DV divers building confidence heading toward state

It’s the old adage: The game is 90 percent mental.

Only Desert Vista’s dive teams have tweaked that a little. For them, the dive is 90 percent confidence.

“Everything depends on how you look at your dive,” said Matt Hopper, a junior on the boys’ team. “If you have a positive view on things, then you’re most likely to do it better.”

Added freshman Conner Dignan: “It really helps. You really don’t think about the dive as much (and) you’re not really working as hard, so it’s more of a reaction.”

Both teams have had plenty to be confident about as of late.

Danica Melosi, the lone member of the girls’ team, routinely won the individual competition early in the dual meet season.

And after dominating the early-season dual meet schedule - a sweep here, another there - the boys’ team won the diving competition at the Xavier/Brophy Invitational Sept. 29, placing members second, third, fourth and 10th.

While the win served to further boost their confidence, they say that confidence is the reason they won.

“We went in expecting it,” said the team’s coach, Patrick Sullivan. “I told them, 'Be real confident,’ and they all dove like it. I told them to go in and act like we’ve already got this thing in the bag, and they just stepped up and did the rest.”

After placing second last year, they were excited about then win. But the Thunder weren’t surprised by it.

“I guess it was cool, but I kind of expected it, because we have four divers from our team, which really helped,” Dignan said. “With the four of us, it’s easier.”

The four of them would be Dignan, Hopper, sophomore Christopher Whitton, and perhaps the best of the bunch, sophomore Sean Perks.

All four dive together on the Sun Devil Diving Club, something Sullivan said plays a major part in their success.

“We’re really fortunate to have a stacked team,” he said. “Most high school teams don’t have four male club divers on one team, so we’re really fortunate to have this kind of depth in our program.

“It’s just competition, and competition breeds good athletes,” he added. “If you’re surrounded by good athletes, you’re going to force yourself to be better to keep up with the pack.

“They’re all constantly going back and forth, which is really good, because they just push themselves.”

It’s helped to foster a closer team environment among the bunch.

“Our entire club team, we’re kind of one big family. We’re really close,” Dignan said. “And even with Danica. She’s not on the club team, but she’s just like it.”

It also allows Sullivan to hold more focused practices.

“They already have their basics down,” Sullivan said. “So in practice, I can really just kind of work on specifics, little things.”

Perks placed ninth at the state meet last year. This year, he said he’s hoping things go a little differently.

“This year, there’s going to be a few more club divers that are going to be at state,” Perks said. “There’s two of them that I know I can dive with, so I’m hoping to get at least top five this year, that’d be pretty cool.”

But regardless of what happens at state this year for the Thunder, they know that as young as they are, they’ll all be back next year for yet another run at it.

“We’re just looking forward to it, because we think we can only get better, because our dives will only get better,” Hopper said. “We’re looking forward to having fun and seeing each other for another year.”

Ryan Casey can be reached at (480) 898-4906 or at rcasey@aztrib.com.