Tom Daley won the award for most promising youngster under 16. Photo: Phil Mingo/PinnacleThe South West's most successful sports men and women of 2007 have been honoured at the annual BBC regional sports awards.
Plymouth's Olympic diving hope Tom Daley won the award for most promising youngster (under 16).Full article here at the BBC.
He has overseen the rise to diving superstardom of Tom Daley and also Tonia
Couch, Brooke Graddon and Sarah Barrow – now with Leeds Academy.
This year's high point was watching the 15-year-old Daley become world champion in
the 10metre platform in Rome.
School Sport Matters was a campaign initiated five years ago toFull article from the Telegraph here.
celebrate all that is good and exemplary in school sport and physical education.
The male and female pupil awards in 2009 were particularly strong in
all categories. Olympic diver Daley, a 15 year-old pupil at Plymouth College,
who became 10m world champion last summer, took the winner’s award, but sprinter
David Bolarinwa and cricketer Nick Gubbins are clearly stars to watch out for in
the future.
Three of the UK's brightest sporting stars are to battle it out
to be named Young Sports Personality of the Year.
Diver Tom Daley,
tennis player Heather Watson and athlete Jodie Williams are the three teenagers
hoping to be given the prize on 13 December in Sheffield.
Tom Daley is an ambassador for the National Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children, known as the NSPCC. This means he does what
he can to help the charity and supports them.
Copyright © PA/PA Photos 
Photo Copyright 2008 Nick PlatonCouncillor Glenn Jordan, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture
and Sport, said: “Swimming and other water sports are hugely popular here in Plymouth and of course the Tom Daley magic has inspired a whole new generation to take to the water.
A Question of Sport Episode 7Next on:
Tomorrow, 20:30 on BBC OneSynopsis
Sue Barker is in the
chair for another episode of the fast-paced sports quiz.
Alongside captain
Matt Dawson are England cricketer James Anderson and Commonwealth champion
athlete Kelly Sotherton. Joining Phil Tufnell are former Manchester United
footballer Andrew Cole and teenage diving sensation Tom Daley.
But despite Daley’s undoubted talent, [Alexei] Evangulov [British diving performance director] admits his concerns over the amount of media attention devoted to his star pupil and hopes that it will not create too much of a distraction for him.
Daley already has several endorsement deals and is on his way to becoming a millionaire before he has even begun studying for his A-levels.
"Welcome to my special website on My School Lunch. Over the next few years you can follow my progress as I aim for the 2012 London Olympic Games." - Tom Daley
"I consider him a diving genius," said Evangulov. "With divers of his age, you sometimes see very good things in training sessions and in the easiest competitions, but when the main event comes, they are lost, they disappear.
"But with this boy, the higher the level of competition, the more concentrated he is. The bigger the competition, the better he is, and this is his special quality."
More here at the Guardian's Q & A with Tom.
A lot of hard work is almost an understatement. Daley trains six days a week and does as much training out of the pool as he does off the boards. Everyone involved in his competitive life is keenly aware of his developmental condition; that he is in an intense phase of growth and that his practices must be specially catered. Wristbands ease potential stress on his lengthening arms; he limits his time in training off the high boards, where the impact and exertion is necessarily higher. He already executes dives of the highest degree of difficulty but eases into them during training, minding his changing physique. Already identified as a medal prospect for the London 2012 Olympics, Daley is being tracked by the BBC Television series Olympic Dreams and is on the list of British Diving’s funded athletes.More at Singapore Diving.
The 15-year-old world-beater took to the boards to
showcase his talents in a screen test for the BBC's Sports Personality of the
Year....
Tom visits college in Derriford...
The diving world champion gave a talk to about 40 students at the college inComplete story at The Herald
Derriford who are studying for a BA (Honours degree in sports
development.
"He's a really honest, polite young man, with the
determination to succeed in and out of the pool."
Thomas Daley
