Divers From City League Took Alternate Roads to Section Meet

Imagine trying to practice and play basketball without the hoop, hockey without the ice. Or playing in a game but not having the points you score count.

A handful of athletes in city league high schools must, because of the lack of facilities, scrounge for places to practice and compete.

No city league schools have swimming pools, forcing swim teams to practice at local colleges or recreation centers. The situation is worse for divers, because there are no boards at the rec center pools. They must find a club program, for which they pay themselves, or the swim coach arranges for their training, often at a separate facility.

To qualify for the San Diego Section diving championships today at UC San Diego’s Canyon View Pool, divers must have scored 160 points in a six-dive meet or 250 points in an 11-dive meet. Qualifying chances for city divers were limited, because diving is not contested in city league meets. They had to qualify in nonleague meets or invitationals.

“A lot of swim meets are won because of diving points. At city schools, diving doesn’t count in the swim team’s points during a meet, so why are my divers here?,” said Julie Green, University of San Diego High School diving coach. “They dive for themselves.”

City divers must not only concern themselves with how they will dive in competition but where. Most city divers went on their own to two or three invitationals during the seasons. The meets must be CIF-sanctioned to count toward qualifying for the section meet.

Diving programs are strong and successful at non-city league schools such as Santana, Mt. Carmel and Valhalla because they have pools equipped with diving boards and a coach who helps divers pursue their talent.

But the Mira Mesa swim team practices at the Mira Mesa Racquet and Swim Club, convenient because it is close to the school but lacking diving boards. Mira Mesa’s two divers--seniors Kimberly Lofft and Dawn Schmitt--must rely on their club coach, training year-round at Canyon View under Tom Scotty of UCSD and Dive San Diego.

Scotty said he has 15 competitive divers in Dive San Diego, including five from the city leagues.

Lofft and Schmitt have trained with Dive San Diego for three years and under Scotty, a former University of Illinois diving assistant, since October. Both were gymnasts who turned to diving because of injuries. Lofft joined the program first, then urged Schmitt to do the same.

Schmitt said their situation has advantages--the same coach and facility all year--but the inconvenience of having to find meets in which to compete and lack of team support is often frustrating.

“In a way, I feel secluded,” said Lofft, who placed third at the section championships last year. “When I was a sophomore, we worked out at the Miramar Naval Air Station pool with the swimmers. I went to all the meets with the team (although she competed in few because there was no diving). Now they’re at the rec center, and I’ve only competed once with the team. I don’t feel like I’m part of the team.”

This season, the girls competed with the team in one dual meet and attended two invitationals on their own. Scotty attends when he has no prior commitments with UCSD. He also finds meets for his high school divers. They will many times compete in meets not sanctioned by the CIF for Dive San Diego. The experience is beneficial, Scotty said.

Last year, USDHS had one diver. But when Dan Crane became swim coach, Green was also hired. Freshman Debbie Howard and senior Mike Murphy, two of USDHS’s 12 divers, will compete in today’s section meet.

They practiced at University of San Diego’s pool along with the swim team for most of the year. But this week, USDHS swimmers and divers were forced out because it was the only time for the school to have work done on it. Swim practice was moved to Swanson Memorial Pool. On Wednesday and Thursday, all divers competing today were allowed to practice at Canyon View to become familiar with the boards.

Howard said she didn’t think she’d qualify for the diving championships because she had little chance to compete--one nonleague meet and three invitationals this season. She has five years of experience diving for a park district team in Palatine, Ill., during summers when she visits her father. Most of the other divers at USDHS were rookies this season, so Green started from scratch. Howard said that helped her become better.

“I always felt I had the advantage. I knew and perfected my dives. I took from what I learned and made my dives better,” Howard said. “My parents never pushed me to dive, and Julie pushes you. It helped me a lot.”

USDHS has the largest diving team of the city league schools. Most, such as Mira Mesa, wouldn’t be represented in diving at all if it wasn’t that the diver had previously been involved with Dive San Diego or the other local club, Dive West out of Helix High School.

“There are hardly any coaches,” Green said, “and some of the kids don’t have a coach and must dive on their own.”