Filipino-Australian Xantheia Pennisi is just excited to see the next generation of local divers who will soon represent the country in big competitions.

Not popular as any other sports, high diving is likely one of the most dangerous disciplines as it takes years before an athlete can execute a good dive.

With a tiny margin of error, anything can go wrong for anyone who will attempt the extreme sport.

Pennisi, one of the participants in the recently concluded 2025 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in El Nido, Palawan, was happy after seeing the Philippines thriving with its own diving team.

“This sport is very niche, and not many people do it. It's really good to see that there is a diving team in the Philippines there,” said Pennisi, who finished as eighth overall -- one notch higher than last year -- in the women’s class.

“I saw the whole team last week and there's probably about 15 of them learning which is super exciting,” added Pennisi who also took her time to teach some of the youngsters at the New Clark City Aquatic Center.

Pennisi, though, was excited as she saw kids trying high diving, noting how tough it is to master such a difficult sport.

“So, I think it's a great career. If you don't want to go to the Olympics or it's quite difficult to get into, this is a different avenue. It's like running a marathon and sprinting,” Pennisi continued.

“It's a very different sport even though it has the same mechanics. I think it's really exciting for the future generation of Filipino divers to have the opportunity to do some diving,” she added.

She hopes to see future stars representing the Philippines.

“Yeah, hopefully. I mean, there were a few little gems in there. Some of them are great divers,” Pennisi stressed. “So, it's really exciting.”

The 26-year-old native of Sunnybank, Queensland in Australia, whose mother comes from Tarlac, joined as a wild card in the annual competition where she was cheered by her hometown fans on three of the captivating islands in El Nido.