A rising star of international diving, Matt Carter, has had a standout season that included a Commonwealth Games medal, a World Cup appearance and a pair of World Junior Championships medals. The South Australian took time to talk about his final World Juniors, a new approach to competing and his transition with a new coach.

Looking back to last week at the 2018 FINA World Junior Diving Championships in Kiev, how do you feel about your performances as a whole?

Carter - Overall, I was really happy with the meet, it was good to go away and to see how everyone around my age is competing and what dives they are all doing. Results wise it’s been really good, I’ve been happy with it, in the three-meter event I was a bit disappointed with the result but still quite pleased to end up 5^th seeing as I almost failed a dive. On one-meter, where I ended up 3^rd, I was really happy with the list that I put down.

You’ve had a long stretch of open competitions leading up to Kiev, how was the transition going back to junior diving after such a long time?

Carter - It was quite good actually. I enjoyed seeing how everyone was diving and I just wanted to prove to everyone that I can be one of the best out there. There are quite a lot of divers training strongly in three-meter and they’ve all done pretty well, but I knew if I didn’t mess up my front (109C) I would have been right up there. So, it’s good to come back from an open event and see how you’re doing compared to everyone in the world who is your age and see what dives everyone else is doing.

You started off the week with a medal in the Mixed Team Event, what was the strategy heading into the competition?

Carter - We sort of just chucked it together, and we were really happy with the end result. We were obviously hoping to do well and knew that we could. Getting the 3^rd was still really surprising, and it was great giving the younger kids who were competing in that event the experience of diving overseas and taking home a medal.

Next up was three-meter, you said you were a little disappointed with that result but you performed one of the highest degree of difficulty lists ever in that event, talk me through each of those dives.

Carter - My first dive, front four-and-a-half (109C), it’s not necessarily a new dive, I learned it sometime last year, it’s been a good dive, I’ve been looking forward to performing it, but it was just unlucky on the day. I’m still really confident with it no matter what. My second dive was an inward three-and-a-half (407C), I’ve used that for quite a while, I’m really confident with that dive, it’s really nice to know that I can always put it on my head. Third dive, back two-and-half (205B), always an easy dive for me, it’s been really good in all my competitions, but like front was just unlucky this time which is annoying but it happens. Reverse three-and-a-half (307C), again I’ve competed it for quite a long time and I’m really happy that I had a good result on it, wasn’t amazing but I was comfortable with it. Then triple-out (5156B) not really that used to it at all, within the last year I’ve learned it and I’m really happy to compete it since it has such a high degree of difficulty. That dive for me can really make a difference.

Then came perhaps the highlight if your World Juniors with a bronze in 1m, how was that event for you?

Carter - I was giving it my all, because it was a bit annoying not placing in three-meter which I knew I could, then my mindset just changed and I was really determined to do the absolute best I could. I just sort of said ‘I will go for every single dive’ and it turned out really well, in the end of the day I was happy with each of my dives and landing on the podium.

Moving away from World Juniors, you trained with recently retired National Coach Michel Larouche for a number of years, what did he do for your development as an athlete?

Carter - Michel gave me a whole new level of professionalism in my diving. He really placed a confidence in me that I could be one of the best, he knew that in the next couple of years I could really be up there. Michel really got to know and understand me as an athlete, he knew how I dived and how I acted when I dived. He changed my whole perspective on diving and is still having an impact on me know, even though he is retired. A lot of things that he said still stays with me and I keep going back to them all the time, he really helped me a lot.

Your new coach, Rick Schavone, has only been in Adelaide now for a couple of months, how has that transition been for you so far?

Carter - At the moment, it’s been going really well with Rick, he is such a good bloke and such a good coach as well. He’s really straight forward so you can talk to him about anything, he straight away knew how I was and what dives I was doing and everything, basically hit the ground running and has really helped me from the start, it’s been amazing.

Do you have any advice for young divers or people who are interested about getting into the sport?

Carter - My advice would be to follow your dreams, if you love it keep on going, if you don’t, don’t. Something you don’t want to stick with isn’t worth it.