SSHS Divers Gear Up Heading into Sectionals

by Alivya Herman (10)
alivya.herman@fwcsstudents.org

January 31, 2023

Sectionals for swim and dive are coming up and the South Side dive team is getting ready. Divers Tyler Cross (10) and Natalie Stark (10), as well as dive coach Chris Giant, are preparing for the meet. Coach Giant has been coaching for 40 years in total with two years at South Side. Diving for three years, Stark, the only female diver at South Side, will be diving on February 4th and Cross, diving for one year and the only male diver at South Side, will be diving on February 18th at the Helen P. Brown Natatorium.

The dive team at South Side is small with only three divers. They combine their practice time with Snider and Wayne which comes to a total of six divers. They all work really hard and are good at what they do.

To get ready for meets, the divers as well as the coach have different things they must do to prepare.

“I have to create the dive sheets on the computer. Try to get the divers ready because they have to learn six dives to be in a meet,” Coach Giant said.

“It is really important to know what six dives you’re doing and in what order. Usually when it’s a practice before a meet we don’t do anything other than those six dives. When preparing for meets, it really helps when I’m around my friends because if I’m just around coach it gets me stressed out,” Stark said.

“There are a lot of things to prepare for meets. I try to get a little more sleep, make sure that I eat a good amount, and lots of practice and warmups beforehand. Just practicing and warming up helps me dive a lot better and fix a lot of simple issues in my diving,” Cross said.

Being able to dive in a meet isn’t that simple. Each diver needs to learn six dives and go to the practices in order to participate in the meets.

“They need to learn the correct technique in practice. As well as coming to practice and then that’ll make them prepared for the meets,” Coach Giant said.

Practices are only an hour long from 5:00 to 6:00 Monday through Thursday. During practices, the divers take turns going off the board to practice the dives they need for the upcoming meet.

“Practices are very short. We only get an hour. We always cut each other in line and just play around when we’re not diving. When we’re actually diving, focusing on how to fix things coach wants us to fix. Improving and getting better. They’re overall very fun but you’re always very tired. Tired from squeezing every muscle in your body and repeating motions,” Stark said.

“Dive practices are usually very fun. I get to hangout with my teammates and friends, and gain skill at the same time. Stretching is the first thing we do, then the coach gives us a quick summary of what's being worked on today, and we start doing it. Usually the coach sits at the edge of the pool and watches us do dives over and over. The coach usually just tells us what we're doing wrong, what we're doing right, and cheers us on the whole time. It's a really fun experience and it gets you ready for life because you have to keep persisting over and over and put a lot of effort into it if you want to get better and learn new things,” Cross said.

Each diver has a fear of smacking against the water or hitting the board. Even though that does happen, they get back up and try to fix what went wrong and keep trying until they succeed.

“There’s going to be times where you do smack or you hit the board. But that’s what makes you a true diver is being able to conquer those things and get back on the board,” Stark said.

  “Anyone has the ability to dive, you just have to get over the initial fears and disconnects between your brain and your body. Smacking and hitting the board are worries for a longtime during dive, but as you get control of your technique and skill it will fade a certain amount,” Cross said.

There is a lot of friendship that goes on in dive. Most of the time in meets, you only dive with people from your own school or who you practice with. Having that comradery and cheering on your teammates makes every sport or activity more fun. 

“Nothing beats the feeling of coming out of the water and everyone’s clapping and cheering. Like you’re proud of yourself and your teammates are proud of you. It’s just a good moment,” Stark said.

“The accomplishment of learning a new dive, it is one of the best feelings ever. Working on that one move over and over again makes finally being able to do it all the better,” Cross said.

Diving seems to be a fun sport to be involved in. With the season coming to an end, lets cheer on our swim and dive team during the upcoming sectionals.

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