DAMIAN Ball insists a desire to coach at the Olympics led to his decision to leave Southend Diving.

The 39-year-old has opted to bring to an end his four-year spell in south-east Essex to head up Ireland’s national coaching programme in Dublin.

But Ball admitted it had not been a straight-forward decision.

“In terms of my career I think this has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” said Ball.

“When I came to Southend from a small diving club in the north of England I had a plan and a vision of what I wanted to do here at an international training venue.

“That vision is not yet finished so it’s been hard to leave, but I have aspirations of coaching at the Olympics and I think this opportunity in Ireland is going to be my best chance of getting to that level.

“The opportunity to lead a nation as opposed to a single club is also something I think everyone would get excited about.”

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Ireland move – for Southend Diving Club coach Damian Ball                             
                                  

Ball will also be making the move feeling proud of the progress made by Southend during his time at the helm.

Ball brought the best out of top level divers but also helped to make the club more appealing to the general public.

“The main highlight of my time here would be seeing the sport I love going from something quite small in Southend to something massive,” said Ball.

“It’s a high performance international training venue at Southend, but at the same time there is an opportunity for everyone to participate.

“There’s school-kids going in now, diving parties and all sorts going on which means there are now 450 people diving every week at the venue which is fantastic.”

As well as that, Ball was thrilled to have the pre-2012 Olympic Games holding camp for Team GB in Southend and also immensely enjoyed helping to train a whole host of celebrities for the ITV show Splash.

But it was also the other coaches and the club’s own divers which made his spell in Southend so memorable.

“The group of coaches that I’ve worked with have made my time here exciting,” said Ball.

“The squad of kids there are also fantastic and I don’t think I will find a nicer group of athletes to work with.

“I will always look back on my time at Southend with pride and pleasure, but it’s time for something different now.”

As a result, Ball will be making the move to Ireland at the start of November.

And his thoughts have already switched to securing even more success in his latest role.

“Ireland already have a national diving manager in place and my role is going to be just the coaching side of things,” said Ball.

“I will work with the other coaches already there and a very big part of that is to help Swim Ireland generate an Olympic athlete for Rio in 2016 and Toyko in 2020.”

But the identity of that diver could well be the one familiar face for Ball in Ireland, Oliver Dingley.

The diver is joining Ball in making the switch from Southend to Ireland.

And Ball feels the move will also be of huge benefit to Dingley, who won a bronze medal in the three metre springboard final at the Commonwealth Games in the summer.

“When Oliver arrives he will be the figurehead athlete for aquatics out there,” said Ball.

“He decided to make the move before me but I have coached him for about 15 years now and it will be great to keep that going now.

“It’s realistic for him to be at a World Championships and Olympic Games and for both of us that’s what’s next on the cards.

“We have done the Commonwealths amd the Europeans and we both now want to go up a level which is what we will be working towards in Ireland.”