Swim season kick-starts with freshman diver

It was nighttime at the Santa Clara Dive Center. A diving bubbler seethed beneath the toes of freshman Annika Donez, ready to break her fall if she belly-flopped. Perched at the base of a 3-meter springboard, she waited for her coach to count her off.

“One, two, three, go!”

The board wobbled and gave off an audible twang as she leapt, flipped and plunged into the water below.

Two and a half hours a day, six days a week — somersaulting into a 17-feet deep pool is routine for Donez. For the first time in years, Donez has given the school a diver to add to its usual roster of swimmers.

Donez started diving with the Santa Clara Diving Team a little over a year ago. She mainly dives off the 1- and 1- meter springboards as well as the 5 and 7-meter platforms.

At the 2015 Far Western Championships, Donez placed ninth in the age 14-15 girls 1-meter Junior Olympics (JO) event and third in the girls 3-meter event. Although Donez now competes in the Junior Olympics, the highest level of competition, she still remembers being anxious on the first day.

“I was so scared because the pool was so deep,” Donez said. “I used to close my eyes and always pray that I knew where I was. Now, a year and a half later, I feel comfortable, and I know where I am in the air.”

Last semester, Donez gained independent study physical education credit for her participation in diving last semester, but she doesn’t have to this semester as a member of the team. Swimming coaches Kristen Thomson and Christian Bonner said they were very excited to have Donez on the team; because the school’s swimming facility is ill-fitted for diving, divers are few and far between, which puts the school team at a disadvantage against other schools.

“Initially, the pool was built to be this bright new facility for our swimming and diving teams, but the school overlooked that the pool was too shallow for a dive team. Our divers have to practice at a separate facility,” Bonner said. “Each diving event can earn your team six points, so if we ended up not having any divers this year, opposing teams who do have dive teams would already have an advantage.”

Having a diver has not only improved the team, but has also helped Donez herself.

“Diving has made me more confident in myself. I love seeing how far I’ve come ever since I first started [the sport], and I am looking forward to meeting divers from other schools and creating good relationships with the dive coaches,” Donez said.