Boy, 10, rewarded with first games console after winning diving competition

A BOY won a diving competition after he was promised a games console by his mother.

Thomas Oxlade, 10, said he was spurred on by the thought of owning a Nintendo Switch.

It was the second year running that he has won the Peter Waterfield Invitational Novice Competition in Southampton.

His mother Wendy said: “I thought there was no way he could do it again — I was honestly so shocked.”

Thomas, a pupil at Sonning Common Primary School, said: “It really helped me focus. It’s my first proper gaming console.”

He performed four dives at three separate heights — poolside, 1m springboard and 3m springboard. They included a tuck dive, a pike and a back straight dive. The competition was one of three contests in which he participated before Christmas.

One was the Irish Open Diving Championships in Dublin, where he was representing the Albatross Diving Club in Reading and came fourth.

Thomas said: “It was really fun because I had never been to Ireland. I went with my club and not with my mum and dad and shared a room with my friend Laurie.

“There were people from Scotland, Ireland, Greece and even Dubai.

“I did 12 dives and they were pretty good because I have been doing them for so long.” His dives included an inward 1½ and a 1½ pike from 3m.

Mrs Oxlade and her husband Alan, who run the Shoulder of Mutton pub in Playhatch, streamed the competition live on their television at home via YouTube.

Afterwards Thomas and his club mates went bowling.

“I really liked it,” he said. I really enjoy going to new places.”

Thomas also competed in the national schools finals diving competition in Manchester.

He finished in eighth place but the competition was very close with only 3½ points between him and fourth place.

Mrs Oxlade thanked Thomas’s school, which paid for him to attend the competition, and headteacher Chris Hirst for his support. Thomas has been diving since he was six and says he wants to compete at the Olympics one day.

This year, he hopes to qualify for the England National Finals at his first attempt.

Thomas also enjoys “death diving”, a form of extreme freestyle diving where divers jump belly first with outstretched arms landing in either a cannonball or pike position designed to make a big splash.

He recently uploaded a video of his death dives to YouTube.

His grandmother Marion Haffenden has offered to pay for his console. She said: “We’re very proud of Tom and we’re glad he has found something he has a natural talent for and enjoys doing.”