Sophmore Summer White takes a dive during practice.

by Steffi Carrera ’14

“I really like diving. It’s very exciting for me. I can zone out when I dive, which is probably one of the reasons I like it the most … When diving, I don’t think about anything outside of what I’m doing at that moment, which is kind of cool.”

Sophomore varsity dive captain Summer White started her diving career at age four. Since then, she has not only achieved many individual accomplishments, but has also helped others improve.

Her parents signed her up for Water Babies, a program that teaches babies basic swimming skills, when she was six months old. This enabled White to feel a sense of comfort in the water. She proceeded to join the pre-team at her neighborhood pool, Tanterra, where she learned to swim along with other toddlers. “I liked it from the beginning,” remembered White. “As soon as I knew how to swim my way to the wall, I started diving.”

Diving was not White’s sole focus after she started. She tried cheerleading, gymnastics, ballet and hip-hop before reaching the age of 10. However, she chose not to pursue these activities because she felt they were hobbies. “I enjoyed it, but I didn’t want it to be a big part of my life,” said White.

Swim and Dive coach Brendan Lees described White as “very positive, hardworking and vocal.” He believes White is a great team member because of all the help and support she provides to others. Her talent scores many points at their meets.

White placed 14th last year at Metros. Of all the awards she has won, White was most honored by the Vanguard Award she received in 2003. This prestigious award, given to her by Tanterra pool, is only for those who have great character. White was eight years old when she received an award usually handed to graduating seniors.

“Summer is a great leader, and she helps out. Even last year as a freshman she was helping out a lot with the instruction to help other divers improve. The county doesn’t pay for individual diving coaches at high schools so at our high school practices we have to rely on our divers helping each other out. She does a great job helping all the other divers improve and [showing them] how to do more difficult dives,” stated Lees.

White feels she is better at coaching diving than diving herself. She can identify what she might be doing wrong, understand how to fix it, but not quite be able to do so on the first try. “It’s very frustrating,” she said. After practicing a move enough times, however, she is able to master it.

“I think a lot of people don’t understand [diving] and don’t give it a lot of credit,” said White, “The sport isn’t about the biggest splash or whether you can do it or not. It’s how well it gets done … There’s a lot more that goes into it than people think.”