“Smack!” The diver’s body hits the water. The sound of skin on water is a sharp contrast, making even a passerby wince in pain. Despite facing daily pain and many challenges, the diving team feels that the memories and skills they have gained outweigh the cons.
Many divers begin their careers in gymnastics, a sport more alike to diving than swimming. Both Grace Kim, ‘28, and Sarah Cooper, ‘27, started as gymnasts before transitioning to diving based on their friends’ recommendations. Like gymnastics, diving involves flips and twists in the air, which is why it’s common to see former gymnasts become divers.
“I’ve been doing gymnastics since I was two, and just having that background and first hearing that it was available at school [made me want to join]. I [also] had some friends [so I thought] that it would be fun,” Cooper said.
One challenge the diving team faces is the lack of a dedicated space at WHHS. The diving team does not practice there, which can be a bit of a hassle. Previously, they practiced at UC, where they did not have exclusive access to the diving boards and often had to wait for other sports to complete their practices. With only two diving boards available, this reduced their practice time.
“We didn’t get as much board time practicing at UC,” Cooper said. “We’d have to wait for other schools to be able to finish their practices, and then we had to end our practice a little early so the people after us could come in and start practicing.”
This year, the diving team practices in Delhi, which requires a longer commute for some divers. Diving can also be mentally challenging. Divers frequently perform tricks from considerable heights, landing in water where a miscalculation may cause immense pain.
“It’s a lot mentally; there were so many times during practice when you would hear a giant smack and it would echo through the pool,” Cooper said. “Thankfully I’ve only smacked a few times, but your back [would be] completely red.”
One way the dive team works to improve divers’ confidence in their flips and twists is through dry land practices. The team is able to practice their form on trampolines or foam pits. Another benefit of diving is that divers get to move at their own pace when learning new dives.
Although diving is more of an individual activity, the sport creates a lot of opportunities to meet new people and create genuine connections.
“[I love] the friendships that I’ve made on the way. I met one of my best friends [while] diving,” Roya Dos Anjos, ‘26, a member of the dive team, said. ”I met her freshman year in high school, but we became really close over horrible practices.”
Dos Anjos has been diving since she was six years old and has been diving for WHHS since her freshman year. She qualified for State both her freshman and sophomore years.
“Sophomore year, which [was] last year, I also qualified for State. This time, only eight people went, and I had qualified for sixth place at districts. Every single person that had qualified for state, did club diving together. So we were all together, and we had all qualified together; it was like a sweep,” Dos Anjos said.
Although diving definitely comes with a unique set of challenges, Cooper feels as though the beauty and technique overshadow the cons.
“When I get to watch people dive, I think it’s so graceful, but also powerful,” Cooper said. “It looks really cool and it’s difficult.”