Matthew Weston of Mt Evelyn dives into the Pacific School Games competition.By Tania Martin
A MT EVELYN teenager took his love of diving to the elite level last week competing in the 2005 Pacific School Games.
The games a warm up event to the 2006 Commonwealth Games gave aspiring young athletes from Australia and overseas a chance to showcase their abilities.
The event ran from Saturday, 26 November to Sunday, 4 December and involved more than 3500 students from across Australia and 20 overseas teams.
Athletes’ ages between 10 and 19 showcased their abilities in swimming, track and field, diving and basketball.
Matthew Weston, 15, last week competed in the diving section of the games in the one, and three springboard and seven metre platform events.
Matthew has been diving since he was seven years old and since then has trained with the Ringwood Diving Club.
He trains two mornings and three nights a week for two hours.
Matthew said his training includes spending two sessions a week on dry land working on his fitness and strength and the rest of his training is spent on the one three and five metre boards.
He said competing in the games was different to anything he had experienced before.
“I have never competed in anything like that before, it was a great experience,” he said.
The Pacific School Games were initiated in Brisbane in 1982 as a precursor to the Commonwealth Games.
Since then the games have represented a celebration of youth and sporting endeavours.
