The Daily Princetonian
page 6
DIVING
Monday april 29, 2013
Photos by Ben Koger Interviews by Anna Mazarakis
T
he diving team is one of the hidden delights of Princeton. Just as mathematicians sit high atop Fine Hall twisting Greek letters into abstract beauty most of us will never know, the men of the Princeton diving team toil high above the water of DeNunzio Pool, endlessly f lipping, tucked away in the far southeast corner of campus. This semester, I had the opportunity to photograph their hidden world. I spent about six hours over two practices with the team shooting the divers above and below the water. It was interesting to see the quiet camaraderie that comes from a small team and a mostly solitary sport. The team has just five divers. The practices aren’t frantic; there is little running up ladders trying to jam in as many dives as possible. There’s a focused, meditative calm —diving is clearly a mental sport. But, as freshman Noam Altman-Kurosaki says, this is also very clearly a team. “We’re all really close ... It’s a lot more fun because everyone’s really supportive. We always help each other out if we need to.” Every time someone dives, there is someone else to greet him at the edge of the pool. Diving is an incredible sport and a powerful team. I thank them for allowing me to access their world. Divers: freshman Noam Altman-Kurosaki, sophomore Michael Manhard, junior Mark O’Connell, seniors Stevie Vines and Chris Kelly.
“M
ost people when they dive — like, not actual divers — will just go in the water and try to stay in a streamline going into the water until the dive is over. What we try to do is immediately when we hit the water, we’ll swim with our hands to try to create a hole within the water and try to suck ourselves in, and then you basically bend your hips as soon as your legs start going in the water and you flip over. And what that does is it gives you time to not only get your whole body through the water, but as soon as you get your whole body through the water, you stop your motion going down, and what that does is it basically creates suction going into the water and it makes you have no splash.” - sophomore Michael Manhard
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Monday april 29, 2013
The Daily Princetonian
page 7
“I
love how technical it is. Not everyone approaches the sport in the technical way, but just from my coaching growing up and everything, that’s how I was raised to view the sport. I really love thinking of all the little things that have to go just right. Diving requires an incredible amount of precise control of your body, so just talking with my coach and my teammates about every minor little technical thing can make a big difference.” - senior Stevie Vines
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