The dive team this year only consists of three athletes, all of which are girls, but they still are looking forward to this season. The coach of the team, Kerri Kerby views the lack of athletes as an advantage for the girls, as she states, “I think it’s good for them because there are only three people for me to focus on so they get a ton of attention.”
Sophomore diver Kim Tolman, who has been diving competitively for three years stated, “We are a lot closer, but I feel like we could have a lot more fun and feel like a team if there’s more people, cause we kinda just feel like three girls doing dive.” The team may be small but the three of them have confidence in their abilities as divers. Kerby especially has confidence in the three divers, as she has a senior dive who has made it to state, a gymnast-turned-diver, and a sophomore who has been doing dive for multiple years.
Senior Sam Hill, who has been diving for three years and made it to state as a sophomore, is back on the team after being out last year because of a surgery. She said, “Since we don’t have as many people we have more time to practice, and we can get more done and be more consistent with our dives.”
Dive might be an individual sport, but the athletes also function together as a team, as sophomore gymnast-turned-diver Zoey Kunz explained, “You have individuals so you can try and make state, but at the same time you use a certain amount of divers scores to get the whole team’s score.” Getting good scores matters individually in dive is important for the sport, as doing that is what boosts the team’s scores as a whole. Having only three athletes this year might hinder the team’s score as Kunz explains, “If one person has a bad meet we don’t have enough scores to help with the team score.” Luckily, all three athletes and Kerby are confident with the team’s ability to perform well at meets.
Dive can be a difficult and competitive sport for those competing, and it involves a lot of hard work from the athletes. It can also help the divers to become stronger and more focused not only on diving but also in their life. According to Tolman, “Dive is a very mental sport and it helps you to get mentally stronger, and physically stronger because you work out.” Kunz agreed with this statement and said, “Dive teaches you not to give up when things go bad, and to not be scared of things.”
Dive practices continue until October, and their “Red and Blue meet” where the athletes on the team compete against each other is on the 29th of August. Their first varsity meet is on September 12th.
