo, Ollie & Gabe Armstrong-Scott. Wellington's Kate Irving and Auckland's Liam Stone also made the side.

The NZ Team to the Australian Opens in December has also been announced. Once again, both Ollie & Gabe Armstrong-Scott will wear the silver fern as well as Wellington's Alice Wylie-van Eerd and Canterbury's Amy Kroening.

Congratulations to all divers.

DNZ Nationals

Accolades

New Zealand Diver of the Year: Gabe Armstong-Scott
New Zealand Coach of the Year: Steven Zhu

Full results, click here.
Final rankings, click here.

Day 3

The Final session of Day 3 of the Diving New Zealand Nationals produced two National records from WHPA divers. Siblings Ollie & Gabe Armstrong-Scott set new records in the Boys Group A 1m and Girls Group B 1m respectively. Congratulations to you both!

Girls Group B
1st Gabe Armstrong-Scott 401.35 NZ Record
2nd Phoebe Shilling Cant 268.85
3rd Beth Edwards 253.35

Girls Group A 1 metre
1st Kate Irving 373.55
2nd Cassie Storey Waik 341.05
3rd Stephanie Ewen 337.55

Boys Group A 1 metre
1st Ollie Armstrong Scott 477.15 NZ Record
2nd Jacob Coutie Waik 337.55

Open Women's 1 metre
1st Alice Wylie van Eerd 273.00
2nd Amy Kroening Cant 267.45
3rd Gabe Armstrong Scott 267.10

Men's Open 1 metre
1st Ollie Armstrong Scott 321.40
2nd Adrian Dalliessi Cant 233.90
3rd Jacob Coutie Waik 218.60

Girls Group C 3 metre
1st Fiona Cameron 285.20
2nd Janine Sharma 246.60
3rd Lizzie Cui Auck 244.50

Click here to read more from DNZ Nationals

Sunday Diving

Sunday 27th was the last day for term 2 for Sunday Diving. The programme has been very successful with near 50 children giving the sport a go. The group was treated to a short diving display by Gabe Armstrong Scott and divers from the WHPA TID programme - Kate Johnson, Jessie Holland and Yu Qian. The group then had a diving competition. 1st Anton Jenkins, 2nd Ella Berkahn, 3rd Victoria Rose Manu. Thanks to all the children that gave the sport a go and also to the coaches Steven Zhu, Tom Green, Charlotte Glynan and Li Feng Yang.

Sunday Diving for Term 3 begins on the 18th of July at 2pm.

AMP Scholarship

Gabe Armstrong-Scott is currently applying for an AMP Scholarship ! AMP has been helping New Zealanders since 1998 and aim to help even more Kiwis this year. Register your support for Gabe here !

$45 Million Boost for High Performance Sport

The Government will give high performance sport an extra $45 million over the next four years, Prime Minister John Key announced today. Click here to read the article. A great incentive for WHPA divers to succeed!

The Commonwealth Games

New Zealanders Simon Latimer, Ann Sissons and Robin Hood have been named as officials to the Delhi Commonwealth Games. This will be the 10th Commonwealth Games that Robin Hood has attended – an amazing effort. Congratulations and good luck to the three of you.

New Assistant Coach for WHPA

Li Feng Yang (20) arrived in Wellington on Wednesday 9th June to take up an assistant coaching role with WHPA. Feng Yang was a diver for 10 years winning at national level in springboard events. For the last two years he has been coaching at Shandong and Shanxi Provincial Sports Centres in the Junior Diving programmes. Some of his junior divers have had great success at national youth championships winning gold medals in synchro events as well as springboard and platform events. Between coaching he has been doing ‘Show Diving’ at the Olympic Pool in Beijing.

Wellington Championships

Up and coming WHPA TID divers Jess Holland (10 years), Kate Johnson (12 years), Maddie Knowles (10 years) and Yu Qian Goh (9 years) produced amazing results at the recent Wellington Diving Club Championships.

Novice Group 3:
1st Kate Johnson 123.80

Novice Group 2:
1st Jess Holland 137.00 pts
2nd Maddie Knowles 118.15 pts

Novice Group 1:
1st Yu Qian Goh 104.05

For full results, click here .

FINA World Cup - Changzhou, China

Gabe has narrowly missed out on the semi-finals of the Women's 10m platform in Changzhou this afternoon by 2.90 points. Word from Gabe's staff in China suggested that it was a very difficult event with such a strong field competing.

Click here to view results from the FINA World Cup which Gabe Armstrong-Scott is competing at.

Australian Junior Elite Championships

Congratulations to WHPA Divers who have been selected to compete at the Australian Junior Elite Championships in Perth in July.
Janine Sharma and Fiona Cameron – both girls will dive in Group C (13 & Under). Ollie Armstrong Scott – boys Group A (16-18)

Other members of the team:
Liam Stone (Nth Harbour)
Kate Irving (Wellington Diving Club)
Cassie Story (Diving Waikato)
Stephanie Ewen (Diving Waikato)

Diving World Series , Veracruz, Mexico - Day 2

Australia's Matthew Mitcham placed 2nd in the Men's 10m Platform event behind China's Qiu Bo who scored a total of 557.60 points. China captured the other three gold medals in day two's action. The surprise of the day went to Great Britain's Tom Daley who failed to qualify for the final. Click here to read more.

The third leg of the Diving World Series was scheduled to be held in Sheffield, England but has had to be cancelled due to Iceland's infamous voclano erupting.

Wellington City Council/New Zealand Academy of Sport North Island Talent Development Programme Mayoral Reception

This afternoon some of the members of the WHPA programme attended a reception hosted by Mayor Prendergast to recognise the WCC/NZ Academy of Sport North Island Talent Development Programme.

WHPA has been part of this programme for 3 years. This year 9 sports were recognised with some 90 athletes involved.

We are indebted to both the WCC and the NZAS North Island for the huge contribution they make to our programme.

Tom Green accepted a certificate on behalf of the athletes from Mayor Prendergast.

2nd Diving World Series in Veracruz, Mexico

Canada's Alexandre Despatie has taken out the Men's 3m Springboard in the 2nd Diving World Series in Veracruz, Mexico. His performance and degree of difficulty helped in overcoming Chinese Qin Kai, second with 493.20, while the bronze medal was left to Yahel Castillo of Mexico with 470.10. Qin Kai was the winner of the first leg in Qingdao (CHN), so the number one in Sheffield (GBR, third and last meet of the series) will be crucial to know who will take the overall prize money award in this event. Click here to read more of the article...

Australian Age Group Championships

Click here to view results from the Australian Age Group Championships which are on right now in Brisbane!

Sunday Diving

Ollie's Trip to Mexico

Click on the Gallery link to view photos from Ollie's trip to the Youth Olympic Games Trials in Mexico.

WHPA's Tom Green helping out in the community

WHPA's Tom Green participated in The Wellington College Runathon - a forty hour event that is held every year to raise money to provide running water pumps, toilets and education resources in Ibwera, Tanzania.

All students from Wellington College and a large group of students from Wellington Girls' College were divided into different teams by their sponsors to make the event more competitive. The event involves teams running around the short circuit of our school which runs down the side of the basin reserve and in a loop through school.

I was a team leader of the team sponsored by Bayleys which has not done well in previous years - in fact the team was usually last. However, this year we turned things around and Bayleys is currently in second place on the scoreboard. All the money isn't in yet but things are looking better than usual for Bayleys. As you can see from this, all the sponsorship money is very important. Thanks again to WHPA for being part of what has become a Wellington tradition and an event that has raised more than half a million dollars since it began 12 years ago. The overall target this year is $68,000. Tom has personally raised $300!

Australian Age Group Championships

Good luck to WHPA Divers Breila Mottram and Beth Edwards as well as Wellington Diving Club's Nicola Hodren who will be competing at the Australian Age Group Championships!

Swimming Legends' Race for Charity

On Saturday 10 April 2010 at the West Wave Aquatic Centre in Waitakere, some of New Zealand's best ever swimmers will line up to race against each other for charity! Toni Jeffs will be representing the New Zealand Swimming Trust who has been very supportive of diving in the past by awarding grants to many New Zealand divers. WHPA Patron Danyon Loader is also captaining a team with his proceeds going towards the Asthma Foundation. Time to return the favour by supporting Toni and Danyon, helping out their charities: the New Zealand Swimming Trust & the Asthma Foundation - click here to donate or visit fundraiseonline.co.nz

Photos from FINA Grand Prix events 2010

Photos from Gabe's experience in Europe are up in the 'Gallery ' page!

DNZ Autumn Championships

Day Two results

Fiona Cameron starred once again at the DNZ Autumn Championships, taking the gold medal in the Girls 12/13m. Janine Sharma also tallied another medal to her name, placing third in the same event. Team mate Breila Mottram put forward a promising performance, placing just out of the medals in fifth place. Well done girls!

Day One results

WHPA Junior divers performed very well on the first day of the DNZ Autumn Championships held in Auckland. Fiona Cameron placed 1st in the 12/13 Girls 1metre with a score of 261.00. Fiona also won gold in the 13&U Girls Platform with a score of 189.00. Team mate Janine Sharma was not far behind, winning silver in the same event with a score of 185.00! Well done girls!

Jano Scott

We are saddened to learn of Jano Scott's passing. Jano, along with her husband Keith were one of the founding famililes of the Wellington Diving Club. Keith was a DNZ Board Member and President during the 90s. Jano was always at hand when it came to running local, national and international events. She was a warm and caring person that always made our overseas guests feel right at home. Our deepest sympathy to Keith and family.

Fisher & Paykel Asia Pacific Rim on Youtube

The Fisher & Paykel Asia Pacific Rim Junior Diving Invitational is finally here and available on Youtube! Click here to watch the video, or on the image below!

Youth Olympic trials

Ollie Armstrong-Scott recently competed at the Youth Olympic trials in Mexico. Ollie placed 16th out of 19 with a score of 393.95. Well done Ollie!

Image of Steven Zhu

Steven Zhu - Diving Coach

Steven Zhu will provide intensive world-class tuition to both the High Performance Diving Squad and other coaches at WHPA. Steven previously spent time in New Zealand, taking the New Zealand Diving Team to the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.