Andrew Ashton grabs his knees as judges look on during a meet at Bren Franklin swim club on July 11.
Ewing Ravine Club divers start with the basics and move up to twists and flips.
When Kathy Diringer joined the Ewing Ravine Club in 2009, she felt something was missing.
She had heard the club had a diving team in the early 1990s, but it went defunct some time ago. Diringer, a lifelong diver, decided to resurrect it and started the new team in 2010.
“I used to dive when I was a kid,” she said. “I joined the RC because it was local. I live right around the corner. I noticed they had a really nice swim team, and I noticed they had a diving board that kids were bouncing around on and having a great time. They didn’t have any training and some of it didn’t look particularly safe, so I thought if we started a diving team we could teach kids how to be safe on the diving board and they can learn some dives and have some fun.”
Diringer said around a dozen kids joined up in the first year. That jumped to 28 last year, and it currently floats around 20.
“I was watching one of the practices one day, and I thought it was cool,” Andrew Ashton said. “I wanted to join. I thought all the flips and twisting were cool.”
Ask Ashton and his teammates if they were scared to take that first plunge, and you will be met with a resounding “yes.”
“You’re afraid of flips,” M.C. Shea said. “There’s always that possibility that you’re going to land on your back or your face or your stomach.”
After a couple of seasons under their belts, though, that fear has faded.
“It’s cool because it feels like you’re flying,” Maddy Castadot said.
Diringer said she sees this transformation in nearly all of her team members. After a few wobbly first tries, they start to get the hang of it.
“Diving is one of those sports that just leads into more complicated things,” she said. “First you learn how to dive. Then you learn how to flip. Then you learn a d one and a half somersault. Then you learn a double somersault. Each step stakes you a little bit farther down the path, and each step is frightening.
“In the summer, all of the kids get their old dives better and learn new ones, also. It’s my favorite part. Sometimes, teaching the younger kids and the beginners is more rewarding than the older kids because they learn so fast.”
A lot of the kids stick around until they age out. Sasha Lewis went beyond that and now serves as an assistant coach.
“I’ve been here since the first year,” he said. “I dove for two years, but I hit the age limit, so I continued coaching. Kathy reached out to me, and I said yes. It’s great socializing and getting to know everyone.”
Kids on the current team range in age from 4 to 15. There are two age groups: 6 and under and 7 to 18. The team practices multiple times a week from Memorial Day to July, and it participates in five meets as well as a championship meet.
“It’s a fast season,” Diringer said.
Diving often gets overlooked in favor of more traditional ball sports. The sport, Diringer said, is just as effective in terms of a child’s development.
“It’s kind of scary,” she said. “It takes a little bit of courage and strength and flexibility, but the kids get a lot out of it. It’s a big confidence builder. Just to get up on the board in front of a crowd of people can be sort of heart-stopping for a kid.
“Being able to actually learn a dive that you were terrified of at one point is a big deal for them. It teaches them discipline, it gives them confidence. You can’t beat the exercise. You become strong and agile and flexible.”
Diringer, who still dives, is just glad the club let her take a chance with the team.
she said. “It really is a jewel of summer fun in Ewing.”
The kids are happy, too.
“We spend so much time together,” Shea said. “It’s helped all of us meet new people. We bond a lot. We’re like a big family.”
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