Bryden Hattie did that literally, only it wasn鈥檛 into a sofa, as the Victoria Boardworks performer won the men鈥檚 16-18 silver medal Thursday at the Pan-American junior diving championships in his home Saanich Commonwealth Place pool.
鈥淚 was really nervous, so I got my friends to talk to me, to distract me,鈥� said Hattie.
Joshua Davidson of the U.S. took gold and Victor Povzner of Markham, Ont., the bronze as two Canadians made the podium.
Gathered at Commonwealth Place are the divers from the Americas who will likely be performing in the 2024 Paris and 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
Hattie is in that mix as the Claremont Grade 11 student added to the three silver medals he won over the summer at the sa国际传媒 Summer Games in Winnipeg. It was part of the six medals in total Victoria Boardworks won at the 2017 sa国际传媒 Games, to go along with the two medals by Boardworks diver Celina Toth at the 2017 World University Games in Taipei.
鈥淚 watch Celina in practice and she works so hard and is such a great role model,鈥� said Hattie.
Victoria Boardworks has produced Olympians, and several NCAA Div. 1 divers, and the future looks equally as bright. The host club is well represented at the Pan Am juniors with Hattie, Carson Paul and Keira Lu among the 20-member Canadian team.
鈥淭his shows our system works,鈥� said Boardworks head coach Tommy McLeod.
鈥淭here is a lot of peer pressure to work harder. That is not the kind of peer pressure we want to get rid of.鈥�
The Canadians will compete this weekend against the best 11-to-18-year-old divers from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the U.S.
The diving continues today from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and concludes Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4:20 p.m.
