Nine-member team takes six medals at PASDA championships
By Kyle Kondor
When Penny Pariso left her residence in Woking, England this spring to return to Hopewell Valley, she had no intention of reviving her career as a diving coach.
Then she encountered lifelong friend, Eric Hapke, who just so happened to be working as a board member at the Hopewell Valley Golf Club pool.
“It was serendipity,” Pariso said. “I happened to be home for the summer in the U.S., and Eric knew I was going to be here. He’s on the board, and knew they were struggling for a diving coach. He knows I used to dive and that I used to coach. Job done.”
Pariso, a former member of the Trenton State College diving team (now known as The College of New Jersey), officially accepted the job just a week before the Hopewell Valley Golf Club diving team’s season began in the beginning of June. And before the end of the summer, she led a small group of Hopewell Elementary School students to a successful season that was capped off by six of them qualifying for a trip to the Princeton Area Swimming and Diving Association championships held July 16 and 17.
“I missed coaching more than I realized,” said Pariso, who had previously coached the Lenape Swim Club diving team in her hometown Skillman before moving to England. “One objective in coaching is to get the kids to find enjoyment in what they’re doing. They all loved the season, and they all did so well because they actually really enjoyed what they were doing.”
Each team member showed up to the pool Monday through Friday for six weeks, all in preparation for the four dual meets that occured throughout the season as well as the PASDA championships. At practice, Pariso would have them do skills and drills such as diving through rings or diving over pool noodles. She’d also play games with the children that required them to catch objects out of the air as they were jumping off the one meter high diving board.
“Diving is very similar to gymnastics, in the respect that you have to have impeccable balance while being able to control all sorts of different mechanics of your body,” she said. “There’s tedious things that have to happen at practice for muscle memory to be built.”
The team consisted of a mere nine youth divers, which is many fewer than that of other teams in the area. The West Windsor program comprises close to 40 divers.
“We’re kind of a tiny team, hence why the results at PASDA were even more special. We had so few people and all of them did so well,” Pariso said.
The PASDA championships feature divers from all throughout the Mercer County area and some competitors reign from towns such as Flemington and Raritan. Divers qualify for the championships by attending enough practices and meets throughout the year, which assure coaches that their dives are competition worthy.
Three Hopewell Valley Golf Club diving team members competed in the 8-and-under girls category of 22 divers. Catherine Von Oehsen finished in 15th place with a score of 56.70 accumulated throughout three separate dives. Jocelyn Nociolo came in sixth with a score of 68.85, and Kyla Machinga earned fifth place with a score of 71.15. Nociolo and Machinga earned medals for their performances.
“I was really happy because this was one of my first medals,” said Jocelyn Nociolo, who’s been diving at the golf club since she was five.
Lilly Van Oehsen and Natalie Hayward represented the team in the 10 and under girls category, which featured 31 divers. Hayward placed 8th with a score of 79.95, and Van Oehsen tied for sixth by earning a score of 82.7. Both of them dove three times and also finished high enough to earn medals.
The younger divers are expected to perfect basic dives in their competitions, such as a back or somersault dive. Mia Nociolo, the most experienced diver on the team, has been competing for five years. She was Hopewell Valley Golf Club’s lone competitor in the 12-and-under-category, as well as the 12-and-under open category.
The open requires competitors to complete five dives rather than the usual three. Mia took home a fifth-place medal after earning a score of 98.6 in the category, which featured 25 participants. The open had a larger field of 32 girls, but Mia still finished in 8th place after finishing with a score of 160.3 points.
Because Mia competes against older opponents, she must complete more difficult dives such as the inward, which Pariso calls Mia’s “go to dive.” To complete an inward dive, you must start with your back to the pool. You then leap backwards as high as you can and maneuver your body in mid air so that it is straight and the tip of your fingers hit the water first and your toes hit the water last.
Since a dive like that is more difficult, a diver will earn more points for completing it correctly than they would if they were to complete a more simple task such as a regular front dive.
“The inward is my best dive,” Mia Nociolo said. “It’s fun to improve my technique every year.”
Mia Nociolo and Kyla Machinga will try to enahance their skills during the offseason by attending a winter diving club.
“Diving is a sport that not many people know about,” Pariso said. “So if I can just turn a couple of people on to the sport — brilliant.”
“I really like Penny,” Mia Nociolo said. “She has helped me improve a lot, and she fixes your mistakes right away.”
Pariso plans on returning to England in September so she can continue to make a living sailing yachts.
“If someone asked me a couple years ago if I was ever going to coach again I’d have said no,” Pariso said. “With that said, if I can pull off coaching again next year given my schedule, then absolutely I’ll be back.”
Mia Nociolo performs an inward dive at a meet held this year at Hopewell Valley Golf Club.,
