It’s only 6:00 pm on a Wednesday, but it’s already pitch black outside as the girls on the Dive Team get out of their cars and walk towards the Broomfield Community Center. Inside, they weave their way through a crowded locker room before going to two diving boards at the back of a pool. Some girls finish their takeout food, while others are tying ponytails. By now, practice has already started, and these athletes are leaping off the boards.
One of the lesser-known high school sports, diving, was popularized in Sweden and Germany in the 18th and 19th centuries. However, it wasn’t until it came into British consciousness that the earliest diving organization was founded in 1901. In the sport of diving, athletes jump off the board and do different types of dives, such as front, back, and inward (flipping toward the board), etc. Then, the divers are judged based on different parts of their dive, such as approach, takeoff, execution, elevation, and entry into the water.
At Boulder High School, swimming and diving, although in the same program, are different sports. Just because one athlete dives does not mean that they swim and vice versa. In fact, they don’t even practice together. Also, even though Boulder High swimmers practice just amongst themselves, the dive team is structured differently, says Boulder High student Avery Stuhlbarg, 25’, who is returning for her second year on the team. “It’s definitely unique that we are a BVSD team and not a Boulder High Team,” she says, “We have athletes from a lot of different schools, which makes it really fun to meet new kids that I would have really never interacted with before.”
The mixing of schools on the team means that the people who divers are practicing with are really going to be the people they compete with. The team community, however, does not reflect this at all. Sylvia Pew, 26’, is the team captain for diving. She describes the dive team as having very little judgment. “We know that so many girls have never done the sport before,” she says. “We were all in their position at some point in our lives, so we can really relate to them.”
Syliva says that the Boulder girls are particularly tight-knit. “We’re one of the smallest [groups] for BVSD, so we are all super close…I also feel like our carpools bring us together.”
During practice, the girls wait in line at the two diving boards. “They’re very collaborative,” says Devynn Bulger, 26’, a first-year diver, when asked about practices. “When I go off the diving board, my coach will tell me how my approach was supposed to be and then what I did wrong with my approach.”
Another significant part of the practice is figuring out what dives you will do in competition. Sylvia explains that two aspects go into choosing a dive. Number one, she says, is how clean it is. “You don’t want to just throw something out there that you can do 50% of the time. You want to have it consistent, and you want it to look good.” Second, you want to have a hard dive. “That’s how you earn more points when it comes to competitions.”
Even with many new divers and a season that has just begun, the dive team is a strong community of athletes. Girls from Boulder High, as well as multiple other schools, help each other, push each other, and make each other better. “My favorite thing,” adds Stuhlburg, “[is] all the support that these girls have provided me in helping each other overcome fear and difficult skills. It’s really meaningful.”
