#Skyler Courter# is a senior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Throughout the season, she shared her thoughts in this space.
Written 2-23-10
Well, the UAA Championships are finally over…and with it, the season. But, before I launch into one last heart-string-pulling, tear inducing, nostalgia-filled rant, let’s recap…..
Day three of the UAA’s featured the women’s three-meter dive competition. High board is always mildly terrifying and worrisome, but this day was even worse than usual because (duh) it’s the championships. But, no worries. The fabulous #Kelly Dietz# still kicked some serious butt and took second place.
Day four was the final day of competition; and as last days go this one was certainly eventful. Three of our boys – #Jeff Bubley#, #Jarrod Brodsky#, #Max Norris# – had amazing meets and made it into the finals. Maxi dominated and easily took first, with Jarrod taking seventh and JBubs placing eighth.
Finally, after all the events and the Senior Parade (which was just lovely) had finished, came the awards. We hope the Violets made you proud, with the women coming in third and the men coming in fifth. But, the real action came when the individual awards were given.
It’s a UAA tradition for every male and female winning pair (i.e. the male and female Diver of the Year) to kiss upon winning. That’s right – this blog post just got a whole lot more interesting. And you know this story wouldn’t matter unless it involved one of our own. After winning both boards, the incredible Maxwell Norris was honored even further by winning Diver of the Year. So imagine this: you’ve just won this great award, you’re approaching the podium, and instead of hearing general applause you’re greeted with the stadium-wide chant of “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” The female winner, clearly embarrassed, tried to dodge the bullet and kiss Maxi’s cheek, but he was too clever – and swooped in for the kill. Even funnier was Swimmer of the Year #Eric Pcholinski#, who didn’t skip a beat as he just strolled up to his (two!) female counterparts, grasped them firmly behind their ears, and planted a big one on each of them before turning, still completely stoic, to face the screaming audience. It was incredible. Too bad the coaches aren’t faced with the same tradition, because our own Scott Donie won the Diving Coach of the Year Award, and I’m sure it would have proved hilarious.
Now, I have to be honest. That last day was long. The week was long. And I’d be lying if I told you that we all had stellar performances. Of course there were frustrations and disappointments – that’s just the nature of athletics. But we learn, as we do at every meet and competition, not only how to improve ourselves but also how to deal with our setbacks and most importantly, how to move forward.
For me and the other seniors, moving forward is a strange, scary, and bittersweet thing. For the last four years, we’ve all devoted incredible amounts of time and energy and emotion into being a part of a team. And suddenly, it’s all over. Any one of my teammates can tell you that I made no secret about the fact that I was excited to get my time back. No more twice-a-day practices or weekend-long meets. I could have a life again! But, as I pulled myself out of the water after my last competitive dive ever, I couldn’t help but think about all the other things that would be ending. No more dancing on the pool deck or hanging out in hotel rooms. No more squeezing into the hot tub, car games for the long van rides, or junk food binges off meal money.
As I (and my fellow seniors) progress towards that terrifying and uncertain horizon called GRADUATION, the most I can do is move forward. And I do so full of love and gratitude to the best of teammates and best of coaches for the phenomenal experience that has helped define the person I am today. An enormous ‘thank you’ to all of you – you will never really know how much you truly mean to me.
And so, with that, I’m signing off. God only knows what the real world will bring me. But, I’m ready. Because hey, let’s face it, after diving, how tough could it be?
#Skyler Courter# is a senior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 2-18-10
And coming to you, live from Atlanta, it’s the NYU Violets!
That’s right, dear readers, we’re in the midst of the UAA Championships. And let me tell you, it’s a little crazy down here. Lots of diving and swimming and all-around general revelry (and by revelry, I mean hanging out on deck/cheering).
Day two of competition has just wrapped up, and boy, has it been eventful (no pun intended). The competition itself – while incredibly friendly – is also fierce. Wednesday was the women’s one-meter diving event, and we got two of our girls into the finals! #Kelly Dietz# placed second and #Amanda Moffa# placed sixth. Clearly, our hard work is paying off.
Today (Thursday), our boys competed in the three-meter dive, with Maxwell “Maxi” (#Max Norris#) dominating the event and coming in first. #Jarrod Brodsky# came in a solid eighth.
But, enough about that. By far, the best moment of the competition so far has been this...
It’s right before the national anthem, and everyone on deck is standing. However, rather than the usual singer, there is a short, middle-aged man dressed in a clean, white shirt and a black bowtie (think 1955 barbershop-style) standing on the three-meter platform holding a bugle. Yes, a bugle. And he plays a gorgeous rendition of our anthem. And after he finished, he gently placed his bugle on the ground, stepped onto the diving board, and proceeded to throw a front 1 ½ pike…. in his all of his clothes. Bowtie included. Pretty epic, if I do say so myself.
That’s all for now, readers. Another update, coming soon!
PS. It's 55 degrees and sunny here in Atlanta. Be jealous!
#Skyler Courter# is a senior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 2-13-10
Well, this is it. The last couple of days before the end-of -season UAA (University Athletic Association) Championships.
As swimmers taper (cut down on their total yardage in order to conserve energy and rest up), us divers do the opposite – we’ve been training harder, longer, and more often this last week than ever before.
There have been new dives learned, new injuries and new frustrations. But, when it comes down to it, our hard work isn’t for nothing. We will be ready.
My dad always tells me that 80% of your success is the result of the last 20% of your effort. If this saying proves to be true (as it has in the past), then our team will certainly be successful come Wednesday, when we begin our four-day competition at Emory.
A parting anecdote: Our increased training schedule became abundantly clear as my teammates and I trudged through Snowmageddon at 8am this past Wednesday to make it to morning practice. Upon arriving, I pointedly remarked that even the U.N. was closed due to the weather.
But ever the sage, (diving coach) Todd Kolean just smiled and replied, “Yes, but they’re just people. We’re divers.”
#Skyler Courter# is a senior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 1-24-10
This Saturday, it finally arrived: NYU vs. The College of New Jersey.
This meet wasn’t like any normal meet. I had been looking forward to this meet for months because Saturday was Senior Day. A day to recognize those of us who have dedicated four years of hard work to a collegiate varsity athletic team at a school where, let’s face it, athletics are only one part of an enormous undergraduate experience.
However, as I’m sure my fellow seniors can attest, being a part of NYU Swimming and Diving has played an enormous role in our college experience. After training and practicing and competing for months together, it is inevitable that a team forms a strong bond. The incredible friendships and countless memories that arise from that bond are what truly make participation worth it. Sure, the sport is great. But the people are better. And invariably, I am better for knowing them.
So, in a typical, clichéd, blog moment, I want to extend a deep and genuine thanks to my teammates. I have had the best time these last four years, growing and learning and laughing with you, and have infinite amount of memories that I will continue to cherish for years to come. Oh, I think I just might tear up…
And to my fellow seniors, as one teammate said to me: “We made it!” Now we just have to get through the rest of the season.
PS. A final big thank you to my parents, for flying out to see me dive, and to NYU for the fantastic plaques! Go Violets!
#Martha Shoemaker# is a junior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 1-18-10
It has been over a month since our last real meet. All of us were looking forward to getting back into the pool and racing hard after our intense, week-long training trip in Florida.
We were excited to swim on Saturday against a tough competitor, Springfield College. Last year we lost to them by only a few points, so we were eager to come out on top this time.
All of us were very tired from the training trip, but it was not apparent at all during the meet. We started out very strongly by winning the 200 medley relay. The team moral was very high, and we ended up winning the meet by a pretty large margin (180-120). We had some great individual performances, as people continued to improve their times. Overall, we won 11 out of the 16 events.
Next weekend we host The College of New Jersey. This meet is also our alumni meet and senior day. When we competed against TCNJ last year, we won by only a few points. We know that this meet will be another great competition for us. With only a few weeks left in the season, everyone is swimming fast and getting excited for the UAA Championships in February.
#Martha Shoemaker# is a junior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
#Skyler Courter# is a senior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 1-14-10
Dear readers, I owe you an apology. In all the hullabaloo surrounding the New Year (Happy 2010, by the by) and the new semester, I completely abandoned you and forgot to report one of the biggest events of our season - Training Trip! Typically, this week-long trip in sunny Florida usually provides us with an excuse to get out of the frigid, northeastern winter and an opportunity to work off Grandma’s delicious peppermint brownies.
This year’s trip was…well…somewhat different. And by different, I mean cold.
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already read my awesome teammate Martha’s (#Martha Shoemaker#) account of Training Trip (which consequently means that you’re already aware that Florida had record-breaking cold temperatures that got down into the 30’s). Coach #Todd Kolean# (aka Boss Leone) once told us that in addition to walking uphill both ways to school, he once had to break ice off of diving boards before practice. He said it built character and gave him great war stories to share with young bucks like us. Well, we’ve gone through the eye of the storm, and boy do we have character! No offense to the swimmers (who proved their toughness by fending off hordes of jellyfish), but diving has a considerable disadvantage in the cold because – as it turns out – you actually have to get out of the water to do it.
To be totally honest, though, Training Trip was so much fun. Smiles and laughter abounded even through the rain. There were lots of great moments. But, the highlight of the trip came during the delightful, delectable and delicious barbeque Boss Leone cooked up for us. We were told that each room had to put together a rap (yes, a rap) and then compete it in front of the entire team for a prize. Well, us divers certainly aren’t afraid of a challenge. So we went into the Beat Lab and cooked up some sick rhymes that might even rival those of Snoop D-O-double-G. Here’s just a snippet for your enjoyment:
This ain’t no bucket of cherries, MARISCHINO
Smackin’ gets you bruises from the water, WE KNOW.
But no sweat, we’re tougher than tears: NO EMO.
Swimming up from the water, like NEMO.
This may not mean nothing to y’all,
But understand the winds be affecting me,
Ain’t kickin’ til I hear a call…
I’ma hold this thing forever man, ever man, ever man.
It’s 40 degrees,
We’re throwing 405 Cs,
So hold tight to your knees
‘Cause we ain’t nothing but G’s.
Not bad, huh?
#Martha Shoemaker# is a junior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 1-10-10
We are currently in Delray Beach, Florida, for our training trip. It has been very cold ever since we got here on Thursday. We have been swimming from 6-8 am and 2-4 pm each day. This morning we got up in order to get to the pool at 6 am and the temperature outside was 30 degrees! It was very cold. and we quickly jumped into the heated pool so we were quickly warmed up. We all felt worse for our coaches, who had to sit on the sidelines in the freezing cold and windy weather.
On Saturday, our team did a mile ocean swim that was a lot of fun. We all did really well and persevered in the rainy 50-degree weather. The ocean was about 75, so it was pretty warm. I was very impressed with how our team performed. There were a few other colleges in the race and some local people. Our best performance came from one of our captains, #Kacey McCaffrey#, who came in 10th place. I was truly impressed by all of the girls and the effort and intensity everyone put into the swim. Overall, it was a great experience that we followed up with an intense session of aerobics led by our coach #Lauren Beam# and her sister Carrie.
We have a few more days in Florida, and the weather is finally going to start warming up. We will continue swimming twice a day and doing dryland workouts until we come home on Wednesday night. It has been a really fun and great bonding experience for all of us. We will follow up our return with a few more days of training and then a meet against Springfield College on Saturday.
#Martha Shoemaker# is a junior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 12-8-09
Yesterday we have the day off! It's nice to catch up on work as we head into finals in the coming weeks, but it feels weird to not have swim practice. Today we will be back in the pool. We got the day off because we had a long weekend at the MIT Invitational, a meet with a bunch of schools from the New England area. It was a chance for our team to rest a little bit and swim fast. We had a great time, showed lots of team spirit, and swam pretty fast.
On Friday, we headed to Boston for the meet. We were able to relax at the hotel before heading to the pool to get the night session started. It was exciting to see people swimming very fast and to watch our team dominate the competition. On the first night we placed five people in the top six of the 500 freestyle. After the session was over, we headed to Bertucci's for a delicious meal and then went straight to bed.
We were up early in the morning, ate breakfast, walked to the pool, and began the morning session. One of the highlights was Tatum (Gormley) getting a B cut in the 400 IM. We continued to cheer one another on and to keep our spirits up although we were all pretty tired by the end of the session.
Fortunately we were able to go back to our hotel for a few hours to rest and then headed back to the pool again for the evening session. The night started out with a 1-2-3-4 finish for our distance girls in the mile, and a B cut for Molly (Rippe). I have to say that must've scared our competition a little bit. The meet continued with everyone swimming very fast, and most people doing season and personal bests in their events.
Before the final relay, all of the swimmers went crazy dancing to the music. It was a really fun way to end the meet. We ended up winning, which is what we had set out to do. I really enjoyed seeing everyone swim fast and have such a great time cheering and swimming together.
We ended our weekend by heading to my house in the suburbs of Boston for some dinner before we boarded the bus and headed back to NYC in the snow.
We have a little over a week left of training, a holiday party, and then people will begin heading home for the holidays. We will all return in early January for a couple days of training and then we will head to Florida for our training trip. Happy Holidays!!
#Martha Shoemaker# is a junior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 11-22-09
On Saturday, we headed just outside Philly to swim against Swarthmore. The bus ride was about two-hours long so it wasn't so bad. We were all excited to swim and determined to come out victorious once again.
And, that’s just what we did! We pulled out another win and are now 6-0 this season, which is awesome.
This week we had a lot of very hard practices. We did a lot of threshold, kicking and lactate sets. On Friday morning we did step aerobics led by (head coach) Lauren (Beam), followed by an intense session in the pool. Because of the hard week, we all had pretty sore legs and bodies this weekend. This means that we were all sore, tight, and definitely not fresh going into the meet.
During the season, though, this is what is supposed to happen. We swim hard while we are tired and sore. We have a big meet coming up in early December at MIT, which gives us a chance to rest a little bit more and feel fresh so we will be able to swim very fast.
This week should be our last really challenging week of the fall semester. We have doubles on Monday, practice Tuesday, and then a three-hour early morning practice on Wednesday. This practice is always very hard and pushes us pretty hard right before we get to go home for Thanksgiving.
We will all return Sunday night to practice, get back into the pool and get loose after eating all of that turkey! We are all very excited to get a chance to go home for a few days, but we will have to continue our training so we are ready for our next big meet.
I can't wait to see what our team can do at the MIT Invitational. It should be some very fast swimming!
#Skyler Courter# is a senior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 11-17-09
After four years on the diving team (or any sports team, for that matter), you get used to the routine of competition. The early morning wake-ups, the long car rides, the various campuses and locker rooms, and pool decks. You learn to make the most of gas station pit stops and you know not to forget your iPod. You discover which teammates make the best pillows and which bring the best snacks. It’s certainly easy to find comfort in a routine – maybe this is the reason why the Big Al Invitational Meet at Princeton last weekend was a challenge.
For starters, our boys didn’t travel with us. Instead, they competed on Saturday against Wheaton and the Coast Guard Academy. More than that, even some of the girls were missing! Amanda Moffa sat out this weekend due to injury, while the lovely Charlotte Lazare was off gallivanting on a family trip. In the end, instead of the usual 10 divers, there were only three in the van: Dietz (first name, Kelly), Mevans (Mallory Evans), and yours truly.
Sure, it was weird traveling with such a reduced number. But the real source of our anxiety was that instead of competing against other Division III schools like we usually do, we would be swimming and diving against athletes from Division I schools.
Yes, it was undoubtedly an honor to be invited to Princeton to compete at such a high level. But the idea of competing against three Division III schools was…well…daunting. To be frank, I was terrified. I was worried about embarrassing my teammates, my school and myself. These were DI kids! How could I compete against them??
But compete we did, and to my great surprise – we had a great meet! Instead of being embarrassed, I found that it was actually really cool to compete with such stellar athletes (including ours, of course!). And, not to get all preachy, but it helped me realize that constantly comparing yourself against others often leads to nothing but stress. Yes, it’s hard when you’re a collegiate athlete; comparisons are inevitable. But, ultimately, beating yourself up about not being the best is so much less rewarding than just challenging yourself to improve. And look at that – an Ivy League competition teaching me something. Who’da thunk it?
#Martha Shoemaker# is a junior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 11-14-09
This past weekend we headed to Princeton for a two-day meet. We were competing against Division I schools Princeton, Bucknell and Fordham, as well as one of our regular-season DIII competitors, The College of New Jersey.
I was very impressed with our performance at the Invitational. I think that the weekend showed us that we could compete with Division I schools and have a great time doing it. Although we were all pretty tired after a hard week of training, everyone tried their best and put out their best effort in the pool.
After a short hour -and-a-half bus ride to Princeton on Friday afternoon, we had a successful first night of swimming. That was followed by a delicious buffet dinner with all the teams. Then, of course, it was off to bed at the hotel and a little team bonding before an early start the next morning.
On Saturday we had two sessions, so it was a pretty long day. We had some great performances in the morning, setting the tone for the day, with Meg Rappa posting a great 400 IM and captain Danielle Hildebrandt posting with a season best in the 200 freestyle.
Before the evening session, we had a quick lunch and watched some of the milers swim really well. By the last session, everyone was pretty exhausted, but we managed to do our best and have some more fast swims.
Overall, the competition was pretty tough. But, it was a great experience for all of us to see some very fast swimming. I think it will inspire us to keep working hard and pushing forward.
So now we are on to another week of training. We have Monday morning off, which will be a nice chance to recover from the long weekend before we dive back into the pool for practice on Monday afternoon for another hard week of swimming.
#Skyler Courter# is a senior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 11-11-09
Hello! I’m Skyler Courter (nicknames include Skytown, Skycap, etc), and I am going to be the voice of the diving team and your window into the crazy world of NYU diving.
Before we get into all that, there are a few things that you should know about us. We are, of course, one half of the NYU swimming and diving team. We compete together, and our scores are combined to deliver sweet, sweet victory. Ultimately, however, there is one fundamental difference between swimmers and divers: pure fear.
Swimming, I would venture to say (swimmers, feel free to disagree), is about physical endurance. It’s about pushing your body harder and faster and further than everyone else around you. Diving, meanwhile, is the opposite. It’s a mental sport, the kind that gets inside your head and under your skin. It’s trying to convince yourself to do something that every bone in your body is telling you not to do.
Coach and U.S. Olympic silver-medalist Scott Donie (alias Scotty D, Donster) once said that divers are artists, flying through the air. Sure, that’s the ideal. But in reality, it’s more like throwing your body off of a 10-foot-high trampoline and hoping to GOD that it goes okay. When we say that blood, sweat, and tears go into diving – we mean exactly that. Just this season, we have had more than our share of injuries
So why do we do it? Some might say stupidity. On occasion, some of us say stupidity. But, at the end of the day, we all love this sport. We have fun daring our bodies and our minds to do ridiculous and seemingly impossible things. And, if we’re really honest, the adrenaline is hard to beat. Because when you throw that perfect dive, and your body flies through the air, and you suddenly slice through the water, well, there’s just nothing like it.
#Martha Shoemaker# is a junior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 11-10-09
We have just come off of another weekend of fast swimming and another win over Rowan University. I am so proud of our team. We have really been able to showcase our depth and all of the hard work we have put into the season. Many of the events we finished with first, second, and third place, a great accomplishment against a pretty strong team.
Our training has not let up at all. We have been doing just as much dryland training and practicing as we did in the beginning of the year, although practices have definitely gotten harder. We have been spinning a lot, which is tons of fun, led by our assistant coach Erik (Brandl).
Our weight training has been consistent two mornings a week, and we are all getting much stronger. In the pool, we have been faced with some very hard sets over the past few weeks that have tested us mentally and physically. But, we have been able to use these experiences as ways to grow and get better. I'm very impressed with how everyone has put forth a positive attitude and just done it.
The camaraderie among the team is great. Everyone gets along really well and we enjoy racing against one another. But, we are also really loud and enthusiastic cheerers and supporters of one another. The Palladium can get pretty loud with all of us yelling!!!
We are looking forward to our next meet against Division I Princeton at their invite over the weekend. It is an overnight trip which all of us look forward to as an experience to get to know one another better, have lots of fun and swim fast!
#Martha Shoemaker# is a junior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 10-2-09
This past weekend we headed to Rochester, NY, to compete in the University of Rochester Invitational against Case Western and Rochester. We headed into the weekend confident in our abilities as a team, and were looking for another solid victory.
The meet was two days, a session on Friday night and a session on Saturday morning. It was a long weekend, filled with some very fast swimming.
On the first night, one of the sophomores on our team, Molly Rippe, posted an NCAA B-cut and pool record in the 1,650 freestyle. It was a great way to start off the meet for us. Our freshmen also really stepped up to the plate, helping us to score lots of points and win many events, including the 400 IM, 200 breaststroke and 200 Butterfly (Tatum Gormley), 100 freestyle (Savanna Keator), and 100 butterfly (Noel Elgamal). Everyone on the team contributed to our overall success, making it a very fun weekend.
I also want to give a shout out to our awesome divers who scored lots of points for us, winning both the three- and one-meter diving events.
In the end, we were ultimately victorious over both teams and are now 4-0. We are eager to continue improving and posting more fast times.
#Bianca Martinez# is a sophomore on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 9-28-09
We finally have our first meet under our belt! Last weekend was a very exciting win for us against two very strong teams, Stevens Tech and SUNY New Paltz. We had been training for about five weeks, and were anxious to have our first competition to see some of that hard work start to pay off.
We started the meet off by marching out to “Empire State of Mind,” the new NYU swim team theme song for the season. It got us pumped up to swim fast and showed how proud we are to be from New York.
It was definitely exciting to see everyone back on the pool deck, cheering for teammates and giving each race all they had. We are especially proud of our freshmen. They not only got through the first five weeks of practices, but also really stepped it up at the swim meet, contributing tremendously in both their individual events and the relays.
We will use this win as motivation for our next meet, October 30 and 31, at the University of Rochester. The six-hour bus ride will be pretty rough. But, it’s worth it to get in some more fast swimming and hopefully come home with another win.
#Martha Shoemaker# is a junior on the NYU swimming & diving team. Periodically throughout the season, she will share her thoughts in this space.
Written 10-21-09
It's finally swim season! We are currently on week five of training and gearing up for our first meet, which is this Saturday against Stevens Tech and SUNY New Paltz. It should be an exciting, but tough meet.
We have been training really hard over the past few weeks and can't wait to be able to race again. Our training has included swimming every afternoon, as well as two days a week of morning practice. We've done lots of spinning, running, aerobics, and lifting in addition to training in the pool to get us ready for the competition. We have put in a lot of hard work and training, and spent weeks with sore muscles we didn't know existed.
We have a bunch of new freshman and a transfer student this year. It will be exciting for them to race in their first meet. Our new girls are really fast, really fun, and a great addition to the team!
We also have two new assistant coaches, Erik (Brandl) and Lizzie (Rippe), who have been working us hard.
So, the season begins. We are aiming to succeed in the UAA (University Athletic Association) and send many people to nationals.
It should be another great year filled with some very fast swimming.
