A group of the nation’s brightest diving talents have been introduced to a pioneering Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) programme designed to provide athletes with the necessary skills to become champions while continuing their education.

The Amateur Swimming Association - one of the first sports governing bodies to sign up for the scheme - will welcome 170 aquatic athletes, across all disciplines, onto Government-funded AASE schemes throughout the next couple of months.  The AASE Programme will be overseen by Michelle Kiff.

And a group of 17 divers will be the first to undergo the diving element in Sheffield this weekend where they will be given an overview of the eight units that make up the NVQ Level 3 qualification. As part of the programme, athletes will learn about such key subjects as time management, career planning, nutrition and training, and communications. This valuable experience will go towards preparing them for international competition.

The new AASE programme will work towards enhancing that talent by offering a valuable insight, at an early age, as to what is required to succeed on the international stage.

Developed by Skills Active, in association with industry experts and sports governing bodies, AASE is funded in England by the Learning and Skills Council and aims to meet the needs of young people to achieve excellence in their sport as their main career goal while continuing with their education.

The successful diving inductees were identified after finishing in the top eight of the junior national championships this year.

Former Olympic diver Karen Smith, ASA National Development Manager for Diving, will lead the weekend introduction and sees the apprenticeship scheme as a valuable resource in helping the young athletes to achieve.

“AASE is going to be a massive help to these talented divers. The resources available to them and the guidance they’ll receive is completely new and far better than when I was at their age,” said Smith.

“It will help them to get to the highest level. They’ll learn about goal setting, time management, how to analyse their strengths in and out of the water and to make the most of them.

“The whole scheme is designed to make the difference between succeeding or not. They’ll be given the tools to go with their obvious talent which will make the difference.”

-ends-

The Diving apprentices are:

Ashley	Franklin	Beaumount Diving	Eastern
Phillipa	Ninnes	Beaumont Diving Academy	Eastern
Faye	Ratcliff	Southend on Sea	Eastern
Jack	Clewlow	Southampton	South East
Dayne	Mulford	Southampton Diving	South East
Sarah	Barrow	Plymouth Diving	South West
Jenny	Mac Donald	Plymouth Diving	South West
Alex	Newton	Plymouth Diving	South West
Jessica	Taylor	Plymouth Diving	South West
Claire	Blencowe	Sheffield	Yorkshire
Richard	Bradley	City of Leeds	Yorkshire
Suzanne	Collins	Leeds	Yorkshire
Amy	Dawson	City of Leeds	Yorkshire
Lucy	Gledhill	City of Leeds	Yorkshire
Jodie	McGroarty	Sheffield	Yorkshire
Adam	Smallwood	Bradford Diving	Yorkshire
James	Sylvester	Sheffield	Yorkshire

For further details contact Dave Richards, British Swimming Media Manager, on 01509 632237, 0778 992 6136 or email dave.richards@swimming.org <mailto:dave.richards@swimming.org>

British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain.  It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (Amateur Swimming Association), Scotland (Scottish Amateur Swimming Association) and Wales. (Welsh Amateur Swimming Association)  British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

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