By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern
There is beauty to good ol’ fashioned rivalries! Sidelines of players passionately screaming for their respective team, is part of the drive behind a great game. The level of adrenaline rises, confidence increases, and athletes become more motivated to perform to the best of their ability.
Now what about individual sports? Diving certainly doesn’t have sidelines. Our cheering section is the hot tub!
The hot tub, metaphorically speaking, represents the tight knit community divers have on the pool deck. No matter what team logo you wear on your suit, divers from your team as well as other teams, will be cheering your name. Diving is a small world! By the time most divers reach college, there are many familiar faces. Most have known each other for years, from training on the same team or competing against each other around the country. The friendships formed in the diving world are truly remarkable.
“One of the most unique and wonderful parts of diving is the community of the sport,” Bryce Klein, redshirt sophomore diver for Southern Methodist University, expressed. “Together you and your competitors grow up with the highs and lows, the learning curves, the bad and the good meets, and through it all you grow closer as a community. No matter how different one diver may be from you in every way, you both share a common passion for the sport and the community. That commonality links you together throughout the journey. It’s indescribable how special and supportive the diving community is,” Klein added.
Kersten Merry, Haley Ishimatsu, and Kahley Rowell, PAC 12 Championships, 2014 – Photo Courtesy: http://www.bearinsider.com
The relationships we have with one another, are partly due to the notion that we all have relatable experiences. We are able to empathize with one another. Whether it’s that one dive that’s terrifying, or learning a hop-hurdle for the first time. Whatever it may be, at one point or another, someone else has been there and understands what you are going through.
“The camaraderie and support that we give each other is incredible,” Madison Hudkins, junior diver for Texas A&M University, emphasized. “I could be at the SEC Championship meet and girls from LSU, Georgia, Mizzou, etc. are cheering me on, and I do the same even though we are all rival schools. Diving is an individual sport, but since we have all grown up together, we want each other to succeed. It doesn’t matter which team you are competing against, we all have each others backs and you can count on everyone to cheer your name when you nail your dive!”
Waiting in line during warmup, or sitting in the hot tub, is often story time. Divers share their experiences with each other, whether they are good, bad, or funny. Warmup is also a time where we show our support for one another. When someone is nervous for a particular dive, you will always hear, “you can do this!” or “you got it!” from any number of divers in line.
There is a degree of respect divers have. When someone nails a dive, whether it is in practice or in a competition, that diver is rewarded with whistles and cheers from all the divers on the pool deck. This, is what makes diving beautifully unique.
Photo Courtesy: Laura Stoecker
Divers are competitive by nature and continuously work on honing their craft. True competitors, value a strong competition. Brooke Pospichal, freshman diver for the University of Texas, mentioned, “it’s really competitive no matter what but also really fun competing with and against your friends and it’s almost less stressful because we all know each other so well and want the best for each other.”
When each diver consecutively nails one dive after another, the energy on the boards and pool deck is unmatched. There is nothing better than a good competition and true sportsmanship.
Klein adds, “because of the established link that exists between competitors, competitions are about having the best performance you can. The tight knit nature of the sport causes you to hope for the best contest for everyone diving, because the fun and thrill of a diving competition rises when everyone is diving their best. When the environment exists where the pool deck is filled with people who genuinely want everyone to perform their best, it results in a pretty unique experience. That environment is what causes people to gravitate towards the sport, and it’s certainly a big reason why I’ve enjoyed my 15 years so far.”
At the end of each practice or competition, no matter the result, remember, you have a whole support team rooting for you. All you have to do is jump in the hot tub!
Excellent article, nicely written!
Thank you!