Sorgi’s Schedule Requires an Independent Approach

Diver Erica Sorgi’s busy travel schedule prompted her parents to keep her home in order to continue her education.

Last year, the 15-year-old attended Capistrano Valley High full-time and competed for the school team and the Mission Viejo Nadadores club team.

This year, however, her practice--she is a world-class diver who will try to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team--and competition schedule would have resulted in Sorgi missing nearly two months of school.

In September, she competed in the Diving World Cup in Mexico. In October, she went to the Senior World Championship trials in Georgia. In November, it was the Junior Olympic World Championships in Malaysia and in January, she went to the World Aquatics Championships in Australia. In March, she competed at Federal Way, Wash., where she qualified for senior nationals, at Indianapolis in April.

This weekend, as a tuneup for the Goodwill Games in New York, Sorgi will compete in the Southern California Invitational springboard and platform diving meet at Mission Viejo Aquatics Center.

It’s enough to make a travel agent’s head spin.

Something had to give. So Sorgi and her family decided to enroll her in an independent study program through two private high schools in Mission Viejo, Futures and Pacific Shores.

“We weighed how much I would be traveling,” Sorgi said. “I’ve been doing independent contracts [study] from different schools since I was in seventh grade, but this year is the worst year for travel.”

She attends classes two days a week and studies at home the other three.

“I study in the morning from 8:30 to 12,” she said. “Then I go to [diving] practice from 1 p.m. to about 5:15.”

Sorgi, considered a sophomore, eventually will receive her diploma from Capistrano Valley, which will receive her transcripts from the private schools. She could not compete on the high school level this season but might return to Capistrano Valley next year.

Independent study is not without its advantages, Sorgi said, and its disadvantages.

“You don’t have to wake up as early,” she said, “and it’s easier when you travel because you can get ahead.

“But I miss my friends,” she said. “I do most of my stuff with my diving friends. Occasionally, I do stuff with my old Capistrano Valley friends, but it’s definitely not the same.”