Practice Makes Excellent

Practice, of course. Practice. Practice. Practice.

 

That, you might recognize, is a long-running joke that dates back, probably, to the days of vaudeville. It’s so familiar, in fact, that the punch line is almost anticlimactic.

The underlying meaning, though, is anything but a joke. It’s a motivational tool. It’s a time-honored life lesson. It’s the avenue through which Andrew Scott has achieved excellence in his sport of choice – diving.

 

Sure, the Collegiate School senior has a fierce competitive spirit. Sure, he has the desire to be the best he can be. Sure, he has prodigious natural athletic talent. Those attributes, though, would go for naught were it not for his eagerness to practice, practice, practice in order to refine his skills and perfect, as much as perfection is possible, his craft.

 

“Andrew really gets into his diving,” said Mike Peters, the Cougars’ first-year head swimming coach. “He’s constantly looking for ways to improve.”

 

Andrew’s résumé is impressive. He’s a four-time All-VISAA diver, the 2017 state champ, and the ’15, ’16, and ‘18 runner-up. He won the Prep League title in ’16, ’17, and ’18 and was runner-up in ’15 after placing third in ’14 as an 8^th grader. Three times so far, the Richmond Times-Dispatch has conferred All-Metro honors upon him.

 

“Andrew is all about his diving, which is wonderful,” said Diane Maiese, Collegiate’s diving coach the past three years. “He’s put so much into becoming one of the best, and he’s not even close to hitting his peak. He’s going to go a lot farther in college. It’s going to be awesome to see. He has a commitment to the sport and to himself and a willingness to listen to different ways to make his dives better. He’s very coachable.”

        

A member of Richmond Area Diving which trains at the University of Richmond, Andrew has competed extensively and successfully at the regional and national levels. During his career, he’s achieved personal bests of 568.95 (1-meter, 2018 Prep League championship, a school and league record), 453.80 (3-meter, 2017 USA Diving Junior Region 9 Meet), and 408.05 (platform, 2016 USA Diving Junior Zone E Meet).

 

“Diving is like anything else,” said Andrew, a Virginia Tech recruit. “The more you practice, the better you get. It’s a sport where things change very fast. If you don’t work hard, somebody else will beat you. It’s all about consistency. The more you practice, the more consistent you’ll get.”

 

As comfortable as Andrew has become on the board, there was a time when diving wasn’t even part of his thinking. The revelation came when he was an 8-year-old competing on the Country Club of Virginia swim team.

 

“Swimming was just too slow paced for me, I guess,” he said. “I was really into snow skiing and skateboarding when I was little. I really liked action and extreme sports. I found that diving gave me the kind of rush that those sports gave me. When you do a dive, you never know what will happen. You have to treat every dive like the first time you’ve ever done it. You learn about yourself in a weird way. There’re always dives that you’re scared of. You learn to overcome fear.”

 

When he was a 7^th grader, diving became his athletic focus.

 

“I was a lot smaller then,” said Andrew, who’s now 5-10, 145. “Contact sports didn’t go too well. I went to one practice with the year-round club and realized that diving was what I wanted to do. I’ve always looked forward to it after school. I can be super stressed, but as soon as I get into the pool, I’m not thinking about anything else. It’s a temporary escape from the world.”

 

During the high school season, Andrew generally trained seven days a week. During the off-season, it’s five days. He also does “dry land” to enhance his core and leg strength as well as trampoline work which mimics, in a way, the act of diving. He also studies video of his dives in an effort to improve.

 

“Diving is always looming in my mind,” he said. “I’m always thinking about dives that I can learn and things I can do better.”

Which dive is your forte? I asked him.

 

“I like doing ‘inward,’” he responded. “That’s my hardest. You stand on the board backwards, jump back, flip inward, and do two-and-a-half somersaults. I like that dive because it’s hard and fun. Every time, I get a little adrenaline going through me.”

 

How do you deal with the expectations that have come with success? I inquired.

 

“It’s hard,” he said. “When you’re diving, it’s just you and the board, and everyone’s watching. You have to find that calm state of mind. It you’re nervous, if you worry, it’s a lot harder. For me, it’s finding my routine. I always put my chamois (‘shammy’ in diving lingo) on the same spot on the board before I dive. I always move the fulcrum which adjusts the bounce of the board. I always sit in the same area and listen to music. That keeps me from getting distracted.”

 

Andrew had hoped to celebrate the end of his Collegiate career with a second state title. Alas, his 491.65 points placed him second behind Oliver Mills of Flint Hill (542.95).

 

“He beat me fair and square,” he said. “When you’re diving, you’re adding up the scores in your head. As soon as he did his last dive, I knew he won. I shook his hand and said, ‘Congratulations.’ I was a little bummed out at first, but I snapped out of that pretty fast.”

 

What does your reaction tell you about yourself? I asked.

 

“When I was younger,” he said, “I wouldn’t have handled it as well. I was happy for him. I tried my best. It just didn’t work out the way I wanted. It kind of redefined why I dive, which is to have fun. If you only focus on winning, there’s really no point in doing it.”

   -- Weldon Bradshaw