Star Diving Going Strong After Ten Years
[Written by Stephen Wright]
The Star Diving Camp, run by Olympian Katura Horton-Perinchief, is celebrating its tenth anniversary of teaching local youngsters the art of plunging artistically into water from a platform or springboard.
Since launching the camp in 2014 after the Aquatics Facility at the National Sports Centre opened, Horton-Perinchief has imparted her knowledge and shared her passion for diving with local boys and girls aged 5 to 13.
This year’s camp started on July 10 and finishes on August 18, slightly shorter than previous years due to Horton-Perinchief attending a chef de mission meeting in Paris for the next Olympic Games.
Many of this summer’s crop of 132 children are returning for a tenth year and Horton-Perinchief, who became the first Black woman to compete in Olympic diving at the Athens Games in 2004, believes the island has an abundance of raw diving talent.
“Essentially, parents are putting their kids in a learn-to-dive programme, so when they inevitably jump off the rocks and bridges or go to Admiralty House to show off, they know how to do so safely,” Horton-Perinchief told Bernews.
“After all, diving off the rocks is a cultural experience for our kids!
“The kids love the camp, look forward to it every year, and I’m happy it’s still going strong.”
Horton-Perinchief, who competed at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002 and Melbourne in 2006, said she has adapted and refined her coaching style to fit the needs and demands of local youngsters.
“I’ve learned to teach to our specific demographic of kids, who have dived off rocks, bridges and boats,” she said.
“It’s a different objective and goal to coaching competitive divers.
“I’ve grown a lot as a coach, and the camp has become the type of programme I’d hoped for – a place where kids feel safe and accepted in all of their different bodies, a place where they all hang out together from 5 to 13, which is kind of unprecedented in Bermuda. It’s a thing of beauty.”
Coaching alongside Horton-Perinchief is her mother Ellen-Kate Horton – the shortstop for the Big Blue Machine softball team who won the gold medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Medellín, Colombia, in 1978.
Overseas coaches Barb Bush, a Canadian Olympian, Diane Maiese, the first Black woman to win the NCAA diving title in the United States, and former top Swedish diver Martina Andrén have also travelled to the island to assist.
“My mom is 77 and still going strong!” Horton-Perinchief said. “Obviously, she doesn’t do as much hands-on coaching as she used to.
“A lot of the older kids take verbal direction, and she is technically very sound as a Fina-certified judge and a Canadian-certified level three coach.”
Horton-Perinchief initially hoped the camp would evolve into a year-round programme and remains steadfast in her belief that diving remains a potential route into further education and sporting excellence for young Bermudians.
“Diving can be a pathway to sporting success and education scholarships,” said Horton-Perinchief, who started diving off bridges in Bermuda when she was three.
“Obviously, we’re unable to run a diving programme when it’s cold outside, but if there were improvements to the facility, and we could have a year-round programme, the kids would really take to it.”
