Welcome Divers and Parents,

We had a bunch of "preseason" meetings but Karla and I were not able to attend (most of) them.  Our first goal as a team is to learn a little bit about each other, work on some dive fundamentals and basics, and (quickly) ramp-up to getting your first few dives before our "tryout" period ends.  Expect to have a week of decent weather while we test out our new practice schedule and warm-water situation.  Practices will be fast-paced on your early days and cold and will seem expecially long on out later practice days.  Bring lots of warm clothes for AFTER practice, as well as a couple towels to dry-off with if you need them.  Also remember that our hands, feet, and head lose heat the fastest; make sure to cover those pasts as much as possible on our coldest weather days.  Karla and I are so excited to get the season going!!!

Everyone - 

This week we will begin our practices; we will see how the practice time-slots affect our progress.  EVERYONE has to have 6 distinct dives by our first meet at the end of the month!  For new divers, that means a forward dive and forward flip, a back dive and back flip, an inward dive, and a twisting dive/flip.  Our first priority as a team is to get our newest divers prepared for this so expect returning divers to be helping spot and give feedback to newer divers.

See our Focus Board below;  What do these things mean to you:

Embrace Hard Things; Master the Basics; Be a Good Teammate; Practice with Purpose

Alumni Corner - 

Maddie Wong (Sophomore at Northeastern University) is mid-season; college teams often take a break to train in the middle of their season.  Last year, Maddie and her team went to Puerto Rico to train!

Swim Team Stuff - 

Help streamline communication by filling out the Swim/Dive Team Survey

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KmjZ_6HnA4nlSIJWqTD-60IuhoMMfRDqKQA1826YHB4/preview?edit_requested=true

Captains - Adrián and Ellie

Let's look at doing some team bonding next week; maybe something after practice or on the weekend.  What are some activities we could do on a "rained-out" practice day?  Team-bonding or Drills/Warm-ups

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck soon :)

Michael Berwald - Los Gatos Head Diving Coach (and Sara Gatos Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and Los Toga Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

We had a busy last few weeks; our Alumni Meet, League finals for both the Varsity and JV Teams, a relaxed week of diving, and celebration of Aanya!!!  Our Alumni meet on Saturday the 19th went great; lots of alumni showed up, many dove, you guys had some fun dives and Karla and I had a good time catching up with everyone after the meet.  Our League finals went great, 2nd place finish by Adrián, 8th and 9th Places for Ellie and Aanya, and our best and most surprising finish, a 4th, 7th, and 12th Place fines for Ainsley, Khushi, and Haley!!!  We celebrated Aanya this last Friday, loved your "Hey Aanya" song and it is important to recognize someone who has done such a good job helping grow our diving program

Everyone - 

This week is really just about Adrián preparing for Tuesday's CCS event.  Monday will be practice for him; you can come and watch/coach, but he needs the extra board time.  Tuesday is CCS, the Boy's event has 12:30pm warmups and the diving  competition begins at 2pm!  Come up to De Anza to see him compete!

SATURDAY (Going forward...) - Our season is officially over but we can hacve some "unofficial" time on the boards, either Saturdays or after school during the week.  Contact Karla and me about getting something scheduled

Alumni Corner - 

What a fun Alumni meet we held this year; alumni divers included Parsa, Sascha, Kira, Sammie, Lizzy, Simone, Nina, and even a couple stop-bys from Zander and Melody (and her Daughter Mila!!!)  So much fun to see you all dive together and catch up with our divers from the past!

Captains - 

Let's look at doing some "unofficial" practices, either during the week or on a Saturday (maybe with another school invited?)

Prepare/remind everyone about the Banquet; RSVP thru the Swim Team email/website and save the date!!!

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck soon :)

Michael Berwald - Los Gatos Head Diving Coach (and Sara Gatos Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and Los Toga Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

We had a nice and relaxing Spring Break week; smaller practice sizes, warmer weather, a return to some fundamentals (pointed-toes, the approaches, leave-angles, etc.) and a combined practice with Homestead, Lynbrook, and the Valley Christian girls on Friday.  Saturday, Adrian (our sole LGHS representative) dove in the Lynbrook Invite... AND QUALIFIED FOR CCS!!!! Congratulations Adrian!!! Not what we were expecting and quite a nice surprise.  Adrian's goals were to not fail a dive (check) and to score 5's or better on all his dive scores (we are still working on that).  My goal was to have Adrian get a chance to see an 11-dive meet, feel a bit of the extra pressure it carries, and to not scare the judges with a "too-close" dive or flip.  It was a fun day and my proudest moments were the Homestead kids (Beni, Landon, and Paige) and Ashika (Lynbrook) and Adrian cheering each other on for their dives (it was basically a BUNCH of Private-school divers, mostly Club divers vs all our Public-school, non-club kids).  A good showing from our public schools and some really great divers doing some incredible dives from the most experienced kids. This week, we have a full-week of practice (no league dual meet) to work on our League Final's lists; for Varsity, your will need 2 dives from each category plus a "triple-up" (3rd dive) from one of the categories.  I have to adjust the dive orders in order for them to be "legal" lists; we will work to put your "like-dive" together; fronds with reverses, backs with inwards, but sometimes it gets tricky...  

JV Divers; your League Finals Lists need to have 8 dives; 4 category-dives representing your voluntary dives (the ones you CANNOT fail or you DQ) and 4 category-dives representing your "optional" dives (the ones you can fail one of and where you can score more points!). Here are some notes for the week;

Everyone - 

ORANGE/BLACK SCHEDULE: M/W/F - 4 - 6pm; T/Th - 2:30-4:30pm  I'll bring the Alumni Dive Sheets for you to fill-out in preparation for Saturday's Alumni Meet

SATURDAY (4/19) - Alumni Meet; Set-up at 10:30/10:45am; Warm-ups at 11am; Meet-start at NOON!!!  (We should be done by 2ish); You a (and the alumni) will perform 5 dives, your choice; 1 "non-dive" dive (a cannonball, a "cartwheel" dive, or a dive you have never tried).  Maybe a "team-bonding" painting project after we finish the meet (maybe on Friday instead of pool-time)... more info to come.

Alumni Corner - 

Maddie Wong (Northeastern University, in Boston, MA) won her league's "Rookie Diver of the Year" last week; Congratulations Maddie!!!

Captains - 

Dive Swag;  Have we given-out all the swag?  Have you guys collected all the $$$???

2025 Alumni Meet; Where are we at with the flier-approvals; Aanya, you said you passed them along to your ASB friend; any updates?

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck soon :)

Michael Berwald - Los Gatos Head Diving Coach (and Sara Gatos Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and Los Toga Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

We had a VERY early meet this week at Los Altos; it was a fun meet with a shout-out to our Varsity Girls; Ellie and Aanya.  The Varsity Girls team was 3 points ahead doing into the dive event; while our girls dove great, it was just not enough to beat Ella and Victoria.  Great job, some beautiful dives as we prepare for the season's end.  And our JV Girls are also a strong trio; they all scored between 140 and 150 points, finishing 2/3/4 in the meet.  Even though LAHS scored 1st and 5th place points (6 + 1 = 7), our girls outscored them as a team (4 + 3 + 2 = 9)! This week is Spring Break practices (11am - 1pm) and the opportunity to dive an 11-dive meet at Lynbrook to qualify for CCS if we think you are close (April 12th).  Here are some notes for the week;

Everyone - 

SPRING BREAK SCHEDULE: 11am - 1pm Monday - Friday.  It should be fairly sunny and warm weather... time will tell.

SATURDAY (4/12) - Lynbrook Dive Invite; ?Adrian? only??? (Bert to help with desk???) Let's get your 11 dive list put together.

Alumni Corner - 

We got to meet Parsa this week, he will be coming to the alumni meet; Make sure you save the date (April 19th, the day before Easter) and start to invite your friends and family to our Team Fundraiser!  We will be collecting donations from spectators and divers (cash or Venmo/Zelle) at the event.

Captains - 

Dive Swag;  Stuff is here!!! Pay Nelson or Aanya and get your sweatshirts :)

Saturday Practices; We will try to schedule some more combined-practices; maybe we can host one of these next few weeks....

2025 Alumni Meet; Where are we at with the flier-approvals; Aanya, you said you passed them along to your ASB friend; any updates?

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck soon :)

Michael Berwald - Los Gatos Head Diving Coach (and Sara Gatos Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and Los Toga Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

We had a fun and challenging week; it was reverse week and we sent-it... but not all were successful; more work on the reverses this week.  We had a fun Friday and Saturday practice; some really nice improvements over at Homestead for our combined practice.  This week is a "forwards" week again, we will travel to Los Altos on Wednesday for the meet.  After this week, we have a 2-week break until our League Finals Meet (we do have a week on Spring Break practices and the opportunity to dive an 11-dive meet at Lynbrook to qualify for CCS if we think you are close).  Here are some notes for the week;

Everyone - 

Orange/Black Schedule: M/F: 2:30 - 4:30pm T/Th; 4 - 6pm W; Meet (1:30pm School Release, 3pm Warm-ups at Los Altos HS, 4pm Start)

SATURDAY (4/5) - Plan on a "home" practice; 9 - 11am on Saturday

Wednesday (1:30pm), you will be released from class to head down and meet Karla at the pool-gate.  We will load-up the van and head up to Los Altos for the meet; 3(ish)pm warm-ups and a 4pm Meet-start.  It is another forwards-week so a bit less to practice (unless you still need a dive-category...)

SATURDAY (4/5) - Saturday Practice; LGHS; 9am - 11am; Bring some snacks to share :)

Alumni Corner - 

A few total goof-ball-divers have RSVP-ed; Kira, Jane and Sascha are set to join us); Make sure you save the date (April 19th, the day before Easter) and start to invite your friends and family to our Team Fundraiser!  We will be collecting donations from spectators and divers (cash or Venmo/Zelle) at the event.

Captains - 

Dive Swag;  Stuff is ordered, we should get it in a week or two and we can pay in cash/Venmo/Zelle

Saturday Practices; We will try to schedule some more combined-practices; maybe we can host one of these next few weeks....

2025 Alumni Meet; Where are we at with the flier-approvals; Aanya, you said you passed them along to your ASB friend; any updates?

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck soon :)

Michael Berwald - Los Gatos Head Diving Coach (and Sara Gatos Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and Los Toga Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

We had a great week; lots of new dives and improvements on the dives you all have (just) learned.  We had a great showing at our Senior meet, honoring Aanya while also scoring important points for your respective teams.  Diver of the week would have to go to Ainsley; competed in her first meet, only after about a weeks-worth of diving, and placing FIRST!!!  Adrian won the JV Boys event (6 pts), Khushi and Haley placed 3rd and 5th, scoring important points for the JV Girls team, Nelson scored 2nd place points (4 points) and Ellie and Aanya finished 2/3 behind Paige.  Great job and some really good diving (from us and the other teams and divers) on Friday.  It was fun to see the El Camino divers too; Madison and Jayvani are only freshmen and should be some healthy competition for our younger divers in the next 4 years!  Saturday was a blast; we did a combined practice with Coach Gregg and Monta Vista and Beni (the solo-diver from Homestead); some great prep-work for our newbies on the reverse!  More reverse preps and dives/flips this week... Here are some notes for the week;

Everyone - 

Orange/Black Schedule: M/W/F: 4 - 6pm T; 2:30 - 4:30pm Th; Meet (1:30pm School Release, 3pm Warm-ups at Gunn HS, 4pm Start)

SATURDAY (3/29) - I spoke with Dirk; we will do 10am - 12pm up at HOMESTEAD HS with their team.

Thursday (1:30pm), you will be released from class to head down and meet Karla at the pool-gate.  We will load-up the van and head up to Gunn HS (Palo Alto) for the meet; 3(ish)pm warm-ups and a 4pm Meet-start.  It is reverse-week so a lot of potential flops for the Friday "gram" post...

Friday, we will have the pool to ourselves; swimmers will be up at Gunn. Is there any interest in moving-up the practice time for Friday? (I'll have to give Julian {the REC manager} the heads-up).

SATURDAY (3/29) - Saturday Practice; Homestead HS; 10am - 12pm; Bring some snacks to share :)

Alumni Corner - 

Even a few more RSVPs to our Alumni Meet (one of our favorite divers-from-the-past, Nina, will be coming up from LA to join us); Make sure you save the date (April 19th) and start to invite your friends and family to our Team Fundraiser!  We will be collecting donations from spectators and divers (cash or Venmo/Zelle) at the event.

Captains - 

Dive Swag;  The orders were placed and we are looking at 1-2 weeks for them to be printed and delivered; What payment-types are accepted (cash, Venmo, Zelle, etc.?)

Saturday Practices; It was hilarious seeing you all harmonize in the hot tub up at MVHS; should we put together a "song-set" for the next Combined Saturday?  Boyz 2 Men??? Backstreet Boys???  

2025 Alumni Meet; Where are we at with the flier-approvals; Aanya, you said you passed them along to your ASB friend; any updates?

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck soon :)

Michael Berwald - Los Gatos Head Diving Coach (and Sara Gatos Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and Los Toga Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

We had a pretty wet week and a drizzly but COLD meet on Friday; great job in the bad dive conditions; desk, divers AND our Guest-Judges!.  All divers competed "unopposed" since there is no Saratoga team; dive sheets are below.  This week, we have a 4-team meet; Homestead, Fremont, and MacDonald will be coming to dive with us on Friday, our last league home-meet of the year :(  But also our Senior Meet, where we get to honor Aanya and her contributions to our team:)  It is a "twisters" week so we have a lot of learning to do... next week is reverses so we might start prepping for those this week too. A reminder about legal dive lists; you must do the "dive-of-the-week category dive first.  The next 5 dives have to represent 4 of the 5 dive categories.  You cannot fail the "dive-of-the-week" and you cannot fail more than one dive in the next 5 dives; you are DQ-ed and you do not score points for the meet :(  This week we will have mixed weather but hopefully a sunny Friday meet.  Here are some notes for the week;

Everyone - 

Orange/Black Schedule: M/W: 2:30 - 4:30pm pm T/Th: 4 - 6pm F: Meet (2:15pm Pool & Desk Set-up)

SATURDAY (3/22) - Combined Practice 11am - 1pm at Monta Vista HS (Cupertino); bring some snacks to share with the MV team

Thursday (4pm), we have our Team Photos; come in your team suit (or a plain black/dark-color suit) and get changed before you come down to the pool deck.

Friday, at 2:15, head down to the pool to set-up the pool area and desk.  Warmups go from 3pm until all divers are ready to begin (or 4pm at the latest).  Since this is out last home meet of the season, it is our Senior Meet; we will be honoring Aanya after a few rounds of diving.  This meet will be a bit bigger (longer) than our last couple, be prepared for sunny but cool weather.

SATURDAY (3/22) - Saturday Practice; 11am -1pm at Monta Vista HS (Cupertino); Bring some snacks to share!

Alumni Corner - 

We have had MANY RSVPs to our Alumni Meet already; Make sure you save the date (April 19th) and start to invite your friends and family to our Team Fundraiser!

Captains - 

Dive Swag;  Have we placed the order? What is the ETA?

Saturday Practices; Any ideas for when we go to/host other school? We might do one with MV this week???

2025 Alumni Meet; Where are we at with the flier-approvals; Aanya, you said you passed them along to your ASB friend?

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck soon :)

Michael Berwald - Los Gatos Head Diving Coach (and Sara Gatos Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and Los Toga Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

We had a busy week preparing for our Thursday meet and then had some fun, productive days of practice on Friday and Saturday.  Karla and I are so proud of you guys and the way you performed in the first meet.  Palo Alto has some REALLY GOOD divers (along with a bunch of newbies); we don't really dive against the competition, we dive against ourselves.  Big shout-out to Ellie for WINNING the Varsity Girls event (something I was not expecting), Nelson for matching-up against Gunnar and Jensen and diving his list well (and the second inward flip even better than the first!), Adrian for his solid performance, Bert for competing in his first meet and completing 5 of the 6 dives, scoring points for the JV Boys, and Khushi for getting compliments from the PA parents on how well she did at helping run the desk.  The meet results are posted below.  Here are some notes for this week;

Everyone - 

Orange/Black Schedule: M/W: 4 - 6pm pm T/Th: 2:30 - 4:30pm F: Meet (2:10pm School Release)

SATURDAY (3/8) - Our 2nd Saturday Practice; 9am - 11am (we will try to do next week at another pool)

For Friday; Head straight down to the pool to set-up the pool area and desk.  Warmups go from 3pm until all divers are ready to begin (or 4pm at the latest).  Meets can last a couple hours and be prepared to help out on the desk when your event is over, as well as some clean-up at the very end of the meet.

SATURDAY (3/8) - Saturday Practice; 9am - 11am (we are stuck with this time slot :( , but I will talk to Dirk about doing a Combined Sat.)

Last Saturday was a lot of fun and pretty productive, let's do it again this week with 2 coaches (and Aanya on the boards:)

Alumni Corner - 

Maddie did great in her championship meet events this weekend!  She placed 9th in the 3M event (winning the "Consolation" finals) and 11th in the 1M event!!!  Her teammate, Kiki, won BOTH the events!!!  Congrats Maddie, we are so proud of you!!!

Captains - 

Dive Swag;  What is the ETA after we place the order? 

Sat. Practices; Think of some ideas for when we go to/host other school; icebreakers, games, etc we can do with the other divers.

2025 Alumni Meet; I'll make some flier-versions for you guys to hang in classrooms and around campus and we'll see if we can bring out some students to watch the flops (and maybe donate a few dollars to our Program) and maybe get some interested in joining next year.  Any ideas you want me to add for the student-version???

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck soon :)

Michael Berwald - Los Gatos Head Diving Coach (and Sara Gatos Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and Los Toga Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

We had nice quiet week of diving over your break; working on fundamentals and our dive list for the first competition.  This week is BUSY, we will need to figure out lists for Thursday's meet; a Forwards meet against Palo Alto.  Here are some notes for the week;

Everyone - 

Orange/Black Schedule: M/W/F: 2:30 - 4:30pm T: 4 - 6pm Th: Meet (1:30pm School Release)

SATURDAY (3/1) - Our 1st Saturday Practice; 9am - 11am (we will try to get a later start/finish time for the next one)

For Thursday; you will be released from class at 1:30pm, head straight down to the pool gate to meet Karla (1:35pm) and leave the campus/parking lot by 1:40pm.  You usually stop off at a Trader Joe's on the way up to Palo Alto, grab some snacks and should arrive at the school a bit before 3pm.  Warmups go from 3pm until all divers are ready to begin (or 4pm at the latest).  Meets can last a couple hours and be prepared to help out on the desk if Palo Alto needs some assistance in running the meet.

Here are your tentative lists for the meet:

Aanya - 101B, 103B, 5122D, 301B, ?202A?, 401B

Ellie - 101A, 103B, 201B, 402C, 301B, 5122D

Nelson - 101B, 5121D, 202B, 401C, 103C, 302C

Bert - 101B?, 102C?, 201A, ?202C?, 401C?, ?5211A?

Adrian - 

SATURDAY (3/1) - Our 1st Saturday Practice; 9am - 11am (we will try to get a later start/finish time for the next one); 

Saturday Practices are a lot of fun!!!  It is a nice, relaxed atmosphere, we listen to music while diving, you guys help coach each other and try new dives, and, eventually, we will invite other divers and coaches to join us.  Bring a speaker and your phone and some snacks to share :)

Captains - 

Where are we with the Dive Swag?  I think that the deadline for the Swim & Dive Swag has passed :/  

Next week, we host our first meet of the season; let's all review the procedures for running the desk.  We have a WAY smaller team this year, we might have to combine jobs (and I might have to help out too).  PS - Our iPad crapped-out so I'm getting a new one :/

This Saturday is our first Saturday Practice; should we do something special for practice or after we finish?  A game of D-I-V-E?  Lunch? Also, think of some ideas for when we go to/host other school; icebreakers, games, etc we can do with the other divers.

I'm working on our 2025 Alumni Meet flyers; I'll make some versions for you guys to hang in classrooms and around campus and we'll see if we can bring out some students to watch the flops (and maybe donate a few dollars to our Program) and maybe get some interested in joining next year.  Any ideas you want me to add for the student-version???  Or do you guys want to make it???

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck soon :)

Michael Berwald - Los Gatos Head Diving Coach (and Sara Gatos Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and Los Toga Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

We had a rough last week with the rain and windy weather but our upcoming break week looks to be warmer, less/no rain, and our optimal-warmth time slot.  We will continue to work towards our first-week's dive list; probably 2 forwards and 4 other category-dives for returning divers.  Here are some notes for this week;

Everyone - 

February Break Schedule: M - F; 11am - 1pm

If you are in town, you have practice :). 

These practices always pay great dividends; many of you will add a new dive (or two if you are new) with the small practices and more one-on-one work Karla and I can do when there are only a couple divers to coach.

It looks like we have tentative dates for the Alumni Meet (4/19) and Picture Day (3/21) - Karla and I will confirm the details and get you the exact days and times.

Captains - 

Let's think about a team-building activity for later in the week (when we have everyone available) and let's get moving on the "swag" stuff.

Alumni Corner - Our two most recent grads are finishing their first college dive season!!!  Ava L. finished up her season this weekend; she placed 4th in the 1M competition and !2nd! in the 3M competition in the Big West Championships!!!!  Maddie is preparing for her final two meets; the CCA Championships are at the end of the month and her NCAA meets are in March.  Congratulations to both you girls on a great season and good luck to Maddie in her last couple meets; we'll be rooting for you from the West coast!!!

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck soon :)

Michael Berwald - Los Gatos Head Diving Coach (and Sara Gatos Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and Los Toga Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Karla and I enjoyed our first week even with all the hiccups; Karla missing a couple days due to sickness, our spotty weather, and sorting out some of the details to the season.  We also had such a fun time on Friday, sharing some Mexican and seeing Adrian perform in the talent show!!!  We have a single (so far) newbie; Bert, welcome to the team!  This week we will focus on the back press and back dives, maybe start some inward work for returning divers and some inward preps for Bert. Here are some notes for the week;

Everyone - 

Orange/Black Schedule: M/W/F; 4-6pm T/Th; 2:30-4:30pm

Be prepared for COLD weather, possibly rain; it is looking like decent weather at the beginning of the week with rain starting on Wednesday and getting bad on Thursday.

With backs, feel free to grab a wetsuit top... your back and shoulders will thank you.

Captains - 

Let's iron our the "swag" plans and get together an order estimate and design/text plan- the sooner we get it to Brian, the sooner we can get our swag!!!  This Friday is a late-slot practice; could we do a team-bonding thing; we could do a 1/2 practice or scrub the whole thing depending on the plans.

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck soon :)

Michael Berwald - Los Gatos Head Diving Coach (and Sara Gatos Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and Los Toga Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Karla and I are super excited for next week, we start practice on MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3RD at 2:30pm (until about 4:30).

Everyone - Be prepared for COLD weather, possibly rain :(  We practice in the rain (usually trying to end a bit earlier than normal) but if we have thunder and/or lightning, we HAVE to get out of the pool.

Newbies- Bring a suit and towel for Day One; just in case you end up getting in the water.  Most of your first day will be on the pool deck practicing the forward approach.

Returning Divers- Plan on getting in on Monday, doing some basic approaches and dives to demonstrate them to our new teammates.  Get the "ya-yas" out of your system.

The remainder of the week (also going to be cold and wet), we will be working on our forward approaches and dives and introducing the back press to the new divers.

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck soon :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Karla and I are so excited about our upcoming season!  We are looking forward to our last Athlete/Parent meeting and the LGHS Spring Sports Night; Tuesday, January 28th, 2:30/6pm, and our first practice; Monday February 3rd, 2:30pm down on the pool deck. More info on the team and our season to come!

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck soon :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Last week, we coaches got a message from Megan, the Palo Alto and Stanford dive coach; she is offering a dive clinic specifically for high school divers of all levels.  See her email below;

Hello coaches,

Congratulations on a successful high school diving season!

I wanted to let you know that I am offering a summer diving camp at Stanford Diving Club specifically for high school divers (rising freshmen - seniors). Practices will consist of 45 min of dry land training (tumbling, trampoline, dry board, pit, belt work) and 45 min of water (edge work, 1m, 3m, platform). This is a great opportunity for divers to improve their lists and learn new dives in the top diving facility in the Bay Area! Here are the details:

Dates: July 15-26 (Monday-Friday) 

Time: 5-6:30pm

Location: Avery Aquatic Center at Stanford University 

Cost: $500

https://www.stanforddiving.org/

A Premier Diving Club in the Bay Area

stanforddiving.org

If there’s enough interest, I plan to offer a fall camp as well (Tue/Thur 5-6:30pm for 6 weeks). If these dates/times don’t work for your divers, I also offer private and semi-private lessons through Stanford Diving Club.

Please share with your divers and let me know if you have any questions?

Warmly,

Megan

__

MEGAN PARKER

m: 650-776-3739

meganparkercoaching.com

Follow me on IG @coachingathletes 

Karla and I will see you at the banquet :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Last week on Tuesday, we had our last meet of the 2024 Diving season... CCS at Palo Alto!!!

Last week; What a great showing at CCS; Our team efforts helped give our Combined Swim and Dive Teams a solid performance; results are below.

The End to our Season :(

Warm-weather Practices - Tentative/TBD - If the weather is nice and sunny and you guys would like to tan/dive after school lets out, send out the group-text and Karla or I will see if we can make it down to the pool to supervise you :)

On the Radar...: 

RSVP for the 2024 Swim and Dive Banquet and Awards - Thursday, May 30th 6- 9pm @ LGHS
Join us in celebrating an amazing season! RSVP’s now open on Meet & Events. We need ALL athletes to RSVP as this will be a catered event. Details:

• Thursday, May 30th

• 6pm: Dinner on the LGHS lawn off High School Ct. near the LGHS Theater

• 7pm: Ceremony in the LGHS Theater

• Parents, siblings and guests are welcome!

• $20 per non-athlete attendee. Send payment via Venmo to @Dawn-Sullivan-22 (mobile #: 650.387.7124) Include the name of your athlete in the note of your payment

• Set-up volunteers needed! Sign up on the Meet & Events page

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

For most on our team, the season has concluded; congratulations on a successful season!!!  For Riley, Maddie, Ellie, Aanya, and Parsa; we have one more big one... the CCS Dive Meet; Tuesday, April 30th at Palo Alto... Let's show them what LGHS/Saratoga Diving is all about :)

Last week; Our Combined De Anza/El Camino Diving Finals events (JV on Tuesday and Varsity on Thursday) - Results and Dive Sheet attached below...

JV League Dive Meet: Tuesday at Homestead;   We had our JV/FS League championships on Tuesday at Homestead; we had a great showing with a large number of points contributed to the Swimmers overall total; Nelson and Adrian got 3rd and 4th place points, respectively, and Ellie placed 1st!!!, 20 points for the JV girls and another LGHS JV Girls Champion!!!  Very proud of all your dives and great competitive but collaborative nature; helping out each other but also remaining friendly with the divers from all the other teams.  We coaches are always most proud of this aspect of our league and respective teams.

Varsity League Dive Meet: Thursday at Los Gatos;   We had another great meet; both diving and hosting/desk-ing in a pretty long and complicated meet.  Congratulations to Aanya and Parsa who made their CCS scores and to them and Mina and Riley for scoring points (top 16 finish) for their swim team divisions.  And a special thanks to Adrian and Nelson, who single-handedly, manually confirmed ALL the judges scores with the paper-copies (we had a problem with one of the iPads and how DiveTrax was calculating the total scores)

Here is our plan for this week; Non-CCS divers; you can come to practice to help coach/critique our teammates but not if you are a distraction...

CCS Divers (Riley, Ellie, Aanya, Maddie, and Parsa);  We have ONE day to practice, Monday (we will try to do a "practice-meet with 8 dives, and may go past our normal end-time).  Tuesday is the big day!!!  We will travel to Palo Alto for the CCS meet; It will be an early-meet; the Boys will go first (7am Warm-ups; 9am Meet-start) and Girls after (12pm Warm-ups, 2pm Meet-start). 

Either way, CCS divers can be excused from school for the whole day if you want to come and cheer on your teammates; talk to Karla or myself and we can make the arrangements for you.  Non-CCS divers, we hope you will come watch the end of the 2nd meet (the girls) after you finish your school day IF you can make your way up to PA on your own...

The End to our Season :(

Warm-weather Practices - Tentative/TBD - If the weather is nice and sunny and you guys would like to tan/dive after school lets out, send out the group-text and Karla or I will see if we can make it down to the pool to supervise you :)

On the Radar...:  We have a date for the Swimming and Diving Banquet; it will be held on-campus, on Thursday, May 30th. Here is some info from the Swimmer's email:

RSVP for the 2024 Swim and Dive Banquet and Awards - Thursday, May 30th 6- 9pm @ LGHS
Join us in celebrating an amazing season! RSVP’s now open on Meet & Events. We need ALL athletes to RSVP as this will be a catered event. Details:

• Thursday, May 30th

• 6pm: Dinner on the LGHS lawn off High School Ct. near the LGHS Theater

• 7pm: Ceremony in the LGHS Theater

• Parents, siblings and guests are welcome!

• $20 per non-athlete attendee. Send payment via Venmo to @Dawn-Sullivan-22 (mobile #: 650.387.7124) Include the name of your athlete in the note of your payment

• Set-up volunteers needed! Sign up on the Meet & Events page

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

For some on our team, this will be their LAST week of competitions, for others, we are ramping-up to our CCS events... either way, we have a busy week!!!

Last week; Our Combined LG-Saratoga Senior Meet and Senior Ceremony; 

Senior Swim Meet: LG at Saratoga;   We began our Friday by heading up to Saratoga to cheer on and speak about our Saratoga Seniors, Tashi and Riley!  As always, you guys do such a good job of honoring the divers that have helped to shape the program you are part of.  After the speeches, we headed back to the LG pool to run our Inwards meet...

Senior Dive Meet: LG vs Saratoga;   We had our last "regular-season" meet, an Inwards week so some of my favorite dives!!!  And just like in the movies, the 3 Senior girls went 1-2-3 in the competition :)  Results and sheets can be found below.  Also, nice job on running a quick and efficient desk to help get to our...

Senior Diver Ceremony;   We honored our 5 Seniors;  Riley, Tashi, Parsa, Ava, and Maddie.  Again, love to hear you guys all honor our athletes, and I know it also means a lot to their family and friends that are there watching!  Thanks for all the family help and donations and a special shout-out for Juel who has been our Hall-of-Fame Team-Mom for the last two years...we are sad to see her leave our programs as well :(

Here is our plan for this week; This week is pretty busy; Practices on M/W/F, meets on T/Th... here is the breakdown (PS - we will try to squeeze in a tie-dye session after one of these practice days...)

Newbies;  We have ONE DAY to practice, Monday (we will try to do a "practice-meet with 8 dives, and may go past our normal end-time).  Tuesday is the big day!!!  We will travel to Homestead for our JV League Finals; our 3 divers are Adrián, Nelson, and Ellie (who as a better-than-average chance to WIN the event...). Boards will open at 11am, most teams will arrive between then and noon, and the meet starts at 1pm-sharp.  You may make changes to your dive list up until 12:30pm; after that, you can only change the position (and it is given the LOWER of the 2 DDs).  Dirk is hoping to have the meet finished by 4pm; it all depends on weather, desk-ability, un-foreseen/unavoidable delays from injuries, judge discussions, one year at a LG swim meet, a dog (my roommate's) came over to visit and jump into the pool in the middle of the 500 swim event... you never know :)  

And just like that, Adrián and Nelson, your first season of diving if DONE!!! Great job this year pushing yourselves and learning a bunch of dives!  Karla and I hope you had as much fun on the team as we had coaching your.  For Thursday, we need your help at the Varsity meet, on CCS-Tuesday, you can be excused to come watch if you can afford to miss your classes:). Then the Banquet...then the summer :)

Returning divers; You guys have TWO DAYS to practice before the Varsity event, that we host!!!.  On Monday, work your 11-dive lists on Monday, focusing on the 8 you will do for the "practice-meet".  Tuesday, you should come up to Homestead to cheer on your teammates as long as you are able to; speak to Karla if you want to be released from your last class to see the meet-start at 1pm.  Wednesday, we have Varsity divers plus Ellie (who will be going to CCS) practicing their 11-dive lists; practice-meet at the end of practice where you get 3-scores; Me, Karla, and Ellie.  Then, on Thursday, we have the Varsity Diving event!!!

THURSDAY, APRIL 25TH - Varsity League Finals (at LGHS) - We host the Varsity dive event; that means while our Varsity divers are preparing for the meet, we need all other divers helping with the set-up, food-table, desk/announcing, "runners", and clean-up after the meet concludes.  Karla and I will be there early to help start the set-up; all divers should come down during tutorial and lunch to help out; again, speak with Karla if you can be excused from your last (and maybe 2nd-to-last) class to help with the meet.  Boards will open at 11am, most teams will ALREADY BE HERE, waiting to get onto the boards at exactly 11:01... LG/Saratoga Varsity divetrs should get on the boards early, practice their lists (AT LEAST 2 of each dive and at MAX, 4, if you need the practice.  Plan on getting out, drying off, RESTING and getting something to eat, before getting back onto the board at around 12:30/12:45, just to get your legs warm and ready for the meet.  No promises (since we are still receiving entries) but it looks like the meet will last until 6/6:30, and could be ending closer to 7pm...be prepared for a long day; divers and non-competing teammates!

SATURDAY, April 27th - All-Leagues Pre-CCS Practice - We are hoping to be able to hold this practice at Palo Alto, the site of the CCS event... I will find out soon...

Next Week (and the near future...):  Next week, we have our CCS event!!!  JV will be released to watch/cheer on our CCS entrants as long as they can (academically) afford missing your classes.  CCS Athletes will be released for the entire day of Tuesday, April 30th.  Warm-ups are early so be prepared for a full day!  We also now have a date for the Swimming and Diving Banquet; it will be held on-campus on Thursday May 30th, more info to come...

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Last week we had our Spring Break and an 11-dive Invite meet!!!  We are fast approaching the end of our season... get ready for a busy couple weeks...

Last week; Spring Break Practices and the Lynbrook Dive Invite;   We had a decent "weather-week" for your break; plus the 11-1pm time-slot is generally a bit warmer with the sun out.  We had pretty small numbers so you all got to work on some dives that you have and some that you are trying to get.  Some splats and flops but good progress for the week.  On Saturday, we competed in the Lynbrook Dive Invite; Maddie came in 4th and got her Automatic CCS Qualifying score, Ellie and Riley made  their CCS Consideration Scores and Parsa had a decent meet going until his neck/shoulder started giving him trouble.  He should be able to get his Qualifying Score at League Finals!  Results and sheets can be found below; Great job in some pretty miserable conditions and great job at "desk-ing" by Adrian!

Here is our plan for this week; This week is pretty busy; I need JV League lists (8-dives) by Wednesday, Varsity League lists (11-dives) by Friday, also on Friday; our final Dual Meet; LG vs Saratoga, both team's Senior Dive Meet.  Check your email/group-text for information on how to contribute to our Senior Ceremonies and celebration!

Newbies;  "Inwards" week, get those inward- dives, flips, and 1.5's ready!!!  After that, let's work on your best 8-dives (the ones you will compete in League Finals).  Dirk would like to have our "draft" final's list by WEDNESDAY!!!

Returning divers; Put together an "inwards" 6-dive, dual-meet list for Friday, then get your 11-dive lists (for League Finals) set; I need to first enter them into an Excel sheet to check them before we put them into the iPad.  In general, if you give me 2 dives per category and one "triple-up" dive, I can get it to work, the order may be "strange" but legal.  If you know you like to do inwards before/after/not-next-to your forwards, let me know and I can "generally" help make your order happen...

Senior Dive Meet: LG vs Saratoga - Friday April 19th (Warm-ups: 3pm, Meet-Start: 4pm);   We have our last "regular-season" meet on Friday; we get to "compete" against our sister-schools!!!  We will have the pool to ourselves (the swimmers will be at Saratoga) so we should have a good opportunity to field some friends, family, and fans that can watch your diving.  It is an Inward week, so start out with your easy inward...the dive, followed by your harder one... the 1.5????  After the meet, we will clean-up the pool deck, dry-off and change, and have continue into the Science Courtyard for our....

Senior Diver Ceremony - Friday, April 19th, ~5/5:30pm;   We (and may other programs) have a long tradition of honoring our graduating Seniors on the team.  Riley, Tashi, Parsa, Ava, and Maddie will all be leaving our team after this season, and while we will be sad at seeing them leave, Karla and I always feel so proud of the accomplishment you made while part of our "family" and are so excited to see what will come next for you in your journey.  Non-Senior divers write speeches for each of the Seniors and the Senior write speeches for the team and their teammates.  We will start our celebration after the meet finishes (and we clean-up) with some food and drinks, followed by the speeches.  Seniors, please feel free to invite your family and close friends to help honor you and hear what you have meant to your teammates.  Have questions about your speech or the ceremony; ask me or Karla at practice :)

SATURDAY, April 20th - All-Team Pre-Leagues Practice - We will be hosting a All-Teams Practice on Saturday for VARSITY DIVERS ONLY (in preparation for the League Finals) and Dirk can host at Homestead for the JV divers from 2-4pm...  Plan on attending (to host at LG and to get another short on the "away-team's" boards up at Homestead)

Next Week (and the near future...):  Next week, we have our League Finals!!!  JV will compete on Tuesday (at Homestead) and Varsity will have their meet at Los Gatos on Thursday.  We will need some help with both meets so even if you aren't diving, be prepared to help on the set-up, desk, etc...  More to come next week!!!

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Last week we had our Forwards Week meet... and pictures... and (thankfully NOT) the Senior Ceremonies :)  Our meet was fairly efficient and quick, when considering all the variables we had to deal with.  Good job staying flexible with the schedule and pace of the meet.  The rest of the week was VERY relaxed; some dryland video recording and a visit from one of our Alumni divers, Mia, who is currently at U of O (Karla's alma mater!) and caught up with her on her life.  Yesterday, we had a small, fun practice at Homestead for our "All-Teams Practice"... unfortunately, it was mostly just Homestead/Fremont and Aanya and Adrián... and to think, I brought all thiose donuts...This week you have your Spring Break (so does SJUSD!!!) but we do hold practices all week; Monday to Friday, 11am until 1 pm.  And we have an 11-dive meet opportunity on this Saturday at Lynbrook for those that will be around for break (or those like Riley that are coming back at noon on Friday, driving straight down to the pool and practicing her list, before diving on Saturday morning... what a baller!!!

Last week; Los Altos vs LGHS and Saratoga vs Lynbrook;   We had a WEDNESDAY meet (way earlier than we would have wanted...) with a couple additional team-tasks.  The Team Pictures were relatively quick and painless, we got an all-teams (LG & Saratoga) as well as an LG Team pic and a Karla/Riley/Mike Picture for the "Saratoga Team" (I guess we will need to photo-shop in Tashi!).  Our meet started late (we waited for the Lynbrook kids to make it) but made good time with Aanya's speedy announcing!  Results and sheets can be found below; Shout-out for Ellie, who has now placed 1st in EVERY one of our dual meets!!!  A great sign as we approach the end of our season!  We skipped-out on the Swim-Dive Senior Ceremonies this year; we would have had to stay an extra 30-40 minutes before the speeches would have started and then the ceremony can go up to 45 minutes... We will celebrate our Seniors (Riley, Tashi, Maddie, Ava, and Parsa) at our last dual meet, April 19th, the Saratoga vs LG meet (pretty convenient for our timing...) with a post-meet pizza party and Senior speeches; this year we will have 2 sets of speeches; one where our current team can honor the graduating seniors with their memories and stories and a second set of speeches given by the seniors to the team, about what they have gained and will remember about the team.  Nothing fancy but you should probably write some notes or bullerpoints before you get up there in front of your teammates and family!

Here is our plan for this week; This week is Spring Break, we will practice if you are in town over break; 11am to 1pm for the full week; at the end of the week, those that are entered in the Lynbrook Dive Invite will be practicing their 11-dive lists (we might use Friday's practice to run a "practice-meet" so athletes can get used to the length of the 11-dive format...

Newbies;  Let's work on your best 8-dives (the ones you will perform in the League Finals!).  The rules of an 8-dive meet are 4 voluntary dives (you CAN'T fail these dives) and 4 optional dives (usually the harder dives...).  In each set of 4 dives, you must represent 4 of the 5 dive categories (Nelson, you DON'T need to do a reverse, as long as you have enough categories that you can "double-up" in...)

Returning divers; Let's get your 11-dive lists set; I need to first enter them into a Excel sheet to adjust the order to fit the rules and then we will need to get them into the DiveTrax program to send over to Lynbrook (Calvin, this will be your job later in the week...)

SATURDAY, April 13th - Lynbrook Dive Invite - Early start time for LG/Saratoga...Be at Lynbrook by 7:15am, our time-slot to warm-up is 7:30-8am, and then another short chance to warm-up your last dives from 8:30-9am.  The meet will start 9am (or as close to it as possible...)  Be prepared for a long meet, bring extra towels/dry-clothes, snacks, stuff to do between your dives.

Next Week (and the near future...):  Next week, we all return to school and our regular schedule for practices. The week will end with our Diver's Senior Ceremony after our Friday meet (LG vs Saratoga), a Inwards week!  Can't wait to see some more inward 1.5's!!!

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Last week we had our Reverse Week; always hard but made even harder in the rain, cold, and wind.  We have an early meet this week; it is on WEDNESDAY, April 3rd against Los Altos.  We are still trying to figure out the Saratoga meet against Lynbrook; Hayley had a personal matter to attend to and needed to return to the Midwest and we can, hopefully, combine meets.  It is a Forwards Week, so you should easily have a list ready, maybe your Week 1 list but with "upgrades"; going from a tuck to a pike or turning a flip into a 1.5.  Here is the recap and forecast for the week

Last week; Gunn vs LGHS and Palo Alto vs Saratoga;   We had a cold, busy, Reverse meet on Friday; Palo Alto dove very well at all levels but we had strong showings from Aanya and Ellie; they could have been even better if they SPENT MORE TIME WARMING-UP THEIR DIVES!!!  Adrian also had his best meet of the season, judge and final score (he warmed-up all his dives 3 times...), albeit while he failed his first dive, the reverse-tuck, which means that he does not score points for the JV Boys team :(  

Here is our plan for this week; This week is another Forwards Week.  Hoping to see some "upgrades" and "send-it" dives leading up to the end of our season.  The meet is on WEDNESDAY, so I need your lists by Monday/Tuesday; give them to Aanya and she can send them to me in a "bunch"

Newbies;  Work your forward approaches, straight "jumps"/pencil-dives, maybe Karla can work with you on the Forward dive straight, with heel-lift and set.  We will also be going for the forward 1.5... can we get one of you two the forward-double???

Returning divers; Let's try for those forward doubles, maybe a Reverse double for Riley... and one non-forward 1.5 dive (probably the inward...).  Then help Karla with the newbies; they need help with the angle of their forward dive

WEDNESDAY, April 3rd - Week 6 Meet (Forwards Week... again) - Los Altos vs LG (and Saratoga vs Lynbrook?) at LGHS - School Release; 2:10pm, Warm-ups: 3pm, Meet Start: 3:45/4pm.  This is a complicated meet!!!  Karla will help you get the desk and dive area set up; I'll try to have my coworker buddy cover for my last class and be there by 3pm.  We will do Team Pictures before our meet; remember your TEAM SUIT and, girls, you can stay dry until after the pctures.  We ALSO have the Swim/Dive Senior Ceremony; usually a break in our meet (between rounds 2/3-4/5) to head down to the swim side and honor this year's seniors, including Ava, Parsa, and Maddie.  There are posters and speeches but we honor our Dive Seniors in a special-ceremony after our Saratoga-LG meet, always the last of the year and when it allows us to include our Saratoga teammates.  Prepare for a full afternoon....

We have normal practices the remainder of the week; Thursday (late time-slot) and Friday (early time-slot); should be a bit more relaxed and we can work on some line-ups and other fundamentals.

This SATURDAY (4/6) - HOMESTEAD will host this week's All-Teams Practice...11-1pm; Bring some snacks to share and see you there!

Next Week (and the near future...):  Next week is Spring Break... we do hold practice, 11am - 1pm, every day of the week.  We also have the Lynbrook Invite on Saturday, April 13th; an 11-dive meet and an opportunity to qualify for CCS (if you make the score consideration).  This week also is the 2-week-countdown to our League Finals... Long and short of it, these practices are VERY important and all divers should plan on being in town and attending.

Lynbrook Dive Invite - 4/13) - An 11-dive meet, where you could make the qualifying score to attend CCS!!!  I have: Parsa, Maddie, Ellie, Riley (maybe Tashi???).  Anyone else???

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

We had a fun, full week; an away meet on Thursday, a day full of reverses on Friday, and a small but fun All-Teams Practice on Saturday.  This week an important one, the reverse week means that you (theoretically) have at least 2 dives that you can do in each of the categories (with the exception of the reverses).  We will try our best (Nelson) but at the end of the week, we will just go ahead and "send-it". hoping that the camaraderie of other divers "sending-it" and the adrenaline will get you around!

Last week (LG vs Homestead (and Saratoga Bye-Week/Exhibition);   We had a fun day up at Homestead; Los Gatos dove against Homestead, Homestead's "sister-team", Fremont dove against Milpitas (both teams had some good and VERY GOOD divers), and Monte Vista, Cupertino, and Saratoga dove exhibition; with that reverse dive straight that Riley nailed!!!  LG won the JV Boys and Girls events (with wins by Nelson and Ellie) but Varsity just got beat out by those Leone twins!!!  Fun to see all you divers get better and better from week to week; Results and Dive sheets are below.  I also added some more videos to the tab... gotta love the reverse preps!

Here is our plan for this week; This week is our dreaded "reverses" week!!!  Prepare yourself for some red-backs and flops in prep for your reverse week; newbies shoot for the reverse dive and flip, returning divers are working towards the reverse 1.5!!!

Newbies;  We need to make your first dive the "dive-of-the-week" so it will be your reverse dive... whether you have it or not :/  The next dive is usually the reverse flip (easier than the dive, I think...).  And lucky Adrian, with the coach-of-the-year's help, will try to get the flip into a 1.5... we will see...

Returning divers; Let's make our lists early, then help Nelson with the reverse dive and Adrian with the reverse 1.5... lots of preps; standing reverse take-offs/pencil-preps (with vests!), and "going-over".  As for your reverses, can we do an "All-LG-301A" meet???  Need help with your reverse dive straight???  Ask Riley :)

Friday - Week 5 Meet (Reverses!!!) - Gunn vs LG (and Palo Alto vs Saratoga) at LGHS - School Release; 2:10pm, Warm-ups: 3pm, Meet Start: 3:45/4pm.  Karla will help you get the desk and dive area set up; I'll try to have my coworker buddy cover for my last class and get there by warm-ups at 3pm :)  It will be a bit of a longer meet but we have a Team-bonding event at Ava's home after we finish!  More info to come...

This SATURDAY (3/30) - TBA - Rumor has it that HOMESTEAD will host this week's All-Teams Practice... I'll let you know when I do.

Next Week (and the near future...):  Next week, it returns to "forwards" for the week's category; we will work on forward 1.5s and doubles... Maybe Parsa will work on his forward 1.5 straight...

Spring Break (4/8 - 4/12) - April 8th thru the 12th is your Spring Break; we do hold practice, 11am - 1pm every day of the week.  We also have the Lynbrook Invite on Saturday, April 13th; an 11-dive meet and an opportunity to qualify for CCS (if you make the score consideration).  This week also is the 2-week-countdown to our League Finals... Long and short of it, these practices are VERY important and all divers should plan on being in town and attending... So many stories of kids taking-off the Break to ski, vacation, or visit colleges and then come back either injured or VERY rusty on their "back-of-the-hand" dives...It is disappointing for Karla and myself but, ultimately, it is you, the divers, that is cheated of the chance to show off your diving and competition skills and perform one (or a couple) last times for the season (and for seniors; their high school diving career).  Just something to think about before making decisions about your priorities and time...

Lynbrook Dive Intive - 4/13) - An 11-dive meet, where you could make the qualifying score to attend CCS!!!  Who will be around that week/Saturday???

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Another week of diving just flew by... we are now past our 1/2-way point in the competition season and only about one month away from our League Finals!  Los Gatos had a home meet on Thursday against Palo Alto, one of the strongest teams in our league... every year it seems.  And Saratoga's Girls traveled to Los Altos to compete against their larger-than-average team, 9 girls!!!  Still haven't received the results and dive sheets so not sure on the scores/dive-judge scores but Karla said you girls dove well :)  And it sounds like I missed a really fun practice on Friday... playing around on the 3M boards and lots of fun playing D-I-V-E.  And I did see the highlights of some EPIC 3M-Fails on the Instagram page (and Karla's reactions!!! LOL!!!)   

And a reminder: If anyone has some good pictures or videos from the Alumni event last weekend, share them with me here...  (Thanks, Aanya!)

Last week (Palo Alto vs LG and Saratoga vs Los Altos);   We had an early-week, Thursday meet against Palo Alto; thanks for getting down to the pool deck in a timely manner and helping the Captains get it set-up for the meet.  I have to have a coworker cover my last period just to get there by 2:45/3pm so I really appreciate it when your Captains and you divers can do the majority of the set-up on your own and I can just get the desk up and running when I arrive.  Strong meet-showing, we scored well and the JV Girls went 1-2 but Palo Alto got the best of us.  And we played around with the video-replay set-up before the meet got started; Karla and I will try it again on Monday or Tuesday to figure out its final placement/delay-time/set-up to get the best visual of your dives as you swim back to the tub.

Here is our plan for this week; This week is our "twisters" week; remember the "rules" on twisting; you cannot start the twisting on the board (>45* turn in the shoulders while the feet are still on the board is a DQ-dive), you must attempt to stop your twisting (square-off) before you enter the water, and twists must be <45* short/long to be considered legal.

Newbies;  We need to make the back-dive 1/2 twist a legal and "back-of-the-hand" dive (a dive you can do, every time, for a legal and "decent" score)... then we will work on a second twister; front dive 1/2 twist and forward/back flip 1/2/full twists are possibilities... We will start on reverses on Friday in anticipation of next week's meet...

Returning divers; Let's make our lists early, then help the newbies with twisters and, eventually, the reverse dive... lots of preps; pike flips and standing reverse take-offs/pencil-preps (with vests!)

Thursday - Week 4 Meet - LG vs Homestead (@ Homestead); School Release; 1:10pm, Warm-ups: 3pm, Meet Start: 3:45/4pm.  Karla will be taking the School-Van and shuttling you to Homestead; 1:10pm School Release, 3pm Warm-ups and Dirk will start the meet by 3:45/4pm.  Get down to the pool gate ASAP after 1:10, load up the van and you will have time to stop at Trader Joe's on the way up to Sunnyvale.  The Saratoga Girls will meet you at Homestead and dive "exhibition" this meet.  Dirk runs a great meet/desk but we will have a lot of divers (LG, Saratoga, Monte Vista, Homestead, Fremont, and Cupertino)... we can always help out with the desk work and will probably be running 2 iPads plus a paper-copy back-up system.  Expect the meet to be on the longer side and we may not finish until 6/6:30pm... then the drive back... possibly with traffic :(

Friday's Practice; ALL REVERSES PRACTICE!!! Pencil-dive-preps first, then add the vest, and SEND-IT!!!; reach, knees-up and tuck, then the un-tuck/come-out... easier said than done; Good Luck :)

This SATURDAY (3/23) - We will host the All-Teams Practice; 11-1pm.  Bring snacks to share and be ready for some more reverses... from everyone in the league trying for their first one... we will see some flops :)

Next Week (and the near future...):  Next week, it's REVERSE-week!.  We (LG) will host both Gunn (vs LG) and Palo Alto (vs Saratoga) on THURSDAY, March 29th; 3pm Warm-ups, 4pm Meet-Start. Friday & Saturday Practice: TBA

Spring Break (4/8 - 4/12) - April 8th thru the 12th is your Spring Break; we do hold practice, 11am - 1pm every day of the week.  We also have the Lynbrook Invite on Saturday, April 13th; an 11-dive meet and an opportunity to qualify for CCS (if you make the score consideration).  This week also is the 2-week-countdown to our League Finals... Long and short of it, these practices are VERY important and all divers should plan on being in town and attending... So many stories of kids taking-off the Break to ski, vacation, or visit colleges and then come back either injured or VERY rusty on their "back-of-the-hand" dives...It is disappointing for Karla and myself but, ultimately, it is you, the divers, that is cheated of the chance to show off your diving and competition skills and perform one (or a couple) last times for the season (and for seniors; their high school diving career).  Just something to think about before making decisions about your priorities and time...

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Meets and Sheets - Gunn vs Saratoga and LG-Alumni Meet (3/10/24)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Coach Karla and I are so proud of your performances on Friday; that was among the WORST conditions I have ever run a diving meet; cold, windy, and rainy weather, no hot water (thanks swimmers:?), and flying pop-ups!!!  An unpleasant but galvanizing experience; Kudos for your good spirits and grit to get through that difficult first meet!

Last week (and our Friday Meet!);   We had some less-than-ideal weather leading up to our HORRENDOUS-WEATHER-Friday meet; again, Karla and I are so proud of you divers for your attitude, performance, and resilience, the results and Dive Sheets can be found below.

Here is our plan for this week;

We (Los Gatos) have a Bye-week, no official competition but Saratoga (Riley and ?maybe? Tashi) will host the Gunn divers at Los Gatos on Friday.  If the weather hold (it is forecast to be sunny on Friday...), we will be entering a handful of divers as "Exhibition" divers; they can compete a partial or full 6-dive list but do no score any points or "place" in the event.

Newbies;  We will be working on the basics needed for twisters; the back dive straight, the back flip straight and the front flip straight.  The trick; the toe- and heel-lift (not arcing {for backs} or leaning {for forwards}}.  These will become the back dive, half twist; the back flip, 1/2 (or full) twist; and the front flip, 1/2 (or full) twist.  Later in the week, we will work on Week 3 lists, that means inward flips, Nelson!  We will also have Calvin get some board-time this week, possibly entering him into the "Exhibition" event on Friday!

Returning divers; Let's finalize an 11-dive list; whether you are JV or Varsity.  They don't need to be in order, I just want to collect your 10 dives (2 per category) and a last triple-up dive.  We will have an opportunity to enter all returning divers into the Lynbrook Invite if we can all commit to being there (it costs the school money depending on how many divers we send).  The meet is at the end of your Spring Break but you really need at least 2-3 solid days of practice to be ready for the meet (4/13).

Friday - Week 2 Meet - Gunn vs Saratoga; LG will run the desk; School Release; 2:10pm, Warm-ups: 3pm, Meet Start: 3:45/4pm.  Since we are hosting the meet, we will be setting up and running the desk for the events.  After you are released at 2:10 from class, come down to the pool deck and help Karla and the Captains set-up the desk, judging chairs, hot-tub and hose.  It should be better weather than last time... but no promises!  Depending on the weather (and how we split-up the meet), we may enter some divers into the meet as "Exhibition"; I'll make you a list... and maybe even throw in a surprise or two!

THIS SATURDAY - We will hold our 2nd ever Alumni Dive Meet (even if it is raining!); Saturday, March 9th, 11am warm-ups, 12/1pm start.  This is one of the ways we raise money to support our diving costs (the Invite Dive meets, hot tubs, wet-suit vests, etc).  Bring some snacks and warm clothes, sometimes the alumni need a LONG time to warm-up... We collect donations on-deck from our Alumni, parents, spectators; the other place to donate to our Program is the Swim and Dive GoFundMe Page(tag it as "Diving Program" in the "Words of Support" section).  These funds support us from season to season, please help our program keep doing the things that make it so incredible!

Next Week (and the near future...):  Next week, we (LG) will host a THURSDAY meet with Palo Alto (the best dive team in our league); they will visit our pool (we will visit their pool for CCS!) and Saratoga will travel to Los Altos (also on Thursday) for their competition.  Friday Practice: TBA

NEXT SATURDAY (3/16) - Monte Vista will host their "make-up" All-Teams Practice up in Cupertino; 11am-1pm.  We will bring some snacks to share and, hopefully, have some better (sunny) weather!  

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Coach Karla took a little vacation up to Tahoe for some rest and relaxation (ask her about her snowshoeing adventures!) and Coach Mike got to work with our small groups throughout the week.  We are both looking forward to our first meet this coming Friday, a 4-way meet with our Saratoga girls, (against) Homestead, and Lynbrook (going up against LG) at our home pool!!!  Hope to see a good showing of family and friends to cheer on the divers from all the teams!

Last week (Ski Break);   Small numbers this week ,what with the break and some taking trips and visiting schools.  Kudos to those that got to the practices; I always say that the practices over breaks are some of the most fun AND productive... especially for newer divers; Adrian now had 5 dives (legal) and a couple more that are ALMOST there!  And some really great dives from our returning athletes; Riley had a really nice week of beautiful reverse and inward dives, and some nice forward doubles as she gets in season-shape!

Here is our plan for this week;

Newbies;  Early in the week, we will tackle a Twister dive; any dive from the 4 main categories with a 1/2, full, 1.5, double, even 2.5 twists.  These are harder to control because you are rotating on two axises, not just one; twice as much chance of going over/under on the flipping or twisting.  By Wednesday, I'm hoping to have a dive list made for you; from that point on it is all about getting those 6 dives comfortably under your belt.

A reminder to ALL DIVERS; a twister-dive MUST show an attempt to stop-twisting, "block-out", before they enter the water.

Returning divers; Let's finalize a Week-1 list; the required dive is a forward. I got (and entered) the lists for most everyone who was at practice last week, Parsa and Nelson are the only ones left.  On Thursday, we will run a "practice-meet", have the JV's run the desk while the Varsity dives; then have the Varsity run desk for the JV event... should be good preparation for our meet on....

Friday - Week 1 Meet - Saratoga vs Homestead and Los Gatos vs Lynbrook; School Release; 2:10pm, Warm-ups: 3pm, Meet Start: 3:45/4pm.  Since we are hosting the meet, we will be setting up and running the desk for the events.  After you are released at 2:10 from class, come down to the pool deck and help Karla and the Captains set-up the desk, judging chairs, hot-tub and hose.  When we have swimming meets at the same time, we also set-up "traffic-control" cones and caution tape to "herd" spectators away from the desk/judging ares.  The other teams should arrive around 2:45 and we will open the boards for warm-ups at 3pm.  Have your suit on and get on the boards to work through your list.  At 3:45/4pm, we will start the first "round" of the meet.  For this meet, it is looking like the best way to "split" the divers is by JV/ Varsity; not sure who will go first, we will talk with the other coaches.  After the round finishes, the "desk-workers" get another 15-30 minutes to re-warm-up and prepare for their dives.  Diving meets are notoriously hard to gauge but plan for cold, rainy weather (we might have to split up the rounds even more if the cold is an issue) and the event to last until 6/6:30pm, maybe longer if we have issues (technology or user-error, diving rule reviews, wind-pauses, bad weather, etc.). So far, Homestead has 6/7 divers, we (LG and Saratoga) have 10, Lynbrook probably has 5-10... the more divers, the longer the meet, even if we do "split-up" in to more rounds.

This Saturday, March 2nd, Monte Vista will host our first "All-teams" practice, 11am-1pm; Plan on bringing some snacks to share and a lot of fun getting to know/reconnect with the divers in our league (and even ones from the other division and other leagues...)  LGHS/SHS ALWAYS come out in large numbers for these Saturdays, I expect no less for this year.  As long as you are in town and don't have prior-planned commitments, plan on attending (especially when we host at LGHS!).  

NOTE:  Divers need to provide their own transportation to Monte Vista, carpools are often easily arranged with teammates/parents!

Next Week (and the near future...):  Next week, we (LG) have a Bye-week and don't compete; the Saratoga girls have another Dual Meet and will match-up against Gunn!!!  We host again so same release/warm-ups/start times.  LG divers will run the desk and may be entered as Exhibition divers (we will take a look at time/weather before making this decision).  Either way, the "featured dive" for Week 2 is Backs so we will have a week with some flops!!!

NEXT SATURDAY - We will hold our 2nd ever Alumni Dive Meet; Saturday, March 9th, 11am warm-ups, 12/1pm start.  Check out the "flyer" below; current divers are NOT invited for the "adult beverages" at Karla's, you have to be an alumni for that :)

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Karla and I are so happy that the hot water seems to be working better and you aren't absolute icicles out there at practice... keep fingers-crossed that we can "up" the setting again so that our "recharge" time for hot water decreases (maybe ~30 minutes...that would be prime!).  And great job at enduring the cold weather and lack of hot water the first few weeks of our dive season!

Last week;  It seems that all it took to solve (some of) our hot water trouble was to TURN UP THE BOILER SETTING!!!  A 6/7-year running problem solved by one good pool manager/director... We continued to work on forward dives, flips, and 1.5's for the returning divers.  Back presses, back dives and flips were also coming along and Maddie and Ava showed us some back 1.5's!!!  And our newbies started working on the inward dives (videos on the "Pictures" tab of the website); Nelson seems to have a tuck and a pike, Adrian had a tuck(-ish) ?dive?, and Calvin is working his inward prep and will throw it with a wetsuit top on!.  Our returning dives did some very nice inward dives, inward flips (Riley with some really good ones!), and a few inward 1.5's... a pretty healthy start to our season :)  And we saw some more reverse dives/flips from our returning dives; Riley, your distance is perfect...95% of the time but Oh, is it a heart-stopper from the wrong angle!!!  Friday, after practice, we had a fun team-get-together at Ava's home; Thank you Juel and Ava for hosting and for the Captains putting together the event:)

Here is our plan for the Ski-week (2/19 - 2/23);

Newbies;  We will continue working on the Forward Approach (with dives and flips, and add in some 1.5 attempts) and Back Presses (with dives and flips; NO 1.5's for your guys, you still are too low and don't have enough "air-time" for that trick) and we will add in the Inward-prep and Inward Dive (and if things go well, an Inward Flip!!!).  We will also look at a possible twister dive for you boys... we don't want the twisting to mess up the other non-twister, dives so, you might be able to do more twists... but you will have a harder time controlling them, resulting in lower scores :(    

A reminder to ALL DIVERS; a twister-dive MUST show an attempt to stop-twisting, "block-out", before they enter the water.

Returning divers; Let's start to work on a Week-1 list; the required dive is a forward (101, 102, or 103, in any position), followed by 5 dives, your choice, representing 4 of the 5 dive categories (you can do another , aka "double-up on", forward/s).  Calvin can enter it into the iPad over the next week to save some time come meet-week.

Next Week (and the near future...):  Next week, we have our first Dual Meet of the season!!!  Los Gatos will be competing against Lynbrook and Saratoga will match-up against Homestead!!!  As of this update, we have 2 possible options as I see it; keep your calendar open for BOTH possibilities...

NOTE: Check this update later in the week and I should have the exact date/times decided on, after I speak with Dirk and Hayley, the Homestead and Lynbrook coaches)

Option 1; We split teams, Los Gatos goes with Coach Mike to Lynbrook, Coach Karla takes the Saratoga girls to Homestead on Thursday, February 29th (Leap-Day! A funny day to be born on!).

Option 2: We have a 4-way-meet, either at Homestead or Lynbrook on Thursday, or at Los Gatos on Thursday (we would have to finish the meet by 5:45/6 for our swimmers) or Friday (we could run our diving meet in an empty pool since the swimmers are at Lynbrook)

Either way, we will need to be ready with a first-meet dive list; For our Newbies; 101 (forward-dive) B/C (pike or tuck), 102 (front-flip) B/C, 201 (back-dive) A/B/C (straight, pike, or tuck), 202 (back-flip)B/C, 401 (inward-dive) B/C, and one more dive, probably an easy twister (back-dive, 1/2 twist, forward-flip, 1/2 or full twist, back-flip, 1/2 or full twist...) We'll see what twisters you have working this week... for the newbies and the returning divers :)

On Saturday, March 2nd, Monte Vista will host our first "All-teams" practice, 11am-1pm; plan on bringing some snacks to share and a lot of fun getting to know/reconnect with the divers in our league (and even ones from the other division and other leagues...)  LGHS/SHS ALWAYS come out in large numbers for these Saturdays, I expect no less for this year.  As long as you are in town and don't have prior-planned commitments, plan on attending (especially when we host at LGHS!).  

NOTE:  Divers need to provide their own transportation to Monte Vista, carpools are often easily arranged with teammates/parents!

THE WEEK AFTER NEXT - We will hold our 2nd ever Alumni Dive Meet; the Los Gatos bye-week; Saturday, March 9th, 11am warm-ups, 12/1pm start.  More info to come...but we have a few more former divers... it should be a fun day! 

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Karla and I saw great progress this last week, some slaps by all, and some reverses sprinkled into many of your dive lineups...

Last week;  We had some more "winter weather" but at least appear to have a warm/hot water-source; we will try to get the boiler setting increased again so that the water is warmer/heats faster after being drained.  We decided to postpone the "tryouts" since the weather and conditions weren't great and we have such a small, new-group joining our team.  We will be welcoming Calvin to the team as a manager (and possibly occasional diver???); he will help organize communications with the captains, run the dive desk for our meets, and make some video recordings for the Instagram page and website.  And the captains have arranged for a "team-bonding" night next week, more info to come...

Here is our plan for this week;

Newbies;  Continue teaching the Forward Approach and Back Press and add in the Inward-prep (a variation on the regular back-press).

Work towards our new try-out day (?Wednesday?); 

Requirements; a forward dive (101) and a forward flip (102) in any position (A/B/C or Straight/Pike/Tuck) (with a full forward approach) and a back dive (201) and back flip (202) in any position, with a back press and jump (no "arch-overs" with hops...).  Hopefully, we can add in an inward dive/flip to the lists if our newbies get there...

Returning divers have another week of dives and flips in the main 4 categories, as well as your 2 best twisters, not preps for other dives.

Next Week (and the near future...):  Your competitions begin at the end of the month (looking like Thursday, February 29th, Leap Day!!!)!!!  Next week, we should have the newbies 5/6 dives from (hopefully) 3/4 categories... only a couple more dives/categories to learn before they are "meet-ready".  Returning divers should be working on their 1.5s, forward double, and a third twister (which you might need to learn...)

We will hold our 2nd ever Alumni Dive Meet; the Los Gatos bye-week; Saturday, March 9th, 11am warm-ups, 12/1pm start.  More info to come...but we already have a few former divers who have reached out to say that they are interested... unfortunately, one of our former divers, Melody, won't be able to dive:(  She will either be a few days past her due-date (maybe we get to see a childbirth on the pool deck!) or will have a brand-new baby girl (and potential LGHS diver in about 15 years!)

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Karla and I had a great time this last week seeing our returning divers and meeting our new ones!!!! 

Last week;  We had some mixed weather so we did one day in the classroom and the rest in the pool (even with the cold, rain and winds... and NO hot water:(

Welcome to our newest divers; Nelson, Calvin, and Adrian and welcome back to all our returning divers; Parsa, Ava, Maddie, Ellie, Mina, Aanya, and even Liza!  We got to see some flops and slaps... and not just the new boys, Parsa wanted to show them how LGHS diving do...

We also got to see some Club divers; we will be sharing our 3M board with the Santa Clara Diving Cluib while they try to find a pool/practice space.  Maybe we can do a fun-practice with them (3m line-up competition or a syncro-event on Friday if we get the try-outs done quickly).

Here is our plan for this week;

Continue teaching the Forward Approach and Back Press 

Work towards our try-out requirements; a forward dive (101) and a forward flip (102) in any position (A/B/C or Straight/Pike/Tuck) (with a full forward approach) and a back dive (201) and back flip (202) in any position, with a back press and jump (no "arch-overs" with hops...)

Try-outs on Friday for ALL our divers

Next Week (and the near future...):  Your competitions begin at the end of the month!!!  We will continue working with our newbie on getting a few more categories and dives; returning divers will work on their dives and flips in the 4 main categories (100s - 400s) and their 2 best twisters (5000s)

We will hold our 2nd ever Alumni Dive Meet; the Los Gatos bye-week; Saturday, March 9th, 11am warm-ups, 12/1pm start.  More info to come...

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Karla and I meet at the pool on Saturday to get "game-ready" for this week!!!! 

Last week;  You might have not even known that you would be trying out for a DIVE team!!!

Here is our plan for this week;

Get to know your names and faces (dry and wet-hair-ed)

Introduce you to our team; expectations, schedules, coaches

Introduce your to our sport: rules, dive-types, scoring

Teach you the Forward Approach and Back Press (bold = vocab words!)

Work toward our try-out requirements; a forward dive (101) and a forward flip (102) in any position (A/B/C or Straight/Pike/Tuck) (with a full forward approach) and a back dive (201) and back flip (202) in any position, with a back press and jump

Next Week (and the near future...):  More of the same; we will begin the tryouts on Thursday or Friday

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers and Parents,

Karla and I are so excited about our upcoming season!  We met with a couple new divers/parents today and are looking forward to our first practice; Monday January 29th, 4pm down on the pool deck (newbies will work on the approach in the classroom/pool deck; Club divers who are in the upcoming meet will be working on the boards).  More info on the team and our season to come!

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck soon :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers;

Karla and I are so proud of our team and season and we are looking forward to the 8th Grade Sports Night tomorrow (May 15th) and the End of the Season Banquet on Thursday (May 18th); make sure to save-the-date and RSVP for the event (see below).

And a couple notes from the Swim Team Email that you will want/need:

8th Grade Sports Night- Monday, May 15th

Tomorrow we will welcome incoming 8th graders who are interested in joining a team sport.  If you are interested in representing swimming or diving please speak with Coach Peters (swim) or Coach Mike (dive).  The evening begins around 6pm and lasts about 1 hour.      BOO, no one came and help me recruit:(

Swim and Dive Banquet- Thursday, May 18th

Our end of the year celebration is this week.  All RSVP's and payments must be received by Tuesday, 5/16… even if you are NOT attending. The evening includes a catered dinner, followed by the awards, videos, and celebration ceremony.  The event will take place at school and is free for all current Swim & Dive athletes. The cost for non-athletes is $20/person.  Link to payment is also in the RSVP.  Hope you can join us for this fun celebration!           It sounds like they are still a bit uncertain but plan on heading to the theatre and maybe the front lawn for the dinner.

Banquet RSVP Form

Lockers

Girls who have lockers in the team room should clear them out ASAP!

Varsity Letters

Are you a varsity athlete who would like your Varsity Block letter or additional emblems. Please complete the form below. 

Varsity Letters/Emblems

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers;

Thursday, we had our CCS Finals!!!  What a great showing from the LGHS team and our entire League;

In the morning session, the Girls performed great in their final meet.  While Maddie's ankle wasn't good enough to compete, she came out anyway and supported our team and even did the announcing for the event!  After the first 5 dives, the field of 40 was cut down to 20 with Ava making it through the first "cut" in the 20th place; 5-dive scores for the rest of our divers; Riley - 95.05, Ekat 119.50, and Ellie - 129.95.  The next 3 dives went well for Ava (she moved up to 18th place) but she was cut after the 8th round; Ava's final 8-dive score was 265.90!  The Top-16 competed their last 3 dives; Congratulations to all the winners but a special shout-out to Katherine Lim from Ann Sobrato, Maddie's friend who has come and dove with us on various Saturdays this year:)  And what a showing the SCVAAL League had; 25% (4) of the top 16 were from our league!!!

In the afternoon session, our boys did great as well!  Asa and Parsa were locked neck-in-neck for the entire meet (Asa was actually ahead going into the last 3 dives) but Parsa's experience pushed him into the lead as the last round concluded.  Asa finished 15th and Parsa finished 13th, with 299.70 and 307.3- points respectively.  Again, our league is soooo strong; 50% (8!) of the final 16 were from our league!!!

Karla and I are so proud of our team and season and we are looking forward to the 8th Grade Sports Night (May 15th) and the End of the Season Banquet; make sure to save-the-date and RSVP for the event.

And a couple notes from the Swim Team Email that you will want/need:

League Meet Results

For the second year in a row our JV girls are league champs! We had more athletes get second swims this year than in the past 7 seasons.  Our girl divers were also amazing, earning more points than any other team.  Please see results from the league meet below.   The combined dual meet and league meet points resulted in the following overall placements:

JV Girls- 1st

FS Boys- 4th

Varsity Girls- 2nd

Varsity Boys- 4th

League Results

CCS Results

Congrats to our CCS athletes!  Overall, the girls finished 2nd place, the highest finish in school history! The boys team finished 17th in a very crowded field of swimmers, most from our league (Palo Alto won the boys division for the second year in a row).  

8th Grade Sports Night- Monday, May 15th

If you are interested in representing LGHS Swim and Dive and speaking with incoming freshmen please let me know.  We would love to have a few athletes at all grade levels speak with prospective athletes.

2023 Swim and Dive Banquet and Awards - Thursday, May 18th 6:00-9:00pm @ LGHS

This year’s banquet will have the dinner held outside, in the quad area of the high school.  After dinner, we will go into the LGHS theater for videos, awards & presentations.   This will be a catered event, so we need a response from every athlete’s family!   All current swimmers, divers, and coaches who attend, are free but must RSVP, and parents, and other guests will be $20 a person.  As mentioned,  this is a catered event, we will need every athlete to RSVP whether attending or not, so that we have as accurate of a head count as possible.

Banquet RSVP Form  

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Hello Divers;

Last week was a great way to end the dive season for many of you; and a few of you will be going on to the next level of competition at CCS.  Karla and I are so happy to have 4 divers automatically qualified for CCS (Congratulations to Asa, Ava, Maddie and Parsa!) as well as 4 "consideration" qualifiers (Congratulations to Ekat, Ellie, Mia, and Riley!). We will continue working with these divers towards our Thursday CCS Diving Event!!!

On Tuesday, we hosted the JV Finals event at our pool; great job by the desk/announcers, I had many comments from coaches and divers about how well the meet was run.  Our divers also did GREAT, winning the JV Girls event outright; we had 3 of the top-5 finishers!!!  Aanya placed 2nd, about 7 points short of winning.  Mina placed 3rd, just 11 points behind Aanya. And Ellie placed 5th, less than a point behind the Gunn 4th place finisher! Liza placed 14th, beating out 3 other divers!!! Their combined points gave the JV Girls a 9 point lead over the next closest team even before the swimming started!  Overall, this meet showed both our team's skill but also our depth, Karla and I are so proud of you girls :)

On Thursday, Varsity divers had their meet at Monta Vista; we again helped run the desk and AGAIN got plenty of compliments on our desk-team.  And AGAIN, we had a strong showing from a diving perspective.  Parsa placed 6th, about 3 points behind Landen and Asa came in 8th with an impressive score of 351.90, a huge improvement over his last 11-dive score!  Their performance earned LGHS 3rd place, as a Boys Varsity team... with just 2 divers.  Our Varsity Girls team did even better; winning the team event, with both Maddie (2nd) and Ava (4th) placing top-5!  Ekat rounded out the scoring with an 11th place finish.  Again, an example of the skill and depth we have here at Los Gatos! It was a fun (albeit long) day with lots of really good diving from all the divers in our League.

All (JV and Varsity) League Results/Scores and Dive Sheets (and some great pictures of all divers) can be found below...

We had a couple relaxed practices on Friday and Saturday; prepare for more focused and serious practices this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday as we lock in those dives for CCS on Thursday.  Practice this week will be 2:30/45pm-4/4:30/5pm???  However long it takes to get you all ready for our biggest meet of the season.  I printed out the 11-dive lists (and for some of you, an alternate) and we can look at them on Monday.

Thursday, we have Girls CCS in the morning (7am warm-ups and a 9am meet-start) and Boys CCS in the afternoon (12pm warm-ups with a 2pm meet-start).  The meet will occur at the Santa Clara International Swim Centre; the swim-side of the pool is in flux (CCS Swimming will occur at Hollister HS) but the diving well is still ok.  JV divers can be released from class (if you are academically "ok" in the period/s you miss and you can find your own ride up to Santa Clara).  Talk to Coach Mike and Karla if you would like to come cheer on your teammates; we will send the necessary info to the attendance people.

And some ONGOING Dive stuff to remember...

Please remember to "sign-in" daily to practice using the Attendance QR code (link below) in the lifeguard office window; DON'T FORGET!  This is the way your attendance is tracked- if you forget to fill it in, that counts as an ABSENCE!

And a couple notes from the Swim Team Email that you will want/need:

Team Meeting- Monday, May 1

All team members should meet on the pool deck after school for an important team meeting from 2:30-2:45 pm.  This meeting is MANDATORY and our last official time together.  Please inform a coach if you are unable to attend.

League Meet Results

For the second year in a row our JV girls are league champs! We had more athletes get second swims this year than in the past 7 seasons.  Our girl divers were also amazing, earning more points than any other team.  Please see results from the league meet below.   The combined dual meet and league meet points resulted in the following overall placements:

JV Girls- 1st

FS Boys- 4th

Varsity Girls- 2nd

Varsity Boys- 4th

League Results

Combined Finals Meet Recap

2023 Swim and Dive Banquet and Awards - Thursday, May 18th 6:00-9:00pm @ LGHS

This year’s banquet will have the dinner held outside, in the quad area of the high school.  After dinner, we will go into the LGHS theater for videos, awards & presentations.   This will be a catered event, so we need a response from every athlete’s family!   All current swimmers, divers, and coaches who attend, are free but must RSVP, and parents, and other guests will be $20 a person.  As mentioned,  this is a catered event, we will need every athlete to RSVP whether attending or not, so that we have as accurate of a head count as possible.

Banquet RSVP Form  

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Previously Shared LGHS Dive Links 

 Attendance Form - Fill out this form DAILY when you arrive at practice (it is time-stamped). Missed practices will result in removal from the team.  Illness, excused, and Coach pre-approved absences are the only exceptions.

Hello Divers;

Last week was another busy one; Hosting the SCD divers, our "Senior" Meet against Saratoga, and an 11-dive Invite Meet at Presentation.  This upcoming week is just as busy but over just 4 days...

We had a fun "pasta feed" at Ava's house on Tuesday; Thank you to Juel and the Lazovsky family for hosting, Wednesday we hosted the SCD divers; a lot of skilled divers and a BUNCH of younger-divers, Friday we had our last dual-meet; we honored Sophia and Megan and got to dive both regular and synchro-lists, and on Saturday we had 2 automatic CCS qualifiers (Ava and Parsa) and 3 divers who are in "consideration" status (Asa, Mia, and ELLIE!!!). 

Quite a long meet and even longer if you stuck around and judged the afternoon session like I did; the morning session was the "better-skilled" but also "tougher-judged" of the two sessions in my opinion... Great job to all our divers and you had a great chance to experience the pressure (and length) of an 11-dive meet even if you didn't make your CCS cut!  Results and sheets are below; Karla and I will look over your sheets with you on Monday; identify the good-dive (judge- and total- scores) and those we will want to work on...

Here is the "breakdown" for each day this upcoming week;

Monday we will have a busy practice-day; Varsity should work on their 11-dive lists, practicing any that are "difficult" or need to be "polished-up".  JV's are practicing their 8-dive lists and will have "priority-diving" and should get as much time as possible on the boards to prepare for...

Tuesday is the JV event, you will be released from class at 11am and should come right down to the pool deck.  JV divers should get on the boards immediately to get a bit of "extra" practice in before the masses (of divers from other teams) show up (probably a bit after 11).  Our meet will start at 1pm, Varsity divers will be working the desk, with Sophia taking the lead-role.  We will run 2 or 3-iPads and 1-paper-copy for scoring.  That means we need AT LEAST 4 desk-workers, you will get a "substitute" sometime after "regular" school gets released (and we have divers back for their tests/classes).

Wednesday is a Varsity-only Practice so they can make their final adjustments to their 11 dives.  JV divers can help coach and/or watch but will not be getting in the pool (with the possible exception of Ellie; see below).  

Thursday, the Varsity Finals is at Monta Vista; Warm-ups at 12pm, the Meet will start by 2/2:15pm.  You will be released from class at 11am and should get down to the pool deck so we can carpool over (Karla and I have enough seats that we won't need to use the vans).  Sophia (?and Megan?) will also be joining us so that we can run the desk for Monta Vista.  JV Divers can be excused from their classes at 12/Lunch (let me know so I can alert the attendance office) or can come after school ends but, either way, you will need to find rides with parents up to Monta Vista...

Friday, we can finally take a breath and relax (for a short-bit).  Leagues are DONE, we are just waiting to hear about the Swimming Results to see who has won the League in each division!  We will have a VERY relaxed-practice, open-boards for all, since only our CCS Qualified-divers will have another competition.  

Same for Saturday (11am-1pm); a very relaxed practice, open to all divers.  This will be the last chance that JV divers will have to get board-time; the next week is Varsity Divers ONLY Monday thru Thursday...

An important note (which I, unfortunately, don't have any concrete information on); CCS Finals WERE SUPPOSED to happen at Santa Clara Swim Centre (where our Santa Clara divers practice; ie "home-boards")... I am hearing now that the pool-issues there MAY neccesitate a site-switch... nothing is for certain but possibly Stanford (a big advantage to the Stanford club divers).  I will have more information later this week (hopefully) but this is a dynamic situation...be prepared for anything (maybe we can host it, lol)

And some ONGOING Dive stuff to remember...

Please remember to "sign-in" daily to practice using the Attendance QR code (link below) in the lifeguard office window; DON'T FORGET!  This is the way your attendance is tracked- if you forget to fill it in, that counts as an ABSENCE!

Leagues are HERE!!! Make sure to mark your calendar (alert your teachers) for the week of April 24th; JV finals are on Tuesday the 25th and Varsity compete on Thursday, the 27th.  We will host the JV event so we will have to have all hands (Varsity and JV) on deck to help set-up, run desk/announcements/etc, and clean-up after the meet.  JV, I can excuse you from class on Thursday to cheer on our team at Monta Vista if your schedule allows for it.  The Thursday meet is 11-dive so you could even come after school lets out and still see plenty of rounds of really high-quality diving!

CCS is COMING!!!  Friday, May 5 and Saturday May 6th are CCS Finals (one day for the Girls and one day for the Boys).  We heard at the Invite that they are having such significant problems at Santa Clara Swim Centre (why SCD practiced at our pool) that they might have to change the event site... More to come as I find it out...

And a couple notes from the Swim Team Email that you will want/need:

Swim and Dive Banquet- Thursday, May 18th 6:00 pm

We have secured a date for our annual awards banquet!  The banquet is a celebration of the season’s accomplishments.  The evening includes dinner followed by the awards and celebration ceremony.  The event will take place at school and is free for all current Swim & Dive athletes. Parents and family are invited and encouraged to come, and the invite with payment options for family will go out in late April.  More details to follow from the banquet committee as we get closer to the date. We hope you plan to join us. 

Booster Club

Our swimming and diving booster club consists of parents from all teams who work throughout the season to enhance the swimming and diving team experience.  In the past this has included activities like pasta feeds and the end of season banquet, as well as support during meets like nutrition and timing. If you would be interested in helping out please contact our booster club president, Shannon Newton.

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Previously Shared LGHS Dive Links 

 Attendance Form - Fill out this form DAILY when you arrive at practice (it is time-stamped). Missed practices will result in removal from the team.  Illness, excused, and Coach pre-approved absences are the only exceptions.

Hello Divers;

Last week was your Spring Break; we had some nice, sunny, and pretty warm weather and Karla and I had fun working with the smaller numbers and more one-on-one coaching.  We have two weeks left of our "regular season"; this upcoming week is our last dual meet and the week of April 24th is our FINALS (JV on Tuesday and Varsity on Thursday).  After Finals, practices only continues for those Varsity divers that have qualified for the CCS event (we will have some days with "open-boards" if others would like to get back onto them).

This week we will host some of the SCD divers Monday through Wednesday.  The Santa Clara divers will be focusing on their 3M lists on Monday and Tuesday.  We will do a diver-only "pasta feed" on Tuesday at Ava's home (15930 Short Rd.) after practice.  Details on the Sign-upGenius link; https://signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/9040949aea723a4f49-dive1 

Wednesday, we will spend ~30 minutes on the 3M (working on line-ups and entries) and then spend the rest of practice watching the SCD kids work on their 1M lists. Thursday, we will have the boards to ourselves; you will work on your 6- (Friday) and 11- (Saturday) dive lists.

We will dive against Saratoga on Friday; it is the "Senior Meet" so we get a chance to honor Sophia and Megan a second time :). 

It is an "inwards" week so we will be seeing some really nice dives and ?1&1/2's???.

Saturday Dive Invite at Presentation - Ava, Mia, Asa, Mina, Riley, Tashi, Parsa, and ?Ellie? will be participating in this 11-dive meet; we have the 1st session, that means a 8am warm-up with a 9am start.  Should be a fun day and , hopefully, we qualify some divers for CCS before the League Finals.

Finals Week begins the following week; April 25th (Tuesday) is the JV event, that we host at Los Gatos, April 27th (Thursday) is the Varsity event at Monta Vista.  Los Altos is putting together a 'program" for the events; please fill out the following Google Form; https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdqg1vS-Dd6G0Yj6Dh4wnrFNgPI4MfwwqVI1hEo-EP3pbIMqQ/viewform

And some ONGOING Dive stuff to remember...

Please remember to "sign-in" daily to practice using the Attendance QR code (link below) in the lifeguard office window; DON'T FORGET!  This is the way your attendance is tracked- if you forget to fill it in, that counts as an ABSENCE!

Leagues are coming!!! Make sure to mark your calendar for the week of April 24th; JV finals are on Tuesday the 25th and Varsity compete on Thursday, the 27th.  We will host the JV event so we will have to have all hands on deck to help set-up, run desk/announcements/etc, and clean-up after the meet.  JV, I can excuse you from class on Thursday to cheer on our team at Monta Vista.

More to come on the 2023 Dive Fundraiser next week from our Captains...but we are doing a "Bake-Sale" event.

And a couple notes from the Swim Team Email that you will want/need:

Meet v. Saratoga- Friday, April 21st 

Our last dual meet will be against Saratoga at home!  We will honor our graduating seniors and all families are invited!  Parents, please sign up to volunteer for our last home dual meet of the season! Also, keep in mind there are a number of events happening on campus on Friday that will SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACT PARKING!  Click here for a campus map that shows all possible parking options.- The diving team has already done this but we can honor our Seniors at the same time.  Seniors, bring back your picture and frame, and your poster as well!  We can do a "shortened" speech for our 2 :) We will do our 6-dive dual meet, followed by 5 rounds of synchro-diving!

Swim and Dive Banquet- Thursday, May 18th 6:00 pm

The end-of-season banquet is coming up!  The banquet is a celebration of the season’s accomplishments.  The evening includes dinner followed by the awards, videos, and celebration ceremony.  The event will take place at school and is free for all current Swim & Dive athletes. All swimmers must RSVP so we know how much food to order.  Additionally, parents, siblings, grandparents, etc. are welcome and encouraged to attend.  The cost for non-athletes is $20/person.  Link to payment is also in the RSVP.  Hope you can join us for this fun celebration!

Banquet RSVP Form

Booster Club

Our swimming and diving booster club consists of parents from all teams who work throughout the season to enhance the swimming and diving team experience.  In the past this has included activities like pasta feeds and the end of season banquet, as well as support during meets like nutrition and timing. If you would be interested in helping out please contact our booster club president, Shannon Newton.

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Previously Shared LGHS Dive Links 

 Attendance Form - Fill out this form DAILY when you arrive at practice (it is time-stamped). Missed practices will result in removal from the team.  Illness, excused, and Coach pre-approved absences are the only exceptions.

 Google Form; https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdqg1vS-Dd6G0Yj6Dh4wnrFNgPI4MfwwqVI1hEo-EP3pbIMqQ/viewform

This is the information that will populate the Dive Finals Programs; Competing divers will fill it out after they have verified their dive-lists (you need this for the form) for the Finals Meet.

Hello Divers;

Our meet leading up to the Spring break against Los Altos (and Monta Vista for Saratoga) was fun and the Varsity event's "desk" crew did an amazing job running thru a VERY efficient and timely meet, thank you ladies!.  As always, if you are in town for the upcoming week, your Spring Break, we expect you to be at practice on your regular frequency.  Over the break, we practice from 11am - 1pm, Monday thru Friday.  No word yet on if we will do next Saturday, the 15th, at our pool or at another site.

The Golden Chamois award winner for last week was Maddie Wong; she placed 1st against Los Altos with a score of 260.80!  Apparently, it was her 1&1/2 meet; she performed 1&1/2's in the forward, back, and inward categories, plus her forward 1&1/2, full-twist and a back-flip, 1&1/2 twists.  Her Score Sheet has me seeing double... or triple, or quadruple...  Maddie's inward 1&1/2, in the PIKE position was especially impressive to see!.  I found it hard to pick a Golden Chamois winner this week, which is a GOOD problem to have; so many of you are coming into your "Championship-Season" form.

The "Red Lobster" award winner for last week is Parsa Nolan.  He has continually pushed himself with new dives, new positions, and a great many flops.  Last week he took a few that I think would have ended a practice for most of you... he always pops-up with a smile and a (terrifying) laugh!  It's like he feels no pain which has helped him push himself so much further than Karla or I would have expected in these last few months of our season.  Great job and let's work on those toes!

Thursday, LG dove against Los Altos), Monta Vista dove against Saratoga; results and dive sheets are below.  Some GREAT dives, from all of our team-levels.  Again, our JV Girls team is dominating their meets; Ellie had a great forward 1&1/2 and reverse dive; Aanya had a great forward dive straight and 1&1/2; Liza had a very nice back dive straight; We had a pretty easy win at all levels; Los Altos and Monta Vista have programs that are in their early-growth stage and will be much better next season and the following... 

This week is a slow one, with our break, but next week is our last meet of our dual-meet season.  We will dive against Saratoga but should we do a "pasta feed" or go our to eat after the meet?  Captains, what do you think?

And some ONGOING Dive stuff to remember...

Please remember to "sign-in" daily to practice using the Attendance QR code (link below) in the lifeguard office window; DON'T FORGET!  

Our first (and possibly only) 11-dive (CCS-qualify-able) meet (before our League Finals) is April 22nd at Presentation HS.  Let's mark our calendars and start making a CCS-legal, 11-dive list.  This includes 2 dives from each category and one category where you will have to "triple-up" (usually forwards for newer divers and twisters for those that can, it's a higher DD dive).  There are some other rules about the order but once I get your 11 dives, I can start to put it together to make sure it is a legal list.  I'll start with Varsity divers then the JV divers.  This dive list will also be your "draft list" for those doing Varsity Leagues (JV's only need to compete 8 dives)

Leagues are coming!!! Make sure to mark your calendar for the week of April 24th; JV finals are on Tuesday the 25th and Varsity compete on Thursday, the 27th.  We will host the JV event so we will have to have all hands on deck to help set-up, run desk/announcements/etc, and clean-up after the meet.  JV, I can excuse you from class on Thursday to cheer on our team at Monta Vista.

More to come on the 2023 Dive Fundraiser next week from our Captains...but we are doing a "Bake-Sale" event.

And a couple notes from the Swim Team Email that you will want/need:

Meet v. Saratoga- Friday, April 21st 

Our last dual meet will be against Saratoga at home!  We will honor our graduating seniors and all families are invited!  Parents, please sign up to volunteer for our last home dual meet of the season! - The diving team has already done this but we can honor our Seniors at the same time.  Seniors, bring back your picture and frame, and your poster as well!  We can do a "shortened" speech for our 2 :) We will do our 6-dive dual meet, followed by 5 rounds of synchro-diving!

Swim and Dive Banquet- Thursday, May 18th 6:00 pm

We have secured a date for our annual awards banquet!  The banquet is a celebration of the season’s accomplishments.  The evening includes dinner followed by the awards and celebration ceremony.  The event will take place at school and is free for all current Swim & Dive athletes. Parents and family are invited and encouraged to come, and the invite with payment options for family will go out in late April.  More details to follow from the banquet committee as we get closer to the date. We hope you plan to join us. 

Booster Club

Our swimming and diving booster club consists of parents from all teams who work throughout the season to enhance the swimming and diving team experience.  In the past this has included activities like pasta feeds and the end of season banquet, as well as support during meets like nutrition and timing. If you would be interested in helping out please contact our booster club president, Shannon Newton.

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Previously Shared LGHS Dive Links 

 Attendance Form - Fill out this form DAILY when you arrive at practice (it is time-stamped). Missed practices will result in removal from the team.  Illness, excused, and Coach pre-approved absences are the only exceptions.

Hello Divers;

Another busy week in the books; we had our "reverses" week... always some flops along the way (and a return of our "Red Lobster" award:)

We dove with Monta Vista, Homestead, Fremont, and Lynbrook on Friday; a cold, longer meet but worth it... Our Senior Meet event was GREAT, so proud to be a part of such a great group of people!  We finished off with a Swimmers-dive Saturday Practice; Ekat did a great job of planning the activities/timelines (and saved you all from the 500!).  You all were out of breath and looked close to drowning, but weren't complaining about the pool temperature :)  I love seeing you all teach the swimmers to dive, and it is (mostly) apparent why they swim and don't dive.  Funniest comments I heard; "...this "hot" tub isn't even hot!!!" and "diving is a lot harder than I thought...".  And of course, Karla's comment when I sent her some pictures and videos, one of Parsa's 2.5 off the 3M; "..who is that swimmer!!!"

Last week's Golden Chamois award winner was Ellie; great dives at our twister meet in Palo Alto and a (close) 1st Place finish!!!  Lots of fundamentals seem to be coming together for Ellie... all at the right time as we come to the last few weeks of our season.  Luckily, no Red-Lobster Award for twisters week... you are becoming more comfortable with your dives, positions, and timing:)  Reverse week was a different story...

Friday, LG dove against Monta Vista (one F/S Boy), Homestead dove against Saratoga's 2 girls, and Fremont and Lynbrook dove solo-meets; results and dive sheets are below.  Some good dives, some incomplete dives, and some amazing tenacity shown by the Lynbrook diver working on her reverse; that took a ton of guts to even try once, let alone the multiple attempts Claire made!  After our meet, we had some food and honored our graduating Seniors; so proud of all you girls and the strides and growth you have made in the last four years and we all wish you best wishes in your future journeys.  You make Karla and myself so proud and honored to get to witness this growth!

This week's meet (Forwards again) is Friday (3/31) at Los Altos. We have a bit longer this week to prepare for this meet (and a category that is the simplest and one you have already competed).  We need dive lists by Wednesday, by the end of practice, so I can get the meet file to Kayley over at Los Altos.  Changes will be made once we get there on Friday.  We will be arranging transport from the high school, more information to come.

Next week is your Spring Break; if you are in town, we do our practices from 11-1, M-F; depending on how many are in town, we may have a Saturday practice, possible at another pool.

And some ONGOING Dive stuff to remember...

Please remember to "sign-in" daily to practice using the Attendance QR code (link below) in the lifeguard office window; DON'T FORGET!  

Our first (and possibly only) 11-dive (CCS-qualify-able) meet (before our League Finals) is April 22nd at Presentation HS.  Let's mark our calendars and start making a CCS-legal, 11-dive list.  This includes 2 dives from each category and one category where you will have to "triple-up" (usually forwards for newer divers and twisters for those that can, it's a higher DD dive).  There are some other rules about the order but once I get your 11 dives, I can start to put it together to make sure it is a legal list.  I'll start with Varsity divers then the JV divers.  This dive list will also be your "draft list" for those doing Varsity Leagues (JV's only need to compete 8 dives)

Leagues are coming!!! Make sure to mark your calendar for the week of April 24th; THERE ARE STILL SOME REMAINING QUESTIONS ABOUT DATES AND SITES FOR LEAGUE FINALS; I WILL KEEP YOU UPDATES AS INFORMATION COMES IN  

More to come on the 2023 Dive Fundraiser next week from our Captains...but we are doing a "Bake-Sale" event.

And a couple notes from the Swim Team Email that you will want/need:

Save the Date- Thursday, May 18th 6:00 pm

We have secured a date for our annual awards banquet!  The banquet is a celebration of the season’s accomplishments.  The evening includes dinner followed by the awards and celebration ceremony.  The event will take place at school and is free for all current Swim & Dive athletes. Parents and family are invited and encouraged to come, and the invite with payment options for family will go out in late April.  More details to follow from the banquet committee as we get closer to the date. We hope you plan to join us. 

Booster Club

Our swimming and diving booster club consists of parents from all teams who work throughout the season to enhance the swimming and diving team experience.  In the past this has included activities like pasta feeds and the end of season banquet, as well as support during meets like nutrition and timing. If you would be interested in helping out please contact our booster club president, Shannon Newton.

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Previously Shared LGHS Dive Links 

 Attendance Form - Fill out this form DAILY when you arrive at practice (it is time-stamped). Missed practices will result in removal from the team.  Illness, excused, and Coach pre-approved absences are the only exceptions.

Hello Divers;

Another busy week in the books; "twisters" week is always a tough one.  We worked on twisters at the beginning of the week (twisters looked great, some people "figured-it-out"), worked on lists on Wednesday (they weren't as good as earlier, kind of weird), then we had our Thursday meet in Palo Alto (a real "mixed-bag" of twisters, thankfully, no failed dives for ANOTHER meet in a row!) and apparently you all had a pretty good practice on Friday (my middle-school dance went well, no major disasters like the first one:)

Oh what a difference a week makes... Last week's Golden Chamois award went to Asa; Asa is a first year diver that, because he is a Junior, must compete against other, more experienced, Varsity divers performing MUCH more advanced dives.  Asa has quickly learned the basics, is working hard on learning his fundamentals, and his athletic ability has allowed him to start to ramp-up his dive list.  Against Homestead, he was only 2.35 points short of placing 2nd; the 2nd place diver from Homestead won the JV League event last year... and less than 20 points short of placing first and beating Parsa!  He competed forward AND back double flips, an inward 1&1/2, and a back-flip, 1&1/2 twists; his best scoring dive.  These are dives that often take a couple full seasons to work up to, not dives done in your second meet EVER.  Congratulations to Asa and keep up the hard work!" And the week's Red Lobster award went to Ava; kudos for "sending-it" at our Saturday practice (on Homestead's boards!) on the forward 2.5... but ohhh what a painful flop to watch ;( So glad that you are ok and even as an experienced diver, Ava continues to push her diving to its limit.  But maybe with a call-out for the next limit-test :). Congratulations to both our award winners!

Thursday, we dove against Gunn, Saratoga dove against Palo Alto; it was a pretty good meet for us plus we got to see some really good divers and dives from all the teams.  PALY's Varsity Girls are strong but Tashi claimed 2nd place and Saratoga took home 5 points for their Varsity Girls team.  LG had mixed results; our Varsity Boys (Parsa and Asa) got beat out by the 2 Gunn divers (wow, that Victor kid is really good!!!), our Varsity Girls went 1-2-5, outscoring Gunn 11-5 (and Ava beat out Maddie by less than 8 points for 1st place!!!).  The JV Girls had the most interesting meet; Ellie won the meet, beating out Mina by about 17 points and Aanya just lost out on 3rd place (by 5.05 points!).  The JV Girls still won the meet 12-3 for another great team result.

This week's meet (REVERSES!!!) is Friday (3/31) at Los Gatos. Saratoga Girls will be competing against Homestead.  LG divers will be competing against Monta Vista (if Gregg's JV girls are ready to compete 6 dives) AND we will be hosting the Fremont (dives with Homestead's team) and Lynbrook divers.  A 6-Team-Meet; It will be busy!!!  This week also will be our Substitute-Senior Meet; we will honor our Seniors (Sophia, Megan, Ekat, and Mia) before we start the meet. We have a short (~1/2 minutes) speech about each of our team members, given by our younger athletes:)  All divers should come down to the pool deck right after school to set-up; both for the meet/desk AND for the Senior Meet stuff.  Prepare for some "back-flops" as we work our reverse dives and 1.5's this week.  We have wetsuit-tops...I recommend that you use them, especially for preps.

This coming Saturday (April 1st), we will hold a practice with our swimmers.  Ekat will be running a combined practice; divers will do some warm-up laps and swim in some relays and then swimmers will try their luck with some dry-land training and then on to the boards!!!  It is always (especially the swimmers') a "favorite practice of the year" candidate :)  

Next week's meet is against LAHS up in Los Altos.  The meet will be on Friday, April 7th...  More information to come...

And some ONGOING Dive stuff to remember...

Please remember to "sign-in" daily to practice using the Attendance QR code (link below) in the lifeguard office window; DON'T FORGET!  

Our first (and possibly only) 11-dive (CCS-qualify-able) meet (before our League Finals) is April 22nd at Presentation HS.  Let's mark our calendars and start making a CCS-legal, 11-dive list.  This includes 2 dives from each category and one category where you will have to "triple-up" (usually forwards for newer divers and twisters for those that can, it's a higher DD dive).  There are some other rules about the order but once I get your 11 dives, I can start to put it together to make sure it is a legal list.  I'll start with Varsity divers then the JV divers.  This dive list will also be your "draft list" for those doing Varsity Leagues (JV's only need to compete 8 dives)

Leagues are coming!!! Make sure to mark your calendar for the week of April 24th; right now, we are looking at Girls & Boys Junior Varsity/Frosh-Soph Finals on Tuesday the 25th (at LG) and Girls & Boys Varsity compete on Thursday, the 27th (at Monta Vista).  We are looking to host the Tuesday event so we will have to have all hands on deck to help set-up, run desk/announcements/etc, and clean-up after the meet.  Prepare for a long meet; if we start at 1 (warmups), we could go to 5/6!!!

More to come on the 2023 Dive Fundraiser next week from our Captains...but we are doing a "Bake-Sale" event.

And a couple notes from the Swim Team Email that you will want/need:

Save the Date- Thursday, May 18th 6:00 pm

We have secured a date for our annual awards banquet!  The banquet is a celebration of the season’s accomplishments.  The evening includes dinner followed by the awards and celebration ceremony.  The event will take place at school and is free for all current Swim & Dive athletes. Parents and family are invited and encouraged to come, and the invite with payment options for family will go out in late April.  More details to follow from the banquet committee as we get closer to the date. We hope you plan to join us. 

Booster Club

Our swimming and diving booster club consists of parents from all teams who work throughout the season to enhance the swimming and diving team experience.  In the past this has included activities like pasta feeds and the end of season banquet, as well as support during meets like nutrition and timing. If you would be interested in helping out please contact our booster club president, Shannon Newton.

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Previously Shared LGHS Dive Links 

 Attendance Form - Fill out this form DAILY when you arrive at practice (it is time-stamped). Missed practices will result in removal from the team.  Illness, excused, and Coach pre-approved absences are the only exceptions.

Hello Divers;

So far, the later practice time-slot has worked out; it is still pretty cold so make sure you have warm clothes for when we finish practice.

Last week's Golden Chamois award went to Ava; she secured 2nd place by less than 4 points over the Paly diver and scored 5's or above on all 6 of her dives.  Her first dive, a back dive pike, scored 7-bingo and her last dive, an inward 1 and 1/2 was as strong a finish to her meet as her first.  Her consistency is something all our divers should strive for.  And the week's Red Lobster award went to Asa; being brand-new to the dive team, and with no experience, Asa has had a few "flops" on his way to learning several new dives.  In particular, the back dive tuck can be a very painful dive to learn.  After many times at practice slapping the front of legs and feet, Asa successfully performed his dive at our first meet.  This is doubly impressive considering the conditions at Palo Alto for our dive meet; very cold, rainy, and VERY WINDY!  Congratulations to both our award winners!

Friday, we dove against Homestead; it was a really fun meet; decent weather, a somewhat-hot hot tub, very competitive dives and scores, and some real strides as a team.  The desk (again) did a great job making some mid-meet adjustments, not easy when we are in "real-time" and divers are waiting on the board to perform their dive.  Our inwards were solid and we had several really nice inward dives and 1&1/2s.  Our Varsity Girls had some tough competition and performed admirably; Maddie was 5 points out of 1st place and Ava was just a couple points short of 2nd.  Our Varsity Boys had a great meet; Parsa beat out Dirk's son Landen by about 15 points for 1st and Asa was only 2 points shy of placing 2nd!!!  As expected, our JV Girls continue to dominate their competitions; Aanya won her third straight meet and we went 1st-2nd-3rd (Aanya, Mina,and Ellie), scoring 13 (of the 16) points for the VJ Girls team. We are definitely coming into form as the season progresses; I saw many dives on Friday that you will be competing in League Finals!!!  Keep up the hard work!

And Saturday was a lot of fun at Homestead for our All-Team practice; we had LG, Homestead, Los Altos, and Monte Vista.  I really enjoyed learning some new dryland drills and seeing you guys try some new dives (Ava and Ekat's back 1&1/2s, Landen's reverse 1&1/2s).  My least favorite part was Ava's forward 2&1/4 :(  Hope it is feeling ok today and hat's off for going for it...next time let's do it with a call-out :)  Pictures and videos from Saturday can be found below...

This week's meet (twisters) is Thursday (3/23) against Gunn but at Palo Alto.  Saratoga Girls will be competing against Palo Alto.  LG divers will be released at 1:50 from class, head directly down to the pool gates and meet Karla at the van.  We will head up to Palo Alto; the pool will open at 3:00pm, warmups at 3:15pm, and hopefully start the meet by 4pm.  I don't know how long the meet will last, nor do I know if the Varsity or JV will go first; Megan will get to decide that part of the format.

This coming Saturday (March 25th), we will NOT hold a practice (unless another school is doing the hosting).  

Next week, at LGHS (March 31st), we will be having our "Senior Meet" where we honor the graduating members of our team (and maybe a post-meet pizza party???With Homestead???).  More information to come...

And some ONGOING Dive stuff to remember...

Please remember to "sign-in" daily to practice using the Attendance QR code (link below) in the lifeguard office window; DON'T FORGET!  

Our first (and possibly only) 11-dive (CCS-qualify-able) meet (before our League Finals) is April 22nd at Presentation HS.  Let's mark our calendars and start making a CCS-legal, 11-dive list.  This includes 2 dives from each category and one category where you will have to "triple-up" (usually forwards for newer divers and twisters for those that can, it's a higher DD dive).  There are some other rules about the order but once I get your 11 dives, I can start to put it together to make sure it is a legal list.  I'll start with Varsity divers then the JV divers.  This dive list will also be your "draft list" for those doing Varsity Leagues; JV's only need to compete 8 dives.

Leagues are coming!!! Make sure to mark your calendar for the week of April 24th; JV finals are on Tuesday the 25th and Varsity compete on Thursday.  It is looking like we will host the JV  event so we will have to have all hands on deck to help set-up, run desk/announcements/etc, and clean-up after the meet.  JV, I can excuse you from class on Thursday to cheer on our team at Monta Vista.

More to come on the 2023 Dive Fundraiser next week from our Captains...but we are doing a "Bake-Sale" event.

And a couple notes from the Swim Team Email that you will want/need:

Team Meeting Monday, March 20th

We will have an all team meeting on Monday before practice.  All athletes are expected to attend the meeting.

Homestead Meet Results

We had a great first home meet against Homestead.  Both girls teams won, and everyone swam well.  See Coach Jim’s Recap below that captures the many highlights of the meet.

Homestead Results

Homestead Scores

Team Photos, Thursday March 30th

We will have our official team photos taken on Thursday, March 30th from 2:30-3:00 pm.  All athletes should be in attendance on that day wearing their team suit.  If you did not order a team suit and still want one, Ms. Peters has a few extras available in select sizes.  Additionally, there are previous years boys suits available for purchase for $20, all sizes.  Please see her during tutorial if you are interested.

Save the Date- Thursday, May 18th 6:00 pm

We have secured a date for our annual awards banquet!  The banquet is a celebration of the season’s accomplishments.  The evening includes dinner followed by the awards and celebration ceremony.  The event will take place at school and is free for all current Swim & Dive athletes. Parents and family are invited and encouraged to come, and the invite with payment options for family will go out in late April.  More details to follow from the banquet committee as we get closer to the date. We hope you plan to join us. 

Booster Club

Our swimming and diving booster club consists of parents from all teams who work throughout the season to enhance the swimming and diving team experience.  In the past this has included activities like pasta feeds and the end of season banquet, as well as support during meets like nutrition and timing. If you would be interested in helping out please contact our booster club president, Shannon Newton.

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Previously Shared LGHS Dive Links 

 Attendance Form - Fill out this form DAILY when you arrive at practice (it is time-stamped). Missed practices will result in removal from the team.  Illness, excused, and Coach pre-approved absences are the only exceptions.

Hello Dive-Fam;

Starting this week (Monday, March 13th and going forward to the end of our season) we will be practicing in our new time-slot; 4:30pm - 6pm.  It will be colder than our early time slot but we should be able to survive with the time change and warmer weather, immersion heaters/buckets, quick swim-laps to stay warm, and fast, efficient dive-lines.  Let's hope we get some warm(er) weather for the end of March and April than we had in February :)

Last week, our "Golden Chamois" award was given to Aanya who had a superb first-meet performance and score.  Her performance at Gunn showed a mix of more difficult dives (forward double) done well and her "simple" dives (inward dive and reverse dive) preformed exceptionally well!  The "Red Lobster" award was won by Liza last week.  She spent several "after-practices" working with Karla on her reverse take-offs and dives/flips.  This hard work and pain paid-off; her reverse flip was her second-highest scoring dive at the Gunn meet:).  This week's winners will be announced with the "Golden-Kickboard" award at the all-team meeting at 2:30pm on Monday.

This was a complicated week; the weather and meet details were dicey throughout the early-week but you guys were flexible and calm and we made the best of a less-than-ideal situation.  Thank you to parents who were quick to offer help with the transportation; we didn't end up needing it this time around but we might take you up on the offer the next time :)

On Thursday we had a WET and WINDY meet up in Palo Alto.  We had a good meet, considering the conditions and what many said were "dead-boards", without much spring and bounce to them.  And we had another meet with no Balks or Failed-Dives!!!  Palo Alto is probably the best diving (and swimming) team in our league so I was impressed that we "won" both the JV and Varsity Girls dive events.  It wasn't much help; the swimmers got beat pretty badly but in most close meets, the divers are the ones who decide if we end up winning or losing.  Meet results and your individual dive sheets can be found below.  

It's hard to believe but we are almost half-way through our season.  What better way to celebrate this milestone than a really fun week; inward dives, a meet against out BFF-dive-team, Homestead, on our home-boards, during a home swim meet, and with an All-Team Saturday Practice (at Homestead, 10-12pm) to follow!  Since this is a "home" meet, we get to dive while the swimmers are swimming but more important, we can attend the Pasta Feeds on Thursday (sign-ups links can be found below).  In order to attend the Pasta Feeds, we will be ending practice on Thursday at 5pm.  On Friday, right after school gets out, come down to the pool deck and help us prepare the pool and desk for the meet.  We can open the boards for warm-ups at 3, we should be able to start the meet by 4pm.  Not entirely sure, but I think we will run the JV event first, followed by the Varsity divers.  Exhibition divers will dive with their respective divisions.  We should have better weather than last week but you should still plan for cool, windy, and wet conditions.

This coming Saturday (March 18th), we will do an All-Team practice at Homestead, 10-12pm.  We have Homestead, Los Altos, Monte Vista, and even the Palo Alto divers planning on attending; it should be a lot of fun!  Bring a little something to share but the hosting-team usually provides the bulk of the snacks.  Carpooling can be arranged if you think you will have trouble getting up to Sunnyvale.

In a couple weeks, at our next home meet (March 31st), we will be having our "Senior Meet" where we honor the graduating members of our team (and maybe a post-meet pizza party???With Homestead???).  More information to come...

And some ONGOING Dive stuff to remember...

Please remember to "sign-in" daily to practice using the Attendance QR code (link below) in the lifeguard office window; DON'T FORGET!  

A couple of your have also not yet filled-out our Diver Goals form (link below); these are confidential and allow Karla and me to better coach you:)

Our first (and possibly only) 11-dive (CCS-qualify-able) meet (before our League Finals) is April 22nd at Presentation HS.  Before I "sign-up" for the meet, we need to look at our numbers; Are you available to dive in this meet (Saturday, April 22, warm-ups around 10/11am, meet would be done around 2/3pm)?

So far I have; Ekat-no (15th-no), Ava-yes, Mia-yes, Maddie-no (15th-maybe)... Check your calendars and get back to me this week (either in a text or on the pool-deck)

More to come on the 2023 Dive Fundraiser next week from our Captains...but we are leaning towards a "Bake-Sale" event.

And a couple notes from the Swim Team Email that you will want/need:

Pasta Feed- Thursday, March 16th

We are excited for our second pasta feed of the season!  Thank you to the Sztuk family for hosting JV/FS and the Tomlin Family for hosting varsity.  We are in need of food at both pasta feeds.  At the time this email was composed there were NO pasta sign-ups for JV/FS… kind of hard to host a pasta feed with no pasta!  Show your appreciation for not having to host by bringing an item!

JV/FS Pasta Feed

Varsity Pasta Feed

Suits and Merch

All suit and cap orders were received and distributed Friday at practice.  If you did not attend Friday’s practice you can pick up your suit after Monday’s Meeting. We are excited to offer a number of new merch items this season!  We have partnered with a local business to provide custom Swim/Dive water bottles.  In addition to a water bottle, the team also receives a portion of the proceeds from the sale!  We will also be offering pajama pants as one clothing merch option.  Clothing orders must be placed by Tuesday, March 14th. Remember that if you ordered a suit, a t-shirt was already included in your order and does not need to be ordered again.

Merch Order Form

Water Bottle Order Link

Booster Club

Our swimming and diving booster club consists of parents from all teams who work throughout the season to enhance the swimming and diving team experience.  In the past this has included activities like pasta feeds and the end of season banquet, as well as support during meets like nutrition and timing. If you would be interested in helping out please contact our booster club president, Shannon Newton.

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Previously Shared LGHS Dive Links 

 Attendance Form - Fill out this form DAILY when you arrive at practice (it is time-stamped). Missed practices will result in removal from the team.  Illness, excused, and Coach pre-approved absences are the only exceptions.

 Diver Goals Form - New and returning divers will fill out this form to give Karla and me a bit more insight into you and how to best coach you.  There are only 2-3 of you we still need information from...

LGHS and Saratoga HS Divers;

Our frustrating couple weeks with the Pool/Chlorine problems seem to be abating... We had a full week of pool use, an Away-Meet (for our Saratoga girls, a "practice meet" for LG divers), and were even able to squeeze in a All-Team Saturday Practice with a BUNCH of kids from other high school teams (although I did hear complaints about the chemicals from some of the other team's divers...)

We had a GREAT first Dual Meet on Thursday; everyone made it to the pool (after some behind-the-scenes issues with the transportation), we ran a heck of a desk and meet for our newest coach-buddy, Colten, at Gunn's pool (not an easy task, great work desk and announcers), AND we had some really stellar performances from our competing divers (also pretty difficult in such crumby, cold conditions).  Karla and I are so proud of our team when get compliments from the other coaches at the meet like these; "...your kids did such a great job at the desk, so professional..." "your girls are just so kind and friendly...", "... it's only that boy's 7th day on boards???..." and "...wow, I can't believe we are done already...".  Kudos to all of you for making it a great first meet-experience for Colten and the Gunn team (who haven't had divers in a couple years).  Meet results and your individual dive sheets can be found below.  

We also have our first awards of the season.  The "Golden Chamois" is given to the diver who had the "best" meet from the previous week.  Sometimes this is the diver that had the highest overall score, other times it is the diver that had the best dive, sometimes it is a diver that overcame a fear and threw a dive that they have never done, and sometimes it is a diver that embodies our team's spirit.  This award is an orange chamois-cape, with cat-patches sewn on.  Over the course of the week, the winner will sew on another cat-patch to the "cape" and will award it to the winner for the next week.  Winners should wear their chamois-cape on the day of the meet, both at school and to that week's meet, as well as to our Monday All-Team Meetings.  The "Red Lobster" award is given out to the diver that has had the biggest or most flops/slaps/slams while working on a dive for that week.  They get a beanie-baby lobster, a reminder of their hard work (life-skill) and pain (only temporary).

Now, we are in the early "competition" phase of our season; LGHS and Saratoga have separate meets this Thursday (3/9), at Palo Alto and at Los Altos (LG vs PA and LA vs Saratoga); This means that Karla will travel to LAHS with the Saratoga Girls and Sophia (to help run the desk) and I will be with LGHS at Palo Alto.  It is a "backs" week so you will want to work on your back dives, back flips, and back-twisters on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Transportation  - We are surveying divers to see how feasible it is to have parents drive athletes to Palo Alto.  Again this week, we will work on "draft-lists" on Monday and Tuesday, you will make your "finalized" list by end-of-practice on Tuesday (I need to get the info to the team hosting the meet), and we dive Thursday!!!  Friday we WILL have practice, it's really nice when the swimmers are gone and we have the entire pool/pooldeck to ourselves! 

This coming Saturday (March 11th), we will do a "normal-Saturday" practice; just our team (solo-Mike; Karla has plans) and we will be working on the reverse dives and flips.  Get ready for (at least a few) flops!!!

Starting the following week (Monday, March 13th) we will be practicing in our new time-slot; 4:30pm - 6pm.  It will be colder than before but we should be able to survive with immersion heaters/buckets, quick swim-laps to stay warm, and fast, efficient dive-lines.  Let's hope for some warmer weather for March and April than we had in February :)

And some ONGOING Dive stuff to remember...

Please remember to "sign-in" daily to practice using the Attendance QR code (link below) in the lifeguard office window; DON'T FORGET!  

A couple of your have also not yet filled-out our Diver Goals form (link below); these are confidential and allow Karla and me to better coach you:)

Our first (and possibly only) 11-dive (CCS-qualify-able) meet (before our League Finals) is April 22nd at Presentation HS.  Before I "sign-up" for the meet, we need to look at our numbers; Are you available to dive in this meet (Saturday, April 22, warm-ups around 10/11am, meet would be done around 2/3pm)?

So far I have; Ekat-no, Ava-yes, Mia-yes, Maddie-no... Check your calendars and get back to me this week (either in a text or on the pool-deck)

Our team will be doing a different fundraiser this year from the swim kids (O/B/G Meet); we just didn't have the time (or skillset yet) to arrange our Alumni Dive Meet for the 2023 season.  More to come on the 2023 Dive Fundraiser to come...

And a note from the Swim Team Email that you will want/need:

Booster Club

Our swimming and diving booster club consists of parents from all teams who work throughout the season to enhance the swimming and diving team experience.  In the past this has included activities like pasta feeds and the end of season banquet, as well as support during meets like nutrition and timing. If you would be interested in helping out please contact our booster club president, Shannon Newton.

Karla and I will see you on the pool deck :)

Michael Berwald - LGHS Head Diving Coach (and Saratoga Assistant Coach)

& 

Karla Albright - Saratoga Head Diving Coach (and LGHS Assistant Coach)

Previously Shared LGHS Dive Links 

 Attendance Form - Fill out this form DAILY when you arrive at practice (it is time-stamped). Missed practices will result in removal from the team.  Illness, excused, and Coach pre-approved absences are the only exceptions.

 Diver Goals Form - New and returning divers will fill out this form to give Karla and me a bit more insight into you and how to best coach you.  There are only 2-3 of you we still need information from...