Coach: Diving into a new column topic - diving!

In today's column I take a deep dive into a subject I know absolutely nothing about.

Literally a deep dive, as we take a sneak peek into the sport of diving and all that it entails. I figured the timing for this topic is about right, as the girls state meet will start tomorrow at the FMC Swim Natatorium in Westmont, and will include 48 of the best female divers in the state of Illinois, including two of our local stars from Glenbrook South. (More on that in a bit)

Diving is a sport I have always been amazed by, and always admired. I especially wondered how the athletes, the divers themselves, are able to perform under that much pressure.

Think about it. There you are, standing all by your lonesome up on the ever-flexing diving board, in front of all those fans - and then suddenly everything goes quiet and all eyes are on you. It may just be 5 or 10 seconds, but to the diver waiting to perform, I would think it seems like an eternity.

And then, somehow from your deep within, you have to tune all that out and completely concentrate on the difficult task at hand. Forgetting the silence, forgetting the pressure, and forgetting the eyes focused strictly on you.

Gives me the chills just thinking about it. If I were a judge, I would give that a degree of difficulty rating somewhere around 9.9!

But these divers, they are practiced, they are trained, and, somehow, they are able to perform under all those conditions.

One of my first questions I asked was "so, what, does each diver get, like three dives?" The answer was, uh, not quite. How about having to perform 11 dives in championship competition. My simple response to that was, "Eleven? Are you serious?"

I can't even begin to guess the physical and mental toll that having to perform 11 pressure dives, all in the span of a couple hours, must take.

Fortunately, for this dive-deficient journalist we are blessed in our coverage area to have two of the best the sport has to offer to help "tutor" the old coach when it comes to the intricacies of this unique sport.

Between the two, they have an almost unfathomable 58 years of coaching experience. Jennifer Roby is at 30 years coaching the boys and girls at Glenbrook North, while Laura Duffy has been doing it almost as long, 28 years for the Titan boys and girls.

They are among - if not at the top of - tenured longtime coaches in District 225. Roby was a York High School graduate who actually did gymnastics in high school before becoming a collegiate diver at UIC. Her son Jonathan, whom she coached at North, was one of the best divers in school history, finishing second in state - twice!

Duffy was a high school diver herself, and continued on as a collegiate diver at Illinois State.

"What I love about coaching the sport," says North's Roby, "is just to see the development and the progress of the athletes we coach. To see them slowly come into their own, and then watch them perform with confidence. That is where I get the most satisfaction."

Roby goes on to explain the difficult challenge of coaching this sport.

"First, we teach them to accept the challenge, the inherent fear, and then we go to work on overcoming the fear. It definitely takes a lot of mental training to get the athletes to perform their best."

South's Duffy, who recently was named the area's diving coach of the year, adds, "It is mostly mental for sure. At this point of the season, they all know the dives. They know the technique required. It's all about focus and calling up that confidence when you need it."

Duffy's South divers had a banner year. In the CSL meet held the previous week, the Titans dominated the competition, capturing first, second and fourth place. In the recently completed sectionals held at GBS, the Titans captured both first and fourth place.

The sectional champion? South's senior star Jacki Stadler, who also won the CSL conference championship, and last year as a junior rose to the occasion when it counted most and finished 4th at the big state meet.

Stadler returns again this year and is hoping to climb even closer to the top. She is one of the top contenders, for sure.

"Jacki is a gamer," says her coach. "She is a real competitor, and seems to shine most when the lights are the brightest. She kind of thrives on the pressure and turns it up a notch when she needs to."

Stadler turned it up more than a notch in the sectionals, performing near flawlessly and setting a Glenbrook South record for most points scored by a diver.

Right on her heels is junior Sydney Hall, who took fourth in the sectionals, also qualifying for state, and who took 2nd in the conference meet. Her story is fairly amazing. She had not dove coming into high school and had actually spent more time as a club gymnast.

But Hall picked up the sport quickly, using her obvious athletic talents to become a high level high school diver, despite the fact that she only does the sport during season, not year-round like most of the others.

In state competition, each school can only enter two divers. Too bad. Because Glenbrook South has another one waiting in the wings and a potential star of the future in freshman Lila Su

Su, despite her youth, handled the pressure of her first big high school meet and took fourth in the conference meet. Who knows, she may have been good enough to make it to state if she would have been allowed to compete in the sectionals, but again the Titans could only enter the two.

"Lila has got a bright future," said Coach Duffy. "She has a passion for the sport, and she wants badly to succeed. This week, she will be the biggest cheerleader for Sydney and Jacki, but her time will come."

Glenbrook North, in all likelihood, would have been represented at the state meet as well, but their top diver and one of the best in the area, Chesine Ciota has been injured all season long.

"A tough break for us, and especially for Chesine," said Coach Roby, "but she is going to dive in college at Ohio University, so her career is far from over. But we missed her this year for sure."

North's top two divers this year were Sydney Flaum, a transfer from Colorado, and Amy Hilmans, who is just a freshman.

"Sydney came into the school and had not really done any diving before." said Coach Roby. "She was a figure skater in Colorado, but took up the sport here at GBN and has become one our leaders and top performers. Amy is just a freshman, and still has a lot of growing to do, but she has a chance to be very good, no doubt about it."

One thing is pretty clear. All the male and female divers in our two Glenbrook schools are in very good hands with the veterans Duffy and Roby knowing all the subtle techniques to help their athletes perform their best when it counts the most.

One other thing seems pretty clear. These divers have to deal with and perform under the greatest of pressure.

Suddenly, to this old basketball coach, sinking a free throw with the game on the line doesn't seem so hard anymore.

• Jon Cohn of Glenview is a coach, retired PE teacher, sports official and prep sports fan. To contact him with comments or story ideas, email jcsportsandtees@aol.com.