At 16 years of age, Bryden Hattie is a very well travelled young man.
A member of the Boardworks diving club, the Grade 11 Claremont secondary student recently journeyed to Winnipeg to compete in the Junior Elite National Diving Championships where he defended his title as national champion, an honour he earned at last year’s competition.
After earning a first place medal on the three-metre board and second place on the platform, Hattie left directly for the World Cup of Diving in Wu Chan, China where he will compete in the 10-metre synchronized diving event with his partner, Rylan Weins from Saskatoon.
“Bryden is a very accomplished diver who is working toward earning a spot in the Olympic Games. The way he is going, I think that’s a very good possibility,” said assistant coach Lisa Boog.
Hattie’s accomplishments in the sport have come as a result of more than eight years of dedicated training with his fellow elite athletes at Boardworks. According to Boog, divers of Hattie’s calibre combine time on the diving boards with on-land and water training as well as strength training for a total of at least 25 hours a week.
Hattie isn’t the only Boardworks diver who had a successful outing at the National Diving Championships.
Teammate Ben Smythe captured third place on the one-metre springboard and a third place finish on the three-metre, and Carson Paul earned a third place finish on the three-metre.
On the girls side, Tanesha Lucoe came fourth on the platform and 12th on the three-metre springboard.
In the three-metre platform Talitha Tarr placed 17th and Eva Johns placed 18th in the platform and 19th in the one-metre springboard event.
Another teammate, Celina Toth, travelled with Hattie to China where she has already placed 12th in the 10-metre platform event.
“These young athletes are incredibly focused and dedicated and it shows. They are seeing a lot of success in their sport and they’re only going to get better,” said Boog.
And, getting back to the “well-travelled” aspect of Hattie’s diving career, it should be noted that he has already qualified to compete at the Fina World Junior Diving Championships in Kiev, Ukraine, July 23-29.
