Milly’s extreme degree for success

Milly Puckeridge dismisses her wholehearted approach to mastering one of the most difficult dives a female can attempt on the 10m platform as just trying to be her ‘very best’, but revered Australian diving coach, Chava Sobrino, insists it reflects much more.

“Milly trains like a warrior,” said Sobrino, who has coached the likes of Olympic champion Matthew Mitcham and New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) icon, Melissa Wu.

“She trains to do the dive which has a very high degree of difficulty for a female diver – the reverse three-and-a-half somersault off the 10m platform – and the way she goes about her preparation is very special because of her thoroughness and courage.

“Milly does a lot of numbers at training, jumping again and again and again. While she’s naturally strong and very fast in the air, it’s obvious Milly wants to do well. I admire she’s doing everything possible to do that.”

The 20-year-old New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship athlete conceded the memory of representing Australia at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Japan stokes the commitment . . . the ceaseless grind . . . and courage needed to perfect her dive. 

“Competing at the championships was incredible,” she enthused. “It was special to watch the other divers and see how they compete.

“I didn’t progress past the ‘prelims’ but watching the semis and finals allowed me to not only see how [the world’s best] compete, but I also saw their professionalism. That was special, and I’m working hard for the opportunity to compete at more international competitions.”

That’s why Puckeridge can be found balancing precariously on top of the 10m platform at Sydney Olympic Park’s Aquatic Centre as she tries to master the forces that make her pursuit an all-encompassing challenge.

“I aim to make the most of everything and the best of everything,’ said Puckeridge, who won gold at January’s Southern Cross Diving Series in New Zealand.

“I’m only really starting to learn how to compete, and I want to be in the bigger competitions around the world. My approach [to competition] is to do my best to stay calm because I can tend to get nervous. That’s why I try not to have a coffee on the morning of a competition . . . I worry I’d be up there and shaking too much!

“When I’m on the platform I tend to think about all the training; try to take everything slowly and I aim to do the competition dive just as I would in training. Something that’s helped me a lot is I’ve learnt to focus on the two key things I want to work on. That removes all the pressure.”

Puckeridge became a diver after establishing herself as an international acrobatic gymnast. Among her achievements was representing Australia at the 2018 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Age Championships in Belgium.

“When I went to a try out for diving – and that was only because one of my friends told me about it – I didn’t even know what this sport was,” she laughed. “But every time I went to a session, I received an email saying I’d been selected to go to the next level.

“[Acrobatic gymnastics] taught me a lot, and while some people might think the only difference between the two sports is you land on your feet in acrobatics and your head in diving, it’s actually very hard to transfer over. While I’m still working on a lot of things it is getting better.”

According to Sobrino, who has attended nine Olympic Games as a coach and another as a competitor for his native Mexico, Puckeridge has to summon strong personal traits to master what many would dismiss as impossible.

“Besides her first-class approach to training, Milly has the gifts of courage and determination,” he said. “And it’s great to have those because they’re important qualities and they really matter in sport and in life away from it.”

Daniel Lane, NSWIS

Photos: Rachel Tingey/Getty