Three youngsters from the Southampton Diving Programme have been selected to represent England in the Mediterranean Cup to be held in Bolzano, Italy, at the beginning of August.

Milo French, Robbie Lee and Leon Baker - all 12 years old - were chosen following their outstanding performances at the Junior Elite National Championships in Plymouth earlier this year.

They will be accompanied by coach, Jack Clewlow, who heads up the talent programme in Southampton.

The boys are all members of Southampton Diving Academy, based at the Quays Swimming and Diving Complex and began their careers in the sport through talent searches in 2012 and 2013.

Lee and Baker were spotted during a visit by diving coaches to their school, Shirley Junior School.

“Little did we know that responding to that invitation to go along for further assessment at the Quays would be the start of such an amazing journey,” enthused Lees mother, Lorraine.

“It all seems to have happened so quickly and it has been life changing for the whole family!”

Southampton have been recognised as one of the leading programmes in the country for talent development, with other centres being encouraged to learn from them and follow their lead.

As a result of this success, they have also secured national funding to carry out additional testing in primary schools this term.

They are currently contacting schools with a view to visiting PE classes to identify those pupils exhibiting potential to become successful divers.

“This is a really important way of us finding as yet unidentified budding divers,” explained Jack Clewlow. “Often those we find are already recognised as being ‘sporty’ but haven’t yet found the sport where they are going to excel.”

There is also an opportunity for parents to bring children aged 7-10 along for “public” testing slots. Anyone interested in doing this should email divingatthequays@activenation.org.uk or call 023 8072 0922 to book a place.

Lindsey Fraser, Olympic Coach and head of the diving programme at The Quays, is delighted with how talent testing has impacted on the success of the local club.

“I can’t emphasise enough how important talent testing in this way has been,” she said. “We have a very well developed and successful way of bringing the athletes through, once we have them in the programme. But we have to find them in the first place!”