Regina - come and gone

Those of you that regularly follow Riley's events already know that Regina was a very successful meet. While he didn't win, (Reuben was on fire in his home town and couldn't be stopped!) he made some very important strides forward in his effort to spend this August in Beijing. An awesome personal best score of 462 and the completion of three lists (prelims, semi's and finals) in which he only 'missed' one dive were both really important goals that he had set and met if not exceeded. I was so pleased to have made the trip to Regina to watch him despite the -27 degree weather and the lack of other entertainment in the city. I did manage to spend my seven hour layover at the West Edmonton Mall (shock I did not buy a thing).

It was great to be "mom" for Riley and to try and remove any additional external stresses he may have had by just being there to drive him around, feed, him, buy him eye drops etc. It was important that he knew that there was someone there just for HIM and he didn't have to share or compromise his needs with me. It was also a lot of fun to sit with Reuben's family (he is youngest of 5) and cheer both on as they really were heads above the rest. Below is a picture of the scoreboard - the astrix indicates their score before they have completed the round of dives. That means that neither had to actually finish their dive as they were already so far ahead of the crowd.

Responses from coaches continue to be very encouraging and they are pleased with how hard Riley is working. His week in Miami with Arturo proved to be really worthwhile as he was very fit and was able to keep the momentum over the whole weekend. Tommy is off to Cuba next week with the provincial team and we are hoping Arturo will come to Victoria to continue the work. Riley seems to respond well to him and together with Tommy, they are doing some really great things. A comment from Riley on last nights practise - everything ripped - front 3 1/2 for 10's and the rest for 8'5 to 9's. Consistency is the key and everything is going to plan. Now to just stay healthy...