Club trains for victory

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

Raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

Several Pointe Claire diving club practitioners received top honours at provincial diving organization Plongeon Québec's 2007 gala this Saturday at Université Laval.

"It feels really good," said Vincent Riendeau, 11, who won for best performance throughout 2007 on the international level in his age group. He had nothing but praise for his coach, David Bédard, a former Olympian diver who now trains young athletes at the Pointe Claire diving club.

"When they started, they were astounding from the get-go," said Bédard of Riendeau and another child champion he coached to victory, Alexis Trudel, who won an equivalent prize for the provincial level.

Bédard's really my favourite coach," said Riendeau, who has been diving for five years. He also said he would like to dive in the Olympics one day.

Riendeau just returned from a provincial-level diving competition in Quebec City this weekend, where he said he finished in first place at all events.

As for Trudel, he said he was very happy to have won. "I was nominated last year, but this is the first time I've won," he said. Nevertheless, the youth has left diving since fall, deciding to concentrate on football instead. "I prefer team sports," he said.

"It's a tough sport to muster and to master," said Bédard. "The parents of the children are very cooperative," he said, adding that his own past experience as a diver made it easier to know when one of his pupils was too tired or hurt or when it is all just part of normal training.

Bédard called the experience of coaching after being a diver himself strange. "You see how the machine runs," he said, explaining that his new perspective allowed him to realize all the important work that coaches do behind the scenes for their divers.

Émilie Heymans distinguished herself in the seniors category at the international level, and is all primed up for FINA's world cup in Peking, China next February. Maxim Bouchard splashed beyond his competition at the national level among seniors at the gala.