Returning from the national diving championships this autumn with five medals around her neck was proof of Holly Morse's position as one of New Zealand's best young divers. The Takapuna Grammar School pupil and relative newcomer to diving is now eying up further success in the sport, which sees her tumble from 7.5 metres in spectacular style. We chatted to Holly following her national competition wins...

Channel magazine: What drew you to diving initially? 

Holly Morse: I originally was a gymnast for around eight years. I eventually decided that I wasn't enjoying the sport as much so decided to start another. I had always watched diving in the Olympics and thought how amazing it looked, and scary. So mum took me for a lesson at Glenfield pools and I instantly fell in love with the sport.

CM: How long have you been involved?

HM: I started diving around two and a half years ago when I was 12 years old. This is quite late to start a sport like diving so I am very lucky that I took to it easily and with the help of my amazing coaches, Steve Gladding (former British Olympic Coach) and Cordelia Norris I was able to advance quite quickly and within six months starting competing.

CM: Do you have a diving role model?

My diving role model is definitely British Diver Tom Daley. He has had such an amazing story and worked so hard to get where he has. He competed at his first Olympic Games at the age of 14!

CM: What’s the all-time best dive you have ever seen performed?

The best dive I have ever seen performed was when we were in Singapore for a competition last year. There was a really amazing young Malaysian diver who did a back 2 and 1/2 somersaults tuck off the 7.5m and got straight 10s. One of our own divers Nathan Brown competed a back 2 and 1/2 somersaults pike from the 10m receiving straight 9s and 10s; it was amazing.

CM: The impact of entering the water must be huge on your body. Have you ever sustained any injuries?

Diving is a high impact sport, especially from the higher boards and you hit the water at quite a speed; with your wrists taking a lot of the impact. I wear wrist guards to help protect my wrists. We're also lucky our coach ensures our training is balanced with land based activities as well as all the actual diving in the pool. 

CM: Please tell us a about your recent medal wins at the nationals...

We travelled to Dunedin this year for Nationals. I was concentrating mostly on my platform 7.5m diving as I was aiming to qualify for World Juniors on that. I won my age group on 1m, 3m and platform. I also came away with two gold medals in the synchro events, which was great. I ended up qualifying with my best result ever on 1m and on platform. 

I will be heading off to Ukraine in July for the Junior World Championships in Kiev, where I will be competing in the 14-15 girls age group platform with some of the best divers in the world.

CM: How long does it take to learn a new dive & how do you train?

It really depends on the person and the dive but normally for me, a couple days or even weeks to really get ready and prepare, as it can take a lot of courage to learn a new dive. You have to be mentally ready as it's very scary learning new dives! We train around 5-6 days a week for 3-4 hours each session. We train on dry land (flips, trampoline, yoga, crossfit, conditioning etc.) and then in the pool (training our dives for competition).

CM: Can you describe the feeling you get when you finally perfect a dive?

It's an amazing feeling. In diving you train so hard and only get a matter of 2-3 seconds to get everything right, so when you really nail a dive it makes all the hard work worth it; it's the best feeling ever.

CM: If you didn’t compete in diving, which other sport would you like to excel at?

I would have probably got into pole vaulting; it just looks so fun and scary too!

CM: In summer, do you ever go wharf jumping and pull off any of your competition-style dives?  

Yes, I love going to the wharf and jumping off with my friends. I often will teach them a trick or two.

CM: In five years time I hope to… 

Be aiming for the Olympics and enjoying the sport just as much as I do now.