DIVING INTO THE DIFFERENCE

DIVING INTO THE DIFFERENCE by Deshna Venkatachlam design by Liam Milne photos by Bladen Petro

Junior Pratt Badve completes his last lap for his event of the meet, stepping out of the water, he grabs a towel as his team claps for him. The swimmer can now take a break as the dive portion of the meet begins. Senior Cole Wheeler steps up to the block in place of where Badve once was.

“It’s a completely different sport,” Wheeler said.

Junior Helen Alderfer discusses the difference in the dive portion of the meet is like and how the winner is determined.

“The divers train to compete six dives in the same meet, and try to get the highest score possible,” Alderfer said.

For diving, there are dual meets, where the divers compete six dives and get scored from one to ten. On the other hand, swimming is a bit different.

“You usually compete to see who can get first, and stuff like that,” Badve said.

The swimmers have different events that they are assigned. They then compete in those events.

“Both sports are more technical oriented,” Badve said.

Badve explains that one similarity the two sports have is that they focus on technique, but it’s ultimately different in what they focus on.

“With diving, it’s more like your core, your balance, and how well you can control your body in the air,” Wheeler said

Divers focus more on their form and they train to master a dive. “The swimmers train more for like, like they train a lot of cardio and divers are more about flexibility,” Alderfer said. Swimming also focuses on form, but they practice swimming distances and times, hence cardiovascular training.

“We usually practice in the pool a lot. And then diving, I believe a lot of their stuff is actually on dry land,” Badve said.

Both teams practice together, but also separately at the same time.

“It’s something I’ve done for four years now and I’ve lived my life jumping on trampolines, learning how to do flips, tricks, backflips, twists, so it kind of just feels natural when it comes to diving compared to swimming,” Wheeler said.

Badve, Wheeler, and Alderfer have all tried, at least once in their life, the other sport. All three athletes prefer what they currently do over the other section of the Swim and Dive Team.

“We act as one team but like they’re completely different in the aspect of training and everything,” Alderfer said.

ABOVE: Swimmers finish warm-ups to prepare for the meet. BELOW: Sophomore Lydia Putney dives at the North vs. East meet