President’s Annual Report 2025
Presented by Paul Woods

It is my pleasure to share with you the 2025 President's report. From a board perspective, we engaged in several pieces of work throughout 2025.

100 Day infrastructure review
First, in early January 2025, was our response to the Queensland Government’s 100-day infrastructure review for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Our 10-page submission highlighted our key infrastructure challenges and opportunities across all our diving facilities in Queensland. We raised concerns regarding (at that time) the planned upgrades of the Brisbane Aquatic Centre as the home of Diving for the games, and the resulting unavailability of our primary diving facility for anywhere between two and three years. Which, as you can imagine, would have a disastrous affect on our Diving Community in Queensland.

We are grateful that those concerns raised as part of our response were acknowledged in the final report by the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority, and were used as part of the justification for the recommendation of the National Aquatic Centre at Spring Hill. A big thank you to Diving Australia (as well as their partners Swimming Australia, Water Polo Australia, and Artistic Swimming Australia for your advocacy for the new National Aquatic Centre. With new deep water pools, new diving towers including a 27m tall high diving facility, it will deliver a significant legacy for ] Diving in Queensland into the future.

The core of our submission to the 100-day review served as version 1.0 of our Queensland Diving Infrastructure Strategy. Version 2 (shared as part of our AGM pack) highlights our infrastructure priorities over the next 6 years as we build up to the Brisbane 2032 Games. This includes positioning the diving pool at Kawana as a specialist synchronised diving training facility, the reactivation of Diving at the World War II Memorial (Southside) Pool in
Rockhampton, and both temporary and permanent infrastructure to support growth in aerial acrobatic events on the Gold Coast.

Redefinition of Diving
Second was our slight redefinition of what “Diving” means to Diving Queensland. As we all know, Diving is a sport that Australians love to get behind… every four years. We saw an uptick in both participation and membership after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, however we know from previous Olympic cycles, that attention in traditional springboard and platform diving starts to wane between games. This not only impacts participation and a club level, but our ability to raise funds at a state level both from commercial partners, and via Queensland Government-based sports funding programs.

In parallel, we recognised the significant interest growing adjacent to what we traditionally do. At one end of the spectrum, the attention-grabbing virality of emerging styles of diving, including high diving and cliff jumping, death diving and freestyle cliff jumping (broadly ‘aquatic acrobatics’). And at the other end of the spectrum, some of the most approachable and accessible participation and active recreation opportunities through bomb diving and manu.

The key link (and opportunity) between all of them is the facilities we use, and the coaching talent we have in Queensland that can support them.

With that in mind, strategically we have shifted from a myopic definition of diving being purely “springboard and platform diving” to a more inclusive “jumping into water”.

The first operationalisation of this is our Saturday and Sunday Splash sessions. We have now delivered over 20 sessions across both Brisbane and the Gold Coast, encouraging people of all abilities to join us to jump off the boards and make a splash. This easy and approachable entry into our community is paying dividends, with many returning participants now engaged in our club system, or being talent identified for our QAS based high performance pathway. Our facilities are happy as we are increasing asset utilisation, and as interest in the sessions has grown, they are regularly sold out and cashflow positive, delivering an operational boost to Diving Queensland.

The second operationalisation is our collaboration with the Z Manu World Champs to deliver their first qualifying event outside of New Zealand. Planned for February 2026, Q Splash, the Queensland Bomb Diving Championships, will bring together athletes from across Australia to compete for coveted qualification spots for the Manu World Champs Grand Final in Auckland.

(as an aside, whilst this report is for the 2025 calendar year, at the time of writing, I can share that the Q Splash Championships that took place on Saturday 7 February 2026 at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre were a resounding success, with 130 competitors (with another 60 on the wait list). It was the largest Diving event to ever occur in Australia outside of the Olympicand Commonwealth Games, or the Red Bull Cliff Diving series in terms of audience size. Over 1600 paying spectators joined on the day, with 90 upgrading to upgrade to sit in the “Splash Zone”. We saw another 1600 on the live stream, multiple main stream media packages, and over 5 million social media impressions. Of our four winners who travelled to Auckland for the Grand Final to represent Queensland, we saw a silver, and a bronze medal).

Improved Governance
Third in our efforts in 2025 was to continue to improve the maturity of how we govern the association. As you are aware, in the lead up to and at the AGM, we worked with our affiliate members – our clubs – to make changes to the constitution of Diving Queensland. Thesechanges not only brought our “rule book” into line with legislative changes over the past decade, but also introduced key items as mandated by the Australian Sports Commission’s Sports Governance Standards. Whilst these changes can be quickly dismissed as ‘boring administration work’, they ensure that the ability of Diving Queensland to serve its members as best as possible can continue well beyond any individual, board member, or CEOs tenue. Thank you to each of our clubs for their constructive support throughout the process of refining the proposed constitution, and your unanimous adoption of it at our last AGM.

At our last AGM we saw several casual appointments to the board transition to ‘elected’ positions. I am proud of the mix of independent management committee members we now have in place. Each brings key skill sets and experiences that help us to better govern the association, including Law, HR, Risk Management, Finance, Governance, and Commercial acumen.

During the year, we saw one of our board members, Olympian Ethan Warren, resign after he moved with his family to Tasmania. On behalf of the board, thank you, Ethan for your support and contribution to Diving Queensland over the past several years. At our Annual Awards night in November 2025, it was my pleasure to announce that Emily Meaney, one of our recently retired Commonwealth Games athletes. Had agreed to join the DQ board. Her
 lived experience as an athlete in Queensland fills an important gap that was created with Ethan’s departure.

Later in the year, our attention shifted to some policies of the association. The first of which was a new “Technical Official Selection Policy”. The goal of this policy is to ensure there is clarity across our community as to the decision-making processes that contribute to the creation of technical official panels for Diving Queensland-based events. Thank you to the technical officials, coaches, and community members who contributed to the policy
development and refinement process. Our policy improvement work continues into 2026, with several other policies in scope for review.

Game Plan Governance Survey
A snapshot of our current maturity as measured by ASC’s 35 different Sports Governance Standards is illustrated below.

This survey indicates an improvement in alignment with government standards, with only three areas identified where our approach does not currently meet expectations, compared to seven areas in 2024. In 2026, we will continue to strengthen and enhance our governance practices.

Supporting our Clubs through advice and advocacy
Throughout the year, Diving Queensland has provided guidance, advice, and hands-on support to each of our clubs in varying degrees. We thank each of the clubs for placing their trust in us to help them navigate both challenges and opportunities throughout the year. This collaborative approach, be it chasing funding opportunities, helping to navigate complex situations, or refining or setting up new programs, has resulted in positive outcomes each time. We look forward to continuing to support our clubs into 2026 in a spirit of ‘raising the tide’ for everyone.

Recent examples include advocacy work with the Queensland Sports Minister, the Deputy Premier, Councillors and staff members from Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and Rockhampton City Councils. As well as our contribution to strategy workshops led by the Department of Sport, Racing, and Olympic and Paralympic Games that led to the development of Queensland’s Sport Strategy.

Whilst we know that some of this work will not make an immediate impact, it slowly builds the foundation for an increased opportunity for Diving Queensland and our clubs to take advantage of in the medium to long term.

We also led or supported funding applications to the Gambling Community Benefit Fund, the Games On! Infrastructure Fund, and Local Government Active Recreation programs. Our results were mixed. Sadly, in the Gambling Community Benefit Fund Super Round, both applications by Diving Queensland and the Sunshine Coast Diving Club were deemed meritorious. However, due to the volume of demand for funding to replace damaged infrastructure due to recent weather events, our successful applications were not funded.

A frustrating outcome, but nonetheless reinforces that our planned work is valid and will provide meaningful impact to the community, if and when the funding envelopes allow it. In this context, I need to acknowledge the tireless work of Jane Carberry from the Sunshine Coast Diving Club, who has led the formulation of their master plan, and tenaciously led the charge for funding across several levels of government.

On a positive note, though, we saw commitment from the Gold Coast City Council to install two additional 1m springboards at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, favourable support from Mayor Tom Tate for the establishment of high diving infrastructure on the Gold Coast, and both new and continuing funding of several active recreation programs like our Adult Diving, Splash, and Chillout Holiday Programs from both Gold Coast and Brisbane City Councils.

Amplifying Lisa’s Impact
Lisa Wright has been with Diving Queensland for two years now as CEO. I can confidently say that almost all of the good things you read in this annual report can be attributed in some way to Lisa. Whether it was the original idea, or the execution, or in a lot of cases both, Lisa has already made a significant positive mark on Diving in Queensland. She has acted as an advocate, a listening ear, and sometimes shoulder to cry on for many athletes, coaches, officials, and parents. Thank you Lisa for your continued contribution, mentorship, and legacy you are building for us all.

With the retirement of Toni Toohey from our administration role at the end of last year, we tried for a while to see if we could make do without filling the vacancy, and stretch our operational budget a bit further. After a few months, we knew it wasn’t going to work. Toni left some big shoes to fill, and Lisa was being caught up in more administrative work. So, in late 2025 we onboarded Tessa Otter as our administrator. In just a few short months, Tessa
has picked up where Toni left off, and has our back office processes running much smoother. Thank you Tessa for joining us and helping to amplify Lisa’s great work!

Thank you
Thank you for a great 2025, and let's look forward to 2026.

Obviously, our athletes did an amazing job in 2025 as did our coaches who got them there, and our volunteers who helped to deliver several qualifying and championship events throughout the year. I’ll let Lisa share with you those outcomes in her CEO report.

From me, a big thank you to each of our clubs, and the volunteer committees that pour their heart into creating great spaces for our athletes to thrive, our head coaches and their coaching teams for your expert guidance, our volunteers who show up event after event allowing our athletes to demonstrate their skill, our key stakeholders including the Australian Sports Commission, the Queensland Department of Sport, Diving Australia, the Queensland Academy of Sport, Brisbane City Council, Gold Coast City Council, Sunshine Coast Council, Stadiums Queensland, City Venue Management… and community of parents who drive two and from the pool multiple times a week (and sometimes multiple times a day.

Thank you to the Diving Queensland board for your efforts throughout 2025… and to our athletes, thank you for continuing to make Queensland proud!

Chief Executive Officer’s Annual Report 2025
By Lisa Wright

2025 has been an extraordinary year for Diving Queensland, one that has genuinely filled me with pride, excitement, and optimism for the future of our sport. It has been a year defined by unity, collaboration, and momentum, where our community has come together in powerful ways across clubs, pathways, and performance levels.

When I reflect on the past twelve months, what stands out most is our people. From our newest divers stepping onto the board for the first time, to our world-class athletes standing on international podiums, Queensland diving has thrived because of a shared love for the sport and a collective commitment to doing things well, and doing them together.

As CEO, my personal anchor remains unchanged: every decision we make must be for the good of our divers first, for the health of our community, and for the long-term future of the sport. When those things align, I know we are on the right path, and in 2025, that alignment has been stronger than ever.

Throughout the year, Diving Queensland has continued to build around our five strategic pillars — Community, Communication, Championing, Capacity, and Connection — ensuring that every diver, coach, judge, volunteer, and supporter feels valued, supported, and truly part of Team Queensland.

If 2025 had a defining theme, it would be community and collaboration. The partnerships across clubs, Diving Australia, the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS), and our broader diving community have been nothing short of transformational.

One of the most exciting shifts this year has been the alignment between club programs and the elite pathway through the Queensland Development Squad and Chandler Hub Program. For the first time in many years, club divers trained regularly alongside elite athletes and coaches, sharing pool space, knowledge, energy, and ambition. This created a unified pathway that is clear, inclusive, and aspirational, from grassroots participation all the way to international representation.

These collaborative sessions, supported by Diving Australia coaches fostered mentorship, consistency, and a shared high-performance culture. Just as importantly, they broke down barriers and reinforced the message that every level of diving matters. A special thank you to Vyninka Arlow who has been instrumental in leading these opportunities alongside us.

We are incredibly grateful to Alex Newton and her Team at Diving Australia for their trust and ongoing support. A notable thanks to David Hunsdale, for his assistance in our Participation and Pathway deliveries. Their support to provide leadership in coach education, athlete development, and the rollout of the National Levels Program has enabled Queensland to innovate while remaining nationally aligned. By embedding the Levels framework into initiatives such as the Community Cup, we have created a strong program that aligns well with all development pathways, whilst supporting the Clubs to raise standards.

Participation, Community Programs, and Events
Participation and community engagement flourished in 2025, and this has been one of the most joyful parts of the year to witness.

• Sunday Splash Sessions: 183 unique participants across the year, providing a fun, welcoming, and low-pressure entry point into diving. These sessions directly contributed to increased club memberships and engagement.
• Chill Out Holiday Programs: 293 participants across school holiday programs, fully booked each holiday period, with clear pathways into clubs and ongoing participation.
• Adult Diving Programs (BCC-funded): Ongoing monthly participation, supporting long-term engagement and reconnection with the sport for adult divers.

What excites me most is that these programs don’t sit outside our performance pathways — they actively feed them. We are seeing participants move from community sessions into clubs, talent testing, and state pathways, proving that participation and performance truly go hand in hand.

Competitions and Events Delivered – 2025
Diving Queensland successfully delivered a full calendar of high-quality events in 2025, with growing participation and improved athlete experience across all levels.

Coach and Judge Development
Our coaches and judges are the backbone of our sport, and in 2025 we made deliberate, meaningful investments in their development.

Mentorship has become a defining feature of Queensland’s coaching culture. Senior coaches continue to guide emerging leaders with generosity, patience, and pride. Queensland’s accelerated judging pathway has now been adopted by other states, with recorded training resources shared nationally through the ActiveKit Grant — a contribution we are incredibly proud of.

Athlete Performance and Achievements
Queensland athletes delivered exceptional results in 2025, demonstrating both depth and excellence across all levels.

Club Growth and Capacity Building
Despite challenges with facilities and pool access, Queensland clubs showed resilience, creativity, and leadership throughout 2025.

• Chandler Hub continues to anchor the Queensland Development Squad, uniting junior elite, high diving, and recreational pathways.
• RAPS Diving Club continues to provide fantastic club programs with some great personal developments within their coaching team
• Sunshine Coast Springboard and Platform Diving Club has continued to successfully deliver fantastic community programs, despite setbacks with facility closures
• Paradise Diving Club (Gold Coast) experienced exciting revitalisation into the new Gold Coast Academy of Diving, and strong media engagement for their launch. We are very excited to see the development of their new Academy.
• Rackley Centenary Diving Club strengthened governance alignment, marketing, and program delivery under DQ frameworks.
• Regional Expansion: Positive discussions continue with Rockhampton Pool, signalling future growth beyond South-East Queensland.

Governance
Diving Queensland is fortunate to be supported by a committed, values-driven Board, and our President, Paul Woods, whose leadership continues to guide us with integrity and care. Paul has gone above-and-beyond in his servitude, time, passion, and contributions to the sport, and in supporting me personally within my role, and I know that everyone who has had the pleasure of working with him, will agree that he is a huge attribute to our Sport. I am deeply grateful to Paul, and all our DQ Board, for their trust, support, and belief in our shared vision.

Thank-You’s
To our coaches, judges, volunteers, staff, athletes, parents — thank you. Your passion, generosity, and positivity are what make this sport so special. You are the heartbeat of Queensland diving, and we couldn’t do it without you.

To our administrator Tessa Otter, who joined our Team later in the year, and has been of immense help as she quickly learned the ropes, and helps tirelessly to support all of our duties – thank you!

To our Competitions Committee – led by Toni Toohey, and assisted by Jodie Gillam and Julie Matkvic, for making all of our events run as smoothly and professionally as they do – thank you!

A sincere thank you to all of our sponsors and partners, particularly the Queensland Government, whose support is vital to the sustainability and success of our organisation.

Looking Ahead to 2026
As we look to 2026 and beyond, our focus is full of excitement:
• Expanding grant funding, sponsorship, and philanthropic support
• Deepening collaboration with Diving Australia, QAS, and clubs
• Exploring opportunities for Schools Programs, Disability Diving initiatives, and facility activation initiatives (e.g. QSplash Championships)
• Expanding Community Cup and regional participation programs
• Continuing to invest in coach and judge education and mentorship
• Growing visibility, participation, and partnerships
• Preparing strategically for the opportunities leading into Brisbane 2032

Closing
Queensland diving is in a wonderful place — vibrant, connected, and full of possibility. The successes of 2025 belong to every person who has shown up, leaned in, and believed in what we are building together.

I am incredibly proud of our community and excited for what lies ahead.