Young diver learns painful lesson

Just because everyone else is doing it, does not mean you should too.

Parents – and doctors – have been dishing out this advice for a long time, and young diver Sarah Jacka will take it to heart from now on.

The 12-year-old elite athlete fractured her legs and ankles after jumping from a cliff at Mount Martha, Victoria, on New Year's Day 2024.

She landed in shallow water after doing a feet-first 'pin drop' leap from the cliff top.

"The way I am taught to dive means I go through the water a lot faster, and my knees were bent back when I landed," Sarah said.

"I came up and I couldn't feel my legs and thought I was paralysed."

Her father Chris was watching from a boat nearby.

"About 30 people had jumped ahead of Sarah and she did a nice simple pin-drop entry, but when she emerged, she was yelling in agony," he said.

"When I reached her, she said she couldn't feel her toes and legs, and my mind raced to the worst possible outcome.

"She's got broken bones, but we consider ourselves lucky. It could've been far worse."

Once the initial swelling in Sarah's legs had gone down, she underwent a two-hour operation at Melbourne's Epworth Richmond hospital, led by paediatric orthopaedic surgeon Dr Lucas Annabell.

She is facing months of rehabilitation but hopes to return to diving later this year. 

"Sarah has fractures to her knees through the growth plate that require bracing," Dr Annabell said.

"Her right ankle was fractured in three places, which has been repaired.

"She won't be able to walk on her right leg for six weeks and she will be out of sport for up to four months."

Dr Annabell said he regularly treated children who had been injured jumping from a height.

"Far too often, we see many instances of children jumping from high heights resulting in injuries like this," he said.

"Just because someone else is doing it, doesn't mean it's a good idea."

Sarah's dad also urged other people not to jump from the same spot, on the Mornington Peninsula, where a man reportedly also broke his leg that same week.

"Don't do it. Depths and water change, it's not worth the risk," he said.

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