Update -- July 1, 2008

Dear Divers, Parents, and Supporters,  

Last month saw us a busy crew, whether in or out of the pool.  Ashley, Kai, and Jeff went to the Region 10 Championships in California; Alena, Linnet, and Joanna traveled with their family for two weeks' vacation to the Big Island; Emily and family traveled to the mainlad for a still-ongoing trip; Tate, BJ and Samantha started summer school; Ashley stayed on the mainland to visit her sick grandmother; Cristin battled mono; Amanda and family prepared for their move to the mainland.  Jace started back diving, then immediately broke his finger :(  And we participated in the Aloha State Games and the Keo Nakama/Future Champions Invitationals.  Whew!

I suspect July will be a little less hectic :)

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE JUNE MEETS

Region 10 Champs:  Ashley and Kai were greeted (?) by a larger than expected number of competitors, as most Southern California team members' all had finals during the week of the Regional 9 Meet that they typically attend.  This made it a much tougher competition for our green members, each of whom has been diving less than a year.  Regardless they both did some fantastic things.  Kai, who had never been on a 3M board before the day we flew to the mainland, learned an entire list on the high board and competed in the meet!  He nailed his 403B for 6s and his 105C for 5-5.5s.  On the 1M, he fought a valiant effort, but did not have enough DD to place in the top 15 and advance on to the next level of competition.  He also faced a field of extremely experienced veterans, making it even more challenging.  He impressed particularly on his 203C for 5.5-6s and his 403C for 5.5s.  Ashley was a bit intimidated by the 26-woman field in her 1M event, and suffered a lack of DD similar to Kai's.  She hit her 201A for 5.5s and her 203C for 4.5-5s as her best efforts.  On 3M, she was a little more competitive DD-wise, and had a number of solid dives (103B, 201A, 403B, and 404C all for 5.5s) and "almost-theres" (5211A with separated legs and flat feet, 301C with flat feet, amazingly good 105C and 203A that each lost the legs as she prepared for entry).  Those form errors cost her a trip to the next level -- she was very close and had diving mechanics worthy of the Zone Championships.  Interestingly, she also competed in the Platform event later that day, and hit every dive with good form for 5-6.5s, even though they were all fairly newly learned.  Gotta work on the psychology of that :)

At the Aloha State Games, eight of us participated, most of whom had scrambled to get back into diving after an extended break or dealt with minimal workout due to summer school and other choices that conflicted with the practice schedule given us by Schofield.

Tate dived amazingly, competing in Novice Silver Level on 1M for the first time and earning 6s on her 101C and 401C, and debuting her 201A.  She also had THE dive of the FC events with a 200A for 7-7.5s.  On 3M, she also dived very consistently, for mostly 5.5-6s, and won the Novice Bronze Level against a pretty tough field of ex-trampolinists and gymnasts.  Samantha did an outstanding job on both boards, nailing her 002A 3M for 6-6.5s, and debuting at the Junior level on 1M, competing her newly learned 301C.  Joanna earned two silvers and had some solid 3M dives (101B for 6s, 403C for 5.5s) and an outstanding 5122D 1M for 6s.  She also got a great top on her 403C 1M, but is still a bit nervous on this dive.  Linnet made her Junior debut on 3M, thanks to her newly-learned 5211A.  She showed her trademark form and entries on several dives, including her 401B, 201C, 103B, and 403C.  On 1M, she also competed well, earning 5+ on every dive save one, and nailing her 5211A for 6s.   BJ, who surprised us all by coming to the meet, hit several nice dives (301B and 403B 3M, 301B 5211A, and 403B 1M for 6-6.5s). Amanda like Linnet, made her 3M Junior debut, having learned seven new dives this month, and she nailed a large percentage of them.  Her 101B, 401B, 301C, 403C and 202A all earned 5.5-6s. One 1M, she also dived solidly, but 3M was a really standout event :)  Alena debuted two new dives 3M (103C and 403C), and earned did a number of very nice dives 1M, including some much improved 201 and 301 actions.  Coach Jeff performed some of his harder dives in the 3M event, with solid performances on his 5235D for 5-5.5s and his 305C for 5.5-6s, but was "off" on most of his entries.  Similar to the HDA Championships, he performed particularly well on the 1M -- his old body needs to warm up for a looong time, apparently :).

And two of us, Coach Jeff and Tate, competed in the Keo Nakama/Future Champions Invitationals at CORP on Sunday.  Tate was powerful but not as controlled on 1M as she had been the day before at the ASG (after the meet, we had a discussion about how divers such as Tate are still quite developmental at this stage, and how consistency is not something yet expected :), but she was magic on 3M, hitting all her skills to the best of her ability.  Coach Jeff did an outstanding job on both boards with his voluntary dives, earning 7-9s (and the 9s were not on expected dives -- they were 103B 1M and 5132D 3M), and did some solid optionals, though he was a little off on his 5134D and 403B 1M.  He competed his 5136D 3M for the second time in his life (first time being in 1994), and hit his 305C for the second day in a row.

UPCOMING EVENTS

UH has yet to finalize any plans about the one-week joint diving camp I mentioned last time, but I will keep you posted about the details as they come about.

Maui has proposed hosting as meet, but we are awaiting their scheduling ideas.

I would like to host a meet sometime during July to get us all focused, since we are likely not going to any more meets on the mainland this month, and our newbies need to get some exposure :)

TENTATIVE JULY WORKOUT AND COMPETITION SCHEDULE

Tuesday, July 1, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser 5-7 PM

Wednesday, July 2, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser TBD

Thursday, July 3, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser TBD 

Friday, June 4, Day Off

Saturday, July 5, TBD 

Sunday, July 6, TBD 

Monday, July 7, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser TBD

Tuesday, July 8, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser 5-7 PM

Wednesday, July 9, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser TBD

Thursday, July 10, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser TBD 

Friday, June 11, Day Off

Saturday, July 12, TBD 

Sunday, July 13, TBD 

Monday, July 14, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser TBD

Tuesday, July 15, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser 5-7 PM

Wednesday, July 16, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser TBD

Thursday, July 17, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser TBD 

Friday, July 18, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser TBD 

Saturday, July 19, TBD 

Sunday, July 20, TBD 

Monday, July 21, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser TBD

Tuesday, July 22, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser 5-7 PM

Wednesday, July 23, 9:00 - 11:00 AM at Schofield, Kaiser TBD

Thursday, July 24, 3:30-6:00 PM at Schofield

Friday, July 25, Kaiser TBD

Saturday, July 26, TBD 

Sunday, July 27, TBD 

Monday, July 28, Kaiser TBD

Tuesday, July 29, 3:30-6:00 PM at Schofield

Wednesday, July 30, Kaiser TBD

Thursday, July 31, 3:30-6:00 PM at Schofield

ASL CORNER

As always, this reference is here so you all can learn to communicate with our deaf diver/s: check out the ASL Corner,  do the lessons as you want to, ask me for help as you need.

Okies, That's all for now! 

Jeff