DIVING off a 10m platform never becomes easy, admits Gemma McArthur. Despite having done it hundreds, maybe even thousands of times, it remains nerve-wracking.
“It’s pretty high when you first look off it. You do think: ‘Am I actually going to jump off of this,’ the 18 year-old says.
“It’s still nerve-wracking every time you go up there but once you’re doing your dives, it’s completely different. You don’t notice the height.
“But if you’re not a little scared you should be worried because you want a few nerves just to keep you on edge so that you’re ready for anything.”
McArthur is one of Scotland’s brightest diving prospects and goes into this weekend’s Scottish Championships at the Royal Commonwealth Pool as a favourite for the 10m title.
After finishing second last year, the teenager admits that she has added motivation to claim the title.
“Hopefully this year I can do it,” says the Southampton Diving Academy athlete. “That second place last year gave me a real incentive to do better this time but I try not to set myself targets for the position I want to finish. I focus more on the process.”
Diving may be an intense test of physical capabilities but McArthur believes that the mental side is equally important – if not even more so.
With only two seconds between leaving the board and hitting the water, McArthur must not have even a hint of hesitation. If she does, she knows that she’s beaten before she even leaves the board.
“I find that when you’re in the air, everything goes much more slowly. It feels like you have a lot of time to think which I know sounds strange when the entire dive only lasts two seconds,” she says.
“When you take off, you have to go for it completely or else it’s not going to go well. You have to fully commit. If you’re not confident then you’re not going to do a good dive.”
However, McArthur’s mental strength has been severely tested over the past few months.
An elbow injury, the result of a rough entry into the water during a dive, rendered her temporarily unable to train and she admits that it also messed with her head when she tried to resume diving from the 10m board.
However, that blip is now behind her and she is ready to make a positive start to her season. A good performance is vital because 2017 is likely to be important.
UK athletes having returned from the Rio Olympics with three medals, British diving is currently at an all-time high and McArthur admits that joining her fellow Scots Grace Reid and James Heatly on the GB programme is a definite goal.
She is nearing the end of a gap year between college and university which she took to concentrate on her sport. She feels it is paying dividends.
“It’s been good to focus fully on my training rather than have to squeeze in my school work,” she says.
“I feel like I’ve had loads more time to recover and do more strength and conditioning training so I’d love to go full-time.”
McArthur has been diving for nine years. She began when her mum saw the sport on the TV and suggested she give it a try.
“I loved it right away,” she enthuses. “When I was a kid doing swimming lessons, diving was always my favourite part. I always thought that I wouldn’t mind if we skipped the swimming and just did the diving.”
While McArthur has several short-term goals, there is one which looms large in her mind.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games are now just 16 months away and with McArthur qualifying for Scotland due to her Scottish father, forcing her way into Team Scotland in 2018 is a major target.
Despite being only 16, she narrowly missed out on qualifying for Glasgow 2014 but the near miss only intensified her drive to make it. “It was really disappointing to miss out on the Commonwealth Games two years ago but the main thing it did was really motivate me to get there in 2018,” she says.
“It would mean everything if I could make the team. It would mean that all my training has been worthwhile and it would be such a proud moment.
“Gold Coast is always in the back of my mind so any time I’m tired or don’t feel completely up for my training, I just remind myself what I’m aiming for and that gets me going.”
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