Natasha Tchir, Reporter
@ntchircourant
After eleven separate dives at the FCIAC Diving Championship on November 3, junior Claire Ross dominated in her division, the runner up coming four points behind her. She had little time to celebrate this win because just a week later on November 9, she yet again threw herself off the board eleven more times at the Class L State Championship, coming one hundred points ahead of her closest competitor. Claire still had time to rest; November 16 was the day of the Opens Championship, which includes every diver in Connecticut. She completed her dives that she had been working all year on and again came out on top, succeeding by seventeen points.
Claire had one specific dive that really boosted her scores and her performance, “The dive that set me apart was the front 2.5 because it has a high degree of difficulty. I was nervous before it but I also was confident because I had done it well at the previous meet.” said Claire.
With all three of these championships under her belt, she still couldn’t stop. “I went right from high school season to my year round team the next day,” Claire said.
Claire has been diving year round for over eight years with her coach, Joe Somma. “I have a good relationship with him so it’s a lot easier to get along with and learn from him in the off season too,” Claire said.
Somma and Claire practice almost every day. “We have practices after school anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours,” Claire said. “The night before FCIACs we train later than normal, so like 5:30-7:00 so we can get the timing of the meet and everything.”
When learning new dives, the difficulty doesn’t come from the technical aspect; according to Claire, the thing she has struggled with the most is “the mental aspect – it’s really scary to learn a new dive because you have the fear of hitting the board or smacking the water and getting bruises,” she explains. This is understandable as even gold medal divers in their peak have injured themselves doing dives that they do almost every day, including Greg Louganis at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
At the meets, while most of the team is talking or swimming in the pool, Claire has her own routine. “I don’t really talk to anyone, I lay on my mat and I close my eyes and take a nap in between dives to settle my heart rate and everything cause I get really anxious – I have to calm myself down and lay there” she said.
While the dives themselves are individual, there is still a very strong team aspect that adds to her success. Senior Liz Gehnrich, the captain of the swimming and diving team, explains that, “just being there and supporting her and trying to make her smile and cheer her up helps a lot,” and that at meets, “everyone on the team notices that if we are having fun and having a good time then we perform so much better – if even just one person is in a bad mood if affects the whole pool.”
Liz, who has worked with Claire for many years, has seen her changes in both her practices and her performance. “Her confidence improved a lot over the season and through her whole experience of diving and I think this overall improved all her dives and her hard work, every year she has worked harder to improve,” Liz said.
The mental fear that Claire experiences sometimes has also been notices by Liz over these years. “Physically she’s a great diver but mentally it’s really easy to psych yourself out, like if it’s a hard meet with hard competition. I think just being there and supporting her and trying to make her smile and cheer her up helps a lot,” she said.
She is still able to overcome this barrier, as Liz explains, “One of her biggest strengths is her determination. Even if she messes up on a dive or isn’t happy with something she’ll come back and do the next dive even better.”
