Emily Boyd has been a quiet achiever for Australian Diving throughout her athletic career having landed herself on several high profile Australian Teams including at the Commonwealth Games and World Championships. The Queenslander took time to talk about getting into diving, training with different coaches and becoming a coach herself.

How did you first get into diving?

Boyd – I started gymnastics and did a little bit of tumbling over in the UK, I loved doing it but got really scared of learning anything new. One of the girls who I trained with did diving as well and I went to a training session just to watch and loved what it looked like. Unfortunately, it was only about a month before we were meant to move to Australia so my mum was like “you’re not starting this now.” So, within the first week of moving to Australia, RAPS Diving Club in Brisbane had a clinic on and I gave it a go.

You mention that you were scared of learning anything new in tumbling and gymnastics, how did you get over that in diving?

Boyd – I suffered with bad ankles and my knees with all the constant pounding from tumbling and gym and I think I was just afraid of making that pain worse, but with diving I just had the attitude of going for it. I still get nervous doing new dives, but I always have faith in my coach that they wouldn’t make me do something if I wasn’t ready to do it. I’ve also never been scared of heights so that has never been an issue for me.

You’ve had a number of different coaches during your career. You are now training with Ady Hinchliffe, what does he bring to the table?

Boyd – He is a lot different to all of the other coaches I’ve had, he’s very interested and supportive of my life outside of diving and that helps a lot. As long as I’m happy in myself, my diving is fine. It’s when I’m not great outside of the pool that my diving suffers. He is very good at keeping that balance and keeping me grounded.

Like coaches, you’ve had quite a wide variety of synchro partners during your career, what does that versatility bring to your diving?

Boyd – I found that I am pretty adaptable when it comes to mixing and matching with all these different synchro partners. Lara Tarvit, being my first major partner, we were both a similar size so it was a great way for me to start doing that event, we really didn’t need to change much. After that though I have had to change and adapt, just like my partners have had to do for me. It’s really good for your individual performance as well because stuff can happen and learning different ways to adapt your dives is obviously helpful.

You work part time as a coach for a local club in Brisbane, what is it like for you to coach younger divers?

Boyd – I do love it and I think it’s great, every coach coaches differently and because of all the coaches I’ve had, I feel like I have gotten bits off all of them to put into my own coaching and by extension these younger athletes. It’s very interesting when you have these young kids who have no diving experience and you need to teach them something from ground zero. It’s nice to take those stepping stones with them and watch them develop and it’s cool to remind yourself that you were there once.

Diving Australia has a legacy of very strong female platform divers, what is it like being a part of that?

Boyd – Being a part of that group, and trying to follow in their footsteps, is something that is really great to be a part of. It’s just nice to walk into the Diving Australia office and be in the presence of all those great achievements with all the accolades and photos on the wall. It makes you say, ‘I want my photo up there one day.’ It gives you something to strive for, to be able to add something to Diving Australia as well.

Since you started diving, what has been your favorite memory?

Boyd – I think it would have to be at nationals this year. I had a pretty bad accident a few months before that put me out of competition for what felt like so long. Then going to nationals and being able to get a personal best at my first completion back just made me so happy and relieved that I actually got to where I was.

Do you have any advice for young divers or those interested in getting into the sport?

Boyd – Nothing is going to come easy ever. It is going to take a lot of mental toughness, perseverance and courage. Everyone has bad days, but it’s when we push through those bad days that something special happens. It’s a working progress for everyone but you need to keep on trudging along.