As we come closer to the end of the season for Boys Swim & Dive, it’s important to reflect on the diver’s season and how it started. This season seemingly started off with a feeling of normality as we seem to see some of the same faces as last year. Junior Jayden Bierschbach and Senior Brodie Brown came back this season as returners and took over as leaders for the program, with Jayden being a team captain. However, the program introduced Junior Carter Sexton as a new addition to the team. He had some learning to do, but fit in well as a great addition to the team. Overall, the team was lacking a little in numbers, but made up for it with skill level.
As the team prepared for the season, they attacked every day with a good mindset and good effort. Training is the most important way for the team to get ready for the season, and they embraced that. Routine became the most important aspect of the day for the divers as they needed to be ready before the season started. Inconsistency in dives was inevitable, but was soon smoothed out through diving hundreds of times before the season. Players went to practice and gave their all every day to get better at their craft, which shows not only a representation of who they are as players but also as young men.
During the season, there were three main factors that were going to contribute to how the season would go; Mentality, training, and scoring. In an interview with the head coach of the program, Liz VandeWege, she was asked about these three aspects and how she helps our players get better in each aspect, Mentality, training, and scoring. Regarding mentality, Liz says, “To stay mentally focused before a big meet, I help athletes remember what we’ve been working for all year and what to focus on for different sets. When we get to those big meets, they stay mentally focused by staying engaged in the meet by cheering or watching alongside the pool deck, listening to some music before their event, and then I remind them to have fun.” She does her best to help players stay mentally locked in before big events so that they can always be ready and be at their best. She then talks about how she has the swimmers practice to keep their bodies in the most optimal state while still preparing for a race. She says “Our Divers work on various different things throughout the week – technique, power, and control. These things set with reps and intensity is how our divers get better over the course of the season. We are starting taper for our conference boys and they will decrease their reps significantly over the next two weeks and increase their rest (in and out of the pool) but keep the intensity while at practice. This allows for their body to recover and get ready to go fast for conference.” She does her best to mix intensity with reps while also allowing our players to recover and be physically capable. She then talks about how scoring affects the team as a whole: “Scoring a meet comes down to our depth. With a smaller team, it’s harder to have more depth across all events since we sometimes only have two athletes in one event. We’ve had our divers step up and help us in some relays and individual events. Not being able to fill all of those spots in our events can affect us in terms of being able to win meets. I’m really hoping that we can start getting more kids involved in the sport.” Scoring comes down to depth and by having little of that, it becomes a struggle to win meets, but in turn proves the grit of our guys to go out and still win.
Many overlook the sport, thinking its some easy get by kind of sport. But in reality these guys work just as hard as some o the best athletes in the world, in order to become great at dive. The constant practice of technique and form, mixed with the body conditioning makes these guys great athletes. As the season is coming to the end, Its important to see this.