Two outstanding talents have joined  Diving WA's Life Members! 

Kim Hynynen-Furler and Eliza Cole were accepted as Life Members of Diving WA in last week's Annual General meeting.  

Kim and Eliza join an exclusive and exemplary group of people, reaching back to 1966.

To qualify for Life membership a candidate must be a volunteer/supporter for a minimum of 10 years or as a diver/coach for a minimum of 8 years. The lifetime member must have contributed outstandingly to the development of the sport at any level through their work with divers, coaches, officials, and administrators. They must have enhanced the standing of diving at regional, state, and/or national levels through excellent representation. They have gone above and beyond their normal expected duties. There are several other considerations that are also taken into account.

Kim has made an enormous contribution to Diving WA over the years. She has actively served as a coach and official with us for 20 years. She was the Head coach of Arrows Diving from 2003 to 2012 and been the DWA Head Coach/Development Manager from 2016 to 2019. From 2021 to present, has coached multiple DWA programmes and squads, including national Age athletes. Two of her masters’ athletes secured phenomenal success in Fukuoka, Japan, this year at the World Masters Diving Championship.  Kim has applied her judging talents, serving DWA and Diving Australia since 2003. In 2019 gained her International Level 6, judging accreditation and was put on reserve for judging the 2022 Commonwealth Games. She has been involved in training officials by delivering content to training workshops, assessing shadow judges and as chief referee at State events.

Eliza has been actively involved with Diving WA as administrator, official and diver for well over 10 years. During this time, Eliza has mentored divers at all levels. She has represented Arrows Diving Club and Diving WA at National Junior Elite, National Age, and International Masters levels, winning many National and International medals, many of them, gold!  Eliza has been the Judging Co-ordinator for many years. This role is voluntary, and time consuming. It involves running regular training courses for all judges in WA, maintaining a register of judges and their judging level, arranging assessment of judges in WA, ensuring judges of appropriate levels are allocated to all WA diving events, coordinating a schedule of judges at diving events, and recruiting and training new judges.

Eliza is a level 6, international level judge. She has represented Australia as a judge at international diving competitions, and regularly travels within Australia to judge at National competitions, including Junior Elite, Age National, Open National and Olympic and Commonwealth Games Selection trials. Her knowledge of the rules of diving is first rate, and nearly all judges in WA owe their development as judges to the teaching and training provided by Eliza. In addition to her role as judging coordinator, Eliza has also taken on the role of Chief Referee for most diving competitions in WA, ensuring the smooth operation of Diving WA events. This involves checking all dive sheets to ensure that divers meet the eligibility requirements for their respective levels of competition. This requires several hours of her own time in the days leading up to competitions. Eliza’s excellence in her own judging, and in ensuring the continuing availability of new judges in WA, has had a profound impact on Diving, particularly at the state level.

Kim and Eliza have shown outstanding commitment and dedication to Diving in Western Australia. It is for this reason that Diving WA has awarded DWA Lifetime Membership. I’m sure you will agree, both are worthy recipients! Congratulations Kim and Eliza!