SPORTS
Headfirst
Senior Mia Judulang prepares for Philippines National Diving Team BY YIFEI WU
S
he leaped into the air, curled her body, rotated 1260 degrees and plunged into the pool like a dart. It was one of the many practices in the Stanford Diving Club. Diving boards and this deep pool of blue have been a large part of senior Mia Judulang’s life since freshman year, when she decided to quit gymnastics and switch to diving. Now, after almost four years, she is preparing to join the National Diving Team
as soon as the practice started, Judulang realized that she was in a new terrain. To get used to the new body positions, she worked on trampolines for hours outside of practice. During one of her tournaments, Stanford Diving Club coach Doug Schwandt discovered her talent: Judulang placed first in the junior varsity league. Schwandt decided to recruit her for the club. “She had good posture, poise and was very strong and flexible,” Schwandt said. I LEARNED NOT TO LET From that point on, Judulang THE COMPETITIVEpracticed for two NESS GET TO ME AND hours at Stanford JUST DO WHAT I’M Diving Club on Tuesdays, Thursdays SUPPOSED TO DO. and the entire senior Mia Judulang weekend. During the spring season, of the Philippines. in addition to the club practice, This was not how Judulang Judulang practiced for two hours at envisioned her future in sports — school every day. for 12 years, she committed herself “She conditions at her best,” Schwandt to gymnastics, and at the age of 14 she said, “and she is really talented. She is competed in level 10, the highest level really good at twisting, and front and before Junior Olympics. back [turns] come easy for her.” But gymnastics started to take a toll on But not reverse dives, her body: her visits to the physical therapist where the divers have to flip became more and more frequent as a back backward into the water. injury worsened. Eventually, the summer During freshman year, before high school, Judulang decided to quit. Judulang accidentally hit It was a hard decision, for her and for the diving board during a her family. Both her father and brother did reverse dive. It happened competitive gymnastics, and her mother again in sophomore had supported her throughout her journey. year, only that time, she “Mia had great potential. I tried to talk scraped the whole of her her out of [quitting gymnastics] at first, back. To overcome her but changed my mind. If that’s what she fear, she often voluntarily decided, I support her,” Judulang’s mother, asked to practice it more. Carol Fedalizo said. “I try not to think Fedalizo then recommended that about [the reverse dives], Judulang try out for diving because diving and tell myself to just uses similar skill sets to gymnastics. do it,” Judulang said. Judulang plunged into this new, yet “Oftentimes on the board, somewhat familiar sport. Without any I would count to myself, ‘One, two, three,’ practice in diving, she made the junior and then, dive.” varsity diving team in freshman year — but “She’s very brave,” Schwandt said.
“[And] she knows what she should practice, and what dives should get done.” With her hard work and clear plan for improvement, Judulang progressed in the journey of diving. She became a varsity team captain in junior year, and this year, she is preparing to join the Filipino National Diving Team. “I’ve always want to go to the Filipino National Team,” Judulang said. “I love to do competitive sports.” Getting the chance to be a part of the Filipino national team came as a surprise in May 2014, when her mother and brother traveled to the Philippines for his practice on the national gymnastics team. While she stayed in Philippines, Fedalizo talked to the national diving team coaches and showed them videos of Judulang diving. A month later, Judulang heard back from the coaches — she could join the national team. In May 2015, Judulang will be ready to commit, as long as she sends videos updates to the coaches on the new dives she learned. Then a committee would decide if an official tryout would be necessary. After hearing the news, Judulang tried more difficult dives and conditioned at California Sports Center every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for almost three hours. The family also started to prepare for the transition to the Philippines. Fedalizo is now working on getting her daughter dual citizenship while eagerly awaiting the final decision of whether Judulang needs to fly to the Philippines to try out. As for Judulang’s plans for the future, she hopes to compete in the 2015 Southeast Asia Games and in the 2016 Olympics with the Filipino national team. “I never thought of quitting competitive sports,” Judulang said. “I’ve always been a competitive person, but after a while, I learned not to let the competitiveness get to me and just do what I’m supposed to do.” y.wu@elestoque.org
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