mumsDiving

DIVING

Alison started Diving in 1992. She had been doing gymnastics for many years but had had to retire because of ill-health. She was treated for inflammatory bowel disease, of unknown cause from age 10 to 13 and the joint problems associated with the IBD meant that Gymnastics was not a "good" sport for her to follow. So she went back to swimming and was fascinated by the divers that were training in the same pool. With the Gymnastics background it was a natural progression to try Diving. She loved it from the start and soon Rebecca, Justine and finally Mark were all participating in the sport as well.

She started off just training once a week but enjoyed it so much that by the end of the year she had joined Marty's group training twice a week. First there were the Club Competitions and then State Pennant, Bendigo Cup and State Championships where she won the Gold Medal in the Platform event for 1993.

Proud Coach Marty and Alison.

It was all such a new experience for us - the training schedule gradually increased until they were training five days a week and attending many Competitions. Our first experience at Nationals was luckily in Melbourne so we didn't have to worry about travel for that first event. The next Nationals was in Brisbane and Rebecca was the only one not competing - she had JUST missed out on qualifying so was very disappointed at just having to watch! Mark actually won a Bronze medal much to our delight ! Justine was already showing great potential coming fifth in the 11 Under age group at only 9 years of age.

Alison never performed to her potential at Nationals but always came home determined to train harder and try to improve. She was very shy and also very short-sighted so found it very difficult to recognise people without her glasses. It was even hard for her to locate Marty on pool deck at training as there were always so many coaches around!

We had many different experiences through our Diving association. One of the most memorable would have to be DRIVING across to Perth for Nationals in April 1994!! Everyone thought we were MAD!! It IS such a long way! We actually spent 3 days driving there, 5 days in Perth for the Competition (Jussy won her First National medal - Bronze ) and then another 3 days drive back to Melbourne! Never again!!

The original "Streamine Diving Club" Members.

Box Hill Pool, Melbourne.

A trip to Mildura, Victoria.

In 1995 diving introduced a "new" event called Synchronised Diving. Despite the difference in ages and sizes the girls were able to dive exceptionally
well together and they were to win many State Titles and eventually even a National Gold Medal.

National Bronze Medal

National GOLD - at last !1996

This Gold Medal was quite special as Alison had injured her neck during training the previous day and the girls had not been able to train. Al could not move her neck and it was a very anxious Mother sitting in the stands watching as they competed! Alison was unable to compete in any other event at those
Nationals as the trials for Pacific School Games were being held the following week in Melbourne and she wanted to be able to qualify.

Justine almost missed selection for the Games as she came down with chickenpox the week after Nationals and was unable to compete at the Trials. We appealed and because she was the current National Champion in her Age Group she was allowed to enter as an extra competitor. Thankfully no one lost their place on the team and she was able to go to her first International Competition.Jussy came home with a Gold and a Silver Medal for Victoria, so I am sure that everyone was glad she competed!! Unfortunately, Alison aggravated her neck injury on the morning of her competition and could not complete all her dive list. Still she did get to go in an International Competition and on the video it shows her having a good time prior to hurting her neck again!!

1996 also saw the Girls experience being filmed for a television sports program for kids. It was very exciting for them and we now have some wonderful
footage of them diving together and individually. Justine had injured her jaw (?small crack in the bone) the day before filming so it was a very tentative little
girl diving that day - the producer was so impressed with her determination to keep going despite the pain!

It was now time to leave Melbourne to go and live in Brisbane. The Australian Institute of Sport for Diving is in Brisbane and we wanted to give Justine the opportunity to be a part of the program if it was at all possible. She had spent 3 weeks in Brisbane in September 1996 with one of the AIS coaches and although there were no promises we decided to move just in case. It was the only time we could have moved as Alison was going into Year 11 and Mark into Year 10, if we didn't go in 1997 we wouldn't be able to go for another 3 years. Rebecca had just finished Year 12 so could have started University in Brisbane, but she wanted to go to Melbourne University and didn't want to leave her friends. Peter also stayed behind in Melbourne as he did not have a job to go to in Brisbane and he was there for Rebecca.

Last Comp. at Bendigo, Jan.1997

Farewell Dinner at Bendigo, Jan.1997

It didn't take the kids long to settle in Brisbane. The Girls joined the Boots Diving Club and soon were training hard six days a week. Unfortunately
Alison's health had started to deteriorate in the middle of 1996 and continued to be a problem in 1997. She saw many Specialists but no one was able to diagnose her problem. She continued Diving and going to school even though at times she was not feeling at all well.

She was very excited to pass her driving test in July 1997 and from then on was a great help in driving Jussy to school and training.

Her little car!

Later that year she was offered a job as a Diving Coach at the outdoor pool in Brisbane. She was also coaching at Chandler. She was so proud of her little group of divers and was looking forward to bringing them on to go to States and Nationals.

She continued Diving up until the end of 1997 but due to the continual pain from her hip she decided she would have to retire. It wasn't until August 1998
that we finally had a diagnosis for her hip problem and she was facing major hip surgery in January 1999. Even though she knew she was facing a big operation and months of rehab. she was looking forward to getting "back to normal" and was even hopeful of getting back on the boards - just so she would still be able to demonstrate the dives to her "kids".

Following Alison's Death we heard of several Awards named in her Honor!

Loreto College Coorparoo Queensland - the 1998 Year 12s donated an Honor Board to the school in memory of Alison and each year an outstanding student is awarded the Alison Lazenby Sportswoman of the Year Award.

Siena College, Camberwell, Victoria - the Alison Lazenby Memorial Trophy for the Outstanding Diver of the Year was donated by the Siena School Community.

Streamline Diving Club - a Scholarship was donated by Marty (Head Coach) in Memory of Alison. The announcement made in the Victorian Diving Newsletter:
Streamline Diving announces the Alison Lazenby Scholarship in memory of one of its founding squad members who passed away suddenly last year.
Alison was one of the original divers who moved from the Box Hill Pool to start a whole new program with Marty Galea at the Scotch College Pool.
As a young girl Alison was faced with a number of irritating physical problems including bad knees and a hip joint that didn't quite fit, but that never deterred her from always trying her best. She always did everything that was asked of her and sometimes even more. And despite all the pain, suffering, physio, doctors and tests she endured, not once did she complain to Marty about her own suffering, nor did she let it get in the way of her participating in her chosen sport.
Alison's determination and commitment to her diving was rewarded in her achievements. She was a member of the Victorian State Team, a Victorian State Champion, a member of the 1996 Pacific School Games Team, and with her sister Justine, was Australian National Junior Synchro Champion. Later when the Family moved north to Queensland, Alison became a Queensland State Champion.
This Scholarship will be awarded at Marty's discretion to any new Streamline diver that Marty feels shows those same positive attributes that Alison showed as a young girl.

Thank you to Loreto, Siena and Marty for ensuring that Alison will be remembered for many years to come!