ON the converted indoor five-a-side football pitch around forty boys and girls leap, summersault and flip under the scrutiny of two Chinese coaches.

But this vision of a factory moulding medal winners of the future, is not a snapshot of Beijing.

This is the dry land training area at the National Sports Centre where 400 members of the Crystal Palace Diving Club train up to six times a week.

The divers at the club are aged six and upwards and include two Beijing Olympic veterans; Hayley Sage and Blake Aldridge, who partnered 10 metre platform diving World Champion Tom Daley, in the men’s 10m synchronised event.

Sitting among the parents I spot 27-year-old Blake helping some of the fledgling divers backflip off a small springboard.

A typical training session will take place after school and last for four hours; two of which are spent in the dry area developing technique on springboards and trampolines and in general body conditioning.

The remainder of the time is spent in the pool where dives are endlessly repeated and perfected.

The hard work, athletic ability and coordination of the young divers is impressive, but as a father of two young children I feel humbled by the self-sacrificing parents who sit through these marathon sessions night after night.

Crystal Palace Diving Club is a recognized centre of excellence for diving, but there is no government money available to the club or to its divers hoping to shine at 2012 London Games.

The entire operation is funded by the members and their parents. Nevertheless the club boasts two international diving coaches in Cheng Yang and Xiang Yan Kong, as well as 25 elite members, 15 of whom are in the England international team.

It is the club’s only junior international springboard diver I am here to meet; England’s number one at 1m and 3m in her age group, Jessica Williams.

Townley Grammar School Year 11 student Jessica, has been diving since the age of five and hopes to be ready to compete for her country in 2012: “It would mean everything to get to the Olympic Games.

"It is quite a short space of time to get there but if I put in all the hard work then hopefully good things will come out of it in the end. It will be good to have the Games in London because there will be much more support from the London crowds and it will be good to compete in my own country.”

Like fellow Olympic hopeful and classmate weightlifter Zoe Smith, Jessica has to balance her training with GCSE exams in the summer.

She still manages to train 36 hours a week; a measure of the passion for the sport, which has grown since she first copied her dad diving into the pool on holiday, aged five.

The 15-year-old also finds time for a social life: “I like going out with my friends and seeing the family when I am not training.

"It is just a bit of time off thinking about what's ahead of you”.

And what lies ahead of Jessica is the dream of competing at the Olympics and before that a lot more hard work: “You have to be quite brave to train and try the new dives but it is putting in the hours that is probably the hardest part.

“I have tried a couple of the hardest springboard dives like the reverse two and half pike and backwards two and half pike but I just have to make them a bit better now they are not exactly great.”

Hopefully by the summer of 2012 she will have nailed them.