By MARK REY MONTEJO Not as popular as any other sports, high diving is touted as one of the most dangerous disciplines ever invented by mankind. But make no mistake, it can spark an adrenaline rush. That’s because it takes years before an athlete or practitioner executes a good dive, and it all starts at a lower platform before gradually moving to much higher cliffs. With a tiny margin of error, anything can go wrong for anyone who will attempt the extreme sport, and it shows why, as of now, there’s a small community in cliff diving. Filipino-Australian Xantheia Pennisi, one of the participants in the recently concluded 2025 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in the majestic city of El Nido in Palawan, was happy that half of her roots, the Philippines, has its own diving team. And they are growing and learning well. “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 -- of 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 New Clark City Aquatic Center prior to the tournament. Pennisi, though, was excited as she saw little kids try the sport of high diving, noting it was a tough way to go through. But if one masters the art of high diving, it could be a great career move. “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. The 5-foot-5 diver hopes, in the future, stars will rise from 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 wildcard in the annual competition where she was cheered by hometown fans on three of the captivating islands in El Nido. “I just wanted to say thank you so much for all the support from the Filipino community and from everyone else watching,” Pennisi concluded. “I really did feel it and it's really nice to be able to represent both Australia and the Philippines. Thank you so much.”