To be a diver you have to maneuver with flexibility, strength and courage to perform wild stunts in the short period of time between the springboard and the water. It can quite a challenge, but for Emily Mack it’s her passion.
Mack, a freshman diver at the University of Idaho, has been diving since she was 5 years old. She advanced to the finals in all three dives at the Western Athletic Conference Championships, taking third in the platform dive and placing seventh in both the one meter and three meter dives.
With a childhood background in gymnastics, she picked up diving when one of her mother’s friends recommended the sport to her after she broke her wrist, though she was already planning on quitting gymnastics because of it.
“I still wanted to keep flipping because I liked doing that stuff,” Mack said. “I didn’t even know diving was a thing until someone explained it to me and I was like, ‘Oh that sounds so cool.’”
Mack said diving wasn’t easy at first. She wanted to get right into the cool-looking flips the sport is known for, but first she had to focus on learning the basics of how to dive. When she finally was able to do the flips and spins associated with diving, her gymnastics training kicked in.
Mack said she loves the adrenaline rush diving offers to her, which is why she continued diving into college, joining the UI dive team under dive coach Jim Southerland.
Southerland has been coaching at UI for six years and has at least 35 years of coaching experience. He said he continues to be impressed by Mack’s affinity for diving.
“She came with probably more experience than even some of our upperclassman have,” Southerland said. “A lot of times we get more divers with not a great deal of experience, and they have so much to learn.”
The training divers go through is what can hold up even experienced divers. Southerland said while the team does dive into the water during practice, they also do dry training as well.
“The girls train about 50% of the time on the trampoline and gymnastic types as opposed to just going in and diving every day,” Southerland said.
Southerland said dry training can emulate between 60% and 70% of diving because it’s mostly acrobatic movements. The trampoline helps simulate the dive for the women and allows them to practice more effectively while honing their skills.
Southerland said it’s a great way to use their time more effectively as well. He explained divers jumping into the pool and getting feedback on their movements can take at least two minutes a person. But with the dry training, they can repeat the same move three to four times a minute, much faster than they could in a pool.
Dry practice can be a bit of a challenge to get into at first, according to Southerland. He said sometimes it can take an athlete a year to learn all the trampoline skills. However, Mack was able to jump right into it thanks to her background in gymnastics.
Mack said she has enjoyed her time on the team because her teammates have become her best friends, where she formed closer bonds than the connections she has outside of dive. She loves competing with them and praised Southerland’s coaching. Southerland said his team gives her a great environment to grow and work hard as well.
Though the number of meets her freshman year was significantly dwindled due to COVID-19, Southerland said this year is a training year meant to get the team ready and prepared for the next season.
Mack said they currently have six meets each for the fall and spring lined out, and they are ready to dive into next year.
Ryan Hill can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @RyanHil32959860