Dumais Family Has Had a Lot of Drive to Dive : Training: Mother steered her children to the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center--a 136-mile trip.

Marc and Kathy Dumais go a lot farther than most parents do to support their children’s athletics.

For three years, they have driven 136 miles a day to bring three of their sons--Justin, 14; Troy, 13; and Brice, 12--from their home in Ventura to their diving practice facility in Pasadena.

Most days after school, Kathy would load their 1985 Chevy Suburban--packed with homework, snacks, and two other children, Leanne, 9; and Dwight, 7--and drive an hour and a half to the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. The 3-year-old facility, headed by former UCLA diving Coach Van Austin, boasts one of the finest training sites in the area.

But this summer, with more than 88,000 miles behind her, Kathy couldn’t take the drive anymore.

“It was a nightmare for her,” said Marc, 45, a dentist who would relieve her of the drive on the weekends. “One person cannot drive four times a week with five kids in the car in traffic.”

Their solution? If the pool wouldn’t move closer to the Dumaises’, the Dumaises would move closer to the pool. About 130 miles closer, to be exact. In June, the family bought a three-bedroom, $315,000 home in Glendale, where they will spend weekends and summers while the brothers train at the Aquatics Center.

Quite an investment, but the boys are making it worthwhile. Just look at their results in this week’s 1993 National Junior Olympic Diving Championships hosted at their home pool.

Troy, the 1992 defending champion in all three diving events, won his third consecutive three-meter springboard title in Thursday’s 13-and-under competition. He also won Saturday’s platform competition and is top-seeded in today’s one-meter finals.

Brice, competing in the same age group, took sixth place in the three-meter finals, tied for fourth on the platform, and is third-seeded in the one-meter competition.

Justin placed sixth in the one-meter springboard finals for 14-15-year-olds and is seeded No. 2 for today’s platform finals.

“The only way I feel that a kid can get really good in sports is with tremendous parental sacrifice,” said Marc, 45, who estimated that he spent $9,000 in diving-related expenses last year.

It’s tempting to think that the kids might feel pressured to perform since their parents sacrifice so much time and money. But the boys insist that it isn’t the case.

“There’s not a lot (of pressure),” Justin said. “But there’s always that feeling to do better and work hard. It’s sorta like repaying them for all the work they put in.”

“I don’t push them any harder than I push myself,” said Kathy, 41, who admits that she pushed herself pretty hard through the marathon-driving days.

“They know we like to (dive),” Brice says. “Sometimes my mom would get tired of driving and she’d say, ‘I’m not going to drive anymore,’ but she always changes her mind. Sometimes she sounds pretty serious though.”

C.J. Keim, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., agrees that parents need to sacrifice if they expect their kids to advance to the national level. She moved to California for the summer so her daughter, 13-year-old Vicki, could train with Austin.

“Once you make the commitment to (your children), you’ve got to stick with it,” she said. “There are days that you say, ‘What am I doing?’, but the success makes it all worth it.”