A NEWCASTLE diving product is making a splash in Sydney.
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Thirteen-year-old Sam Fricker has been crowned the NSW All Schools diving champion for the second year running.
Originally from The Junction, Sam moved to Sydney with his family in February to study at the NSW Institute of Sport.
And the move has paid off.
Shortly after his All Schools performance in May, where he won gold in the 12/13-years springboard event and gold in the platform event in the same division, Sam qualified for the Pacific School Games in Adelaide in November.
That was off the back of a stellar round at the 2015 Australian Age Championships in Brisbane in April, where Sam collected three gold medals in the platform, one-metre springboard and synchronised diving events, and silver in the three-metre springboard event.
Sam started diving when he was 10 with the Hunter United Diving Academy.
His first and most memorable achievement was being selected for the National School Sport Australia Championships in his first year of diving.
Today, Sam is part of the NSW Institute of Sport's National Elite Pathways Program and trains for about 23 hours a week at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.
It is a rigorous regime of strength, fitness, land and water training.
However, Sam said he persevered because he loved the challenge.
"It takes persistence to be a good diver because you might need to make changes to your dives to get them perfect and that can mean that you have to do them over and over," he said.
Sam hopes to one day represent Australia at the Olympics.