Diving into a New Sport 

One Diver’s Journey  

Imagine the feeling of deciding to take on a new sport the day before practice starts. Junior Emilio Rios-Rojas was on the swim team at this point last year, which was also a new sport to him. After the fall sports season had ended, Rios-Rojas decided that he wanted to take part in a different winter sport. 

“I wasn’t sure I was going to dive until the day before practice just because there were so many options,” Rios-Rojas said. “I’ve always been into cliff jumping and flipping and a good friend and I talked about it for a little bit and we decided why not try diving, so we joined the team and the season’s gone really well for us.” 

At first, he thought that diving would not be too hard. He would soon realize that it would be a much tougher challenge than he initially thought. After the first couple of practices, he realized that diving would be a great challenge, whether it was getting technique down or mastering the spring boards. 

“Emilio got so much better throughout the season whether that be through his thirst for learning or his attention to detail,” senior Nathan Barr said. “He became more technically sound as the season went on.” 

Rios-Rojas would continue to grow as the season went on. He gives a lot of credit to his teammates with helping him improve his form at practices.  

“The repetition of the dives at practices have gotten my form better and helped me score higher at meets.” he said.    

Senior teammate Nathan Barr said that Rios-Rojas brought an unmatched level of positivity and support to his teammates and himself. He would always find a way to cheer on his teammates and challenge them and himself to improve.  

“Emilio faced this sport head on,” Barr said. “He challenged himself daily to learn new dives and was always asking questions about the physics and kinesthetics of the sport and how he could improve in those areas.”  

Although joining a tough and complicated sport like diving was incredibly challenging, Rios-Rojas brought a positive attitude to every practice or meet. This allowed him to improve every day and get the most out of his first year of diving. 

Story by Jake Willams