SINGAPORE – During one of his learn-to-swim lessons with Aquatic Performance Swim Club (APSC) two years ago, Eden Ang saw someone jump from a springboard into the Toa Payoh Swimming Complex pool.

He tried it once and enjoyed it so much that he convinced his mother to enrol him in APSC’s learn-to-dive programme. Now 10, Eden is among a growing number of children picking up the sport in recent years.

The Singapore Inter-Schools Diving Championships 2022 organised by the Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) had 92 Under-12 competitors, up from 42 in 2019.

APSC and Torpedo Dive School are the SSA’s two affiliate diving clubs whose alumni include many past and present national divers. The latter started its diving programme in 2011 and has also seen an increase in its Under-12 students from 25 in 2019 to 60 currently, said its technical director Damien Ler.

Some point to an increase in manpower and publicity of the sport as possible reasons for the increase.

Former national diver Freida Lim, who competed at the Tokyo Olympics, said: “There’s a larger pool of coaches (with ex-divers going into coaching) in Singapore to tap into, so we have more capabilities to recruit more divers.

“With more people representing Singapore at the world stage, we have more publicity and that’s how people know that this is a sport they can sign their children up for.”

She and Jonathan Chan made history in 2021 by becoming the Republic’s first Olympic divers, while Singapore has also excelled in the sport regionally, winning medals regularly at the SEA Games through the likes of Lim, Chan, Fong Kay Yian, Ashlee Tan as well as twins Mark and Timothy Lee.

A new generation is also on the rise, with five of the eight-strong squad at the Hanoi SEA Games in 2022 making their debut. Four of them – Avvir Tham, Max Lee and twins Ong Rei En and Sze En – are under 20 and clinched a silver medal in their respective events.

Lim, 25, now a diving coach and SSA executive, is also among a number of ex-divers including Kimberly Chan, Myra Lee and Timothy Lee who have gone into coaching after retiring as athletes.

Melissa Lim, whose son Darian has been attending diving classes at Torpedo since 2020, noticed that more diving programmes have become available since 2010 when she was a volunteer at the Youth Olympic Games here.

Calling eight-year-old Darian a “water boy”, she enrolled him in diving at Torpedo, where Darian also learnt swimming.

“He found it quite fun and expressed delight at being able to jump from the springboard. Now when he’s walking around, he would swing his arms or point his toes to practise the movements.

“He has also started telling me about the dive numbers and would grill me on them. If I get them wrong, he will say ‘Mum, let’s do it again’.

“This shows his interest in it and, as a parent, it’s a pleasure to watch your child find something they love.”

Another Torpedo student Timothy Loke, seven, also practises his diving movements at home and describes what he learnt to his parents.

On what he enjoys about the sport, he said: “It feels like I’m flying. I was a bit scared before jumping off the 3m board but I just overcame my fear and jumped.

“I also get to make new friends and learn new things. Some dives are difficult but I want to continue because I enjoy it.”

Both Lim and Timothy’s mother Ruth Ng added that they would leave the decision of pursuing the sport at a higher level to their sons.

Former national fencer Ng, 36, said: “Diving is one of those things in his life, besides Lego, that helps him express who he is and be more confident. Seeing him look forward to something and working towards it, that’s priceless.

“He enjoys competitions and training, but he’s still very young and has space to explore. Maybe diving is a means to something else. I played badminton before I switched to fencing. Who knows, he might go all the way or decide to do something else he cherishes.”

Echoing her sentiments, Eden’s father Kok Chin said his son has become more disciplined and better at time management. The financial advisory director, 47, added: “He has cut down on his screen time because he knows that if he sleeps late, he can’t wake up the next morning and that will spoil his day.

“You get that satisfaction seeing him enjoy something and break his own personal barriers. That’s more important than whether he gets any medals.”

Besides its talent identification (TID) programme that provides a pathway to the national set-up, the SSA also launched the Diving Awards in October 2022 with 12 levels of proficiency to streamline learning and better track athletes’ development.

With more divers starting early, they have a longer runway in the sport, said SSA’s vice-president for diving Wendy Lim.

She added: “This allows for more time to train the divers holistically and, therefore, raises the ceiling on what our divers can achieve in the future. It also decreases the chance that talented divers are missed at a young age.

“The increase in numbers also spurs healthy local competition to motivate the divers, as well as justifies investment in more coaching resources and the expansion of facilities.

“In the long term, we believe the increase in the pool can help Singapore be competitive not just at the SEA level, but also on the world stage.”

Current SSA TID diver Angeleia Lau, 11, started diving aged six at APSC before passing a trial for the SSA programme a year later. She said: “I like it because it teaches me to be stronger and that practice makes perfect. I’ve learnt to be more persistent.”

Her TID teammate Kayvier Wong, 10, hopes to fulfil his dream of representing Singapore, like one of his favourite divers Max Lee, who made his debut at 14.

He said: “I want to bring glory for Singapore and bear Singapore’s flag on my chest. But for now, I’ll take it one step at a time and focus on my next competition.”

Eden, too, hopes to don national colours in the future and win an Olympic gold.

Paying tribute to his mother, who he said provides him with emotional support and cooks his favourite dish soba to encourage him, he declared: “My mother has done a lot of things for me, so I want to get a million dollars for her. I want to represent Singapore at the Olympics and be the next Joseph Schooling.”