“It feels a bit like the Olympic Games.” The 11-year-old Faya Bilotta is one of the more than 150 cleaningers who are participating this week in the largest cleaning tournament in Europe: the Eindhoven Diving Cup. With nodding knees, the Eindhoven on Friday morning was on the shelf, but for the worst nerves she has a special solution. “I always think of a rubber duck.”
Faya jumped in the C category from the one-meter board on Friday. “I usually jump from that height, but I also regularly train on the three-meter board. I have also stood on the tower at ten meters. Actually I did not dare and it was getting worse when it was almost my trainer. Then I had to jump by thinking about a rubber duck.
“I’m a real water rat.”
According to Faya, the jumping is a nice sport with many challenges. “I first did Judo and Dance, but when the dance school closed, I stopped with that. Then I asked my mother if I could put a sport in the water.”
“I am a real water rat,” she continues. “Every summer I spend hours swimming in the sea at our holiday home in Italy. During the search for a new sport I didn’t like the laps of pulling, I saw jumping as something with a lot of action.”
“You can always do new things.”
Olympic gold is the ultimate dream for many boys and girls, but the PSV student jumps the bar slightly lower. “I would like to qualify for the Dutch Championships. I also want to keep improving as an athlete. You can always do new things, it never gets boring.”
Christine Praasterink enjoys the enthusiasm of Faya and other cleaningers. The tournament director of the Eindhoven Diving Cup fell in love with the sport by her daughter Else Guurtje, participant in the Olympic Games in 2024. “Schoon jumping is a challenging sport that gives you a kick. It is still cool to have somersaults and screws in the air Being able to make? “
Also read: Else found jumping from 10 meters dead, but now belongs to the world top.
It could just be that the future world toppers can be seen this week in the Pieter van den Hoogenband Swimming Stadium. More than 150 mostly youthful jumpers from 20 different countries participate in the 25th edition of the Eindhoven Diving Cup.
“Organizational it is a whole bone, which we work with a whole team. The tournament has a good name, participants praise the Brabant warmth. We got a good compliment from an American coach. It was so impressed that he was in the Future with a larger group wants to come to Eindhoven. “
“A nice stage to measure you with international toppers.”
In America the sport is big and her daughter has moved there for top sport and a study. There is little competition in the Netherlands. “I would give it the sport if it gets bigger, that has not been successful in recent years. It is good for the quality and more interesting for sponsors.”
“The fact that NOC*NSF closes the money tap certainly does not help,” said Christine. “With the Eindhoven Diving Cup we are not going to stop, we will continue to go on. For cleaningers a nice stage to measure you with international toppers.”