Things continue to get better for Daniel Goodfellow

YOUNG diving star Daniel Goodfellow has won a prestigious financial scholarship from the Youth Sport Trust after demonstrating his huge potential in the last six months.

The 15-year-old, from Meldreth, trains with Cambridge Diving Team and was awarded the ICAP Beckwith Scholarship after being nominated by the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) – the governing body for aquatics. Last year Daniel was spotted by Team Great Britain and was selected as a member of the Team GB Development Squad as one of the country’s future hopefuls.

He is also, along with Sam Thornton from Bradford, the English national synchro champion and won bronze at the European Junior Championships last year. He also returned from the National Diving championships last month adorned with medals after another stunning technical display.

The scholarship will allow Daniel to keep travelling to Southend or Leeds every weekend to use a 10-metre diving platform (Olympic standard) – rather than the 5m board in Cambridge. He now trains seven days a week and his mother, Sharon Goodfellow, is delighted her son has earned the help his undeniable talents have warranted.

She Said: “The ICAP Beckwith Scholarship is a huge deal to Daniel and his family. It will mean he can continue to work on his platform training which he regularly has to travel to Southend and Leeds for and these trips every week for training will now be easier to afford.

“Daniel will also be able to continue to compete across the country with GB selection for competitions in Dresden, Graz and Adelaide as his aims for this year. He has to fit in seven training sessions a week, competitions and school work so his schedule is quite demanding.”

Marc Holdsworth, head coach at Cambridge Diving was also delighted by the news of the scholarship, and added: “Cambridge Diving is improving every year. In 2011 we had our first Great Britain representatives in Daniel and his team-mate Lucy Cliff. Scholarship programmes such as this are really helpful in ensuring that talented youngsters can continue to take part in their sport.”