In the middle of the day, with school still in session, it’s hard to get parents let alone students to come out to support their schools’ divers for the Foothill League meet Wednesday afternoon.
That didn’t stop the few participants from putting on a show.
“The growth (of the sport) depends on … letting more people know about it,” said Saugus’ Micaiah Chau. “It actually takes a lot of training beforehand before you can get in the pool.”
Six divers competed from three schools: Hart, Saugus and West Ranch. Amanda Tisdale of West Ranch and Emma Williams of Hart were each trying to qualify for CIF.
“Amanda was really consistent today,” said head coach Mike Dreyfus. “You can see her numbers across the board.”
Her best three best dives of the day came on a forward 1 ½ somersault in pike position (7, 6, 6 ½), a back dive in forward position (6, 7, 5 ½) and a reverse somersault in pike position (7, 6, 5 ½).
“For a few of my dives, I have to grab my tuck tighter,” said Tisdale on what she needs to improve on for CIF qualifiers. “For a few others I just need to kick a tiny bit later and I just need to spot better overall.”
Williams had the best day of all the swimmers with her best three dives coming on a forward 1 ½ somersault in pike position (7 ½, 7 ½, 8), an inward 1 ½ somersault in tuck position (7, 7, 8) and a forward 2 ½ somersault in tuck position (7, 6 1/2 , 7 ½).
“I think that we (Tisdale and Williams) feed off each other,” Williams said about the two competitors. “If someone does really good then the other one wants to have a good dive too.
Already qualifying for CIF, Caden Moore served as a judge for the day and was impressed by the show they put on.
“I think they dove really well, compared to when they first started diving,” Moore said about the diving Wednesday. “They were really consistent and they actually scored pretty well.”
