Scottish diver Grace Reid loves travelling around the world with her sport, but she admits there is nowhere like home and cannot wait to compete in the pool where it all began for her come August.
Last week Reid, 22, was back in her hometown of Edinburgh having been named in a 15-strong Great Britain squad for the European Championships.
The event, part of Glasgow 2018, takes place between August 7 and 11 at the Royal Commonwealth Pool.
Since she picked up a gold medal in the 1m women’s springboard event at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games two months ago, Reid’s feet have hardly touched the ground having won syncro medals in Canada and Russia on the World Series with Daley and then in the World Cup in China earlier this month with Ross Haslam.
As a result of that positive run, Reid will be one of the ones to watch at Glasgow 2018.
And she cannot wait to be back at the ‘Commie’ competing in front of friends and family and alongside former Edinburgh Diving Club team mate James Heatly.
“Being back home in Edinburgh for these Euros is going to be amazing though, I really feel in a good place and can’t wait,” the former George Watson’s College pupil stated speaking in the Scottish capital.
“I absolutely love London and it is beginning to feel like home, but this is ‘home home’, as I say to my mum all the time, so coming here and to have the home comforts, the familiarity, that home turf, well I am really hoping it will be an asset to help my performance.
“Scottish diving has come on in recent years and hopefully myself and James getting medals at the Commonwealth Games has helped raise the profile a bit more too.”
Reid has praised Tom Daley for helping her deal with life in the limelight following her recent great run of form which began with the aforementioned Commonwealth Games gold medal back in April.
The limelight does not sit that easily with the measured character who has been based in London for a year now, but having trained with Daley in London for the last 12 months she has learnt a lot regarding how to deal with pressure.
Reid herself went to a Commonwealth Games aged 14 in 2010, but English diver Daley’s fame is on a different level having been well-known since he was very young as well as transcending his sport with a lot of focus on his personal life.
“Tom has helped me a lot,” Reid stated.
“He is probably one of the most self sufficient, determined and resilient people I have ever met and I think training alongside him regularly and competing alongside him before he took the rest of 2018 off has really helped me learn how best to approach new challenges, attack things with an open mind and ask for help here and there.
“I have picked up a lot from him about dealing with distractions and there are a lot of things that I do now to help myself that are down to him.
“Switching off from diving is still something I really struggle with, I’m one of those people that is 110 percent in every single thing I do and that’s great but now and again I need to learn that I need to take a little bit more time for myself and I think having interests outside the pool is something I’ve always really loved to keep my brain active.”
Great Britain diving squad for the Europeans
Robyn Birch
Alicia Blagg
Eden Cheng
Matthew Dixon
Daniel Goodfellow
Ross Haslam
James Heatly
Jack Laugher
Matty Lee
Chris Mears
Scarlett Mew Jensen
Grace Reid
Katherine Torrance
Lois Toulson
Noah Williams
Thanks to Glasgow 2018 for the photos
The European Championships take place from August 2-12: A new era in world sport will get underway as Glasgow and Berlin host the inaugural European Championships – an exciting new multi-sport event bringing together some of the continent’s leading sports including the existing European Championships for Athletics, Aquatics, Cycling, Gymnastics, Rowing and Triathlon with a new Golf Team Championships, tickets here www.glasgow2018.com/tickets
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