Teens taking big plunge

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This article was published 16/11/2022 (1366 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fear. Focus. Finish. It’s the three steps Alex Tiaglei, Anna Wylie and Adam Cohen process internally before they take the plunge into the deep end.

It’s also helped the three Manitoba teens reach new heights — literally and figuratively — in the rapidly growing sport of high-diving.

“It’s the adrenaline rush,” Tiaglei, 17, said recently. “Like, the thrill of knowing you’re so high up and that you really have to focus on what you’re doing, the height just makes it scary, but then after a successful dive, the adrenaline is just insane.”

Tiaglei, Wylie and Cohen, head to Montreal later this month to represent Canada for the first time in the FINA World Junior Diving Championships (Nov. 27 – Dec. 4). Tiaglei and Cohen will leap, twirl and dive from a daunting 15 metres while Wylie will jump from an equally daring 12 metres.

The trio, guided by renowned coach Dallas Ludwick, punched their tickets to the global event in October when they were in Montreal for Canada’s first-ever junior high diving national championship.

Tiaglei had the best score of the bunch, capturing bronze in the boys age 17-19 category.

“I had a very good understanding of which dives I was going to do and I felt really confident with those, and then I went out and performed really well,” he said. “I was absolutely stunned when I made it. Just seeing the score right after and the cheering crowd and knowing that I had made it, it was thrilling.”

Wylie, 15, also earned third place in the girls age 14-16 category.

“The experience was pretty cool to do, and I’ve never been on the podium before so that felt really great,” said Wylie, who’s been diving for eight years. “I didn’t know at first I got on the podium, and then after, I went to my coach and she told me the good news. So, super happy.”

While Cohen didn’t reach the podium at the national event, he still qualified for the world championships. He entered the competition understanding that the top-three scores would qualify for the team, but was happily surprised to find out that his fourth-place score was good enough to represent the country.

“I missed some dives that I knew I could do really well and that I have done really well in the past. So, I was a little bit disappointed with that,” said Cohen, 17. “But I was up against really good divers. A little bit after everybody else found out that they had made it, my coach told me that I had made it so that was a really cool moment.”

The Manitobans are at a disadvantage as they prepare for the world championship. Their training facility at Pan Am Pool maxes out at 10 metres. To train, Ludwick explained, the group works on the different elements of each dive like a puzzle, using the platforms they have available. She is also preaching the importance of “adaptability” among her students, as they will be competing on the fly, to an extent.

“We build all the blocks, and then you have to get there and put them together. So, that takes guts,” Ludwick said. “There’s definitely an element of faith that it’s going to work. But there is training time (at the event). This is not a sport where you would just go for it anyway. The athletes have to feel super confident, and if they don’t then it’s a no-go.”

An extra two metres for Wylie, and an added five for Cohen and Tiaglei might sound terrifying to the masses, but to this spirited bunch it’s a challenge worth trying to overcome.

“The height makes me more motivated,” Wylie said.

“My emotions have been very up there. I’ve never been to a big competition like this before, so my emotions have been very happy and kind of scared and nervous. I just want to do my best and keep a positive attitude.”

What’s been equally impressive from each of the young divers is that the sport is still relatively new to them. While each has plunged off one- to 10-metre boards and platforms since they were youngsters, it wasn’t until January that they decided to push their limits and give high-diving a go.

After Diving Canada presented a high-diving program in Manitoba, Ludwick, head trainer of Winnipeg-based Revolution Diving, sent out a call to some of the existing divers in the province who were interested in taking their talents to the next level.

Ludwick, also one of Canada’s senior national team coaches and a former high-level diver, took an interest in the sport after one of her first students, Amy Harrison, transitioned to cliff diving.

“So, I’ve been interested in (high diving) since then, but there was no way for me to action my interest,” said Ludwick. “So, when diving Canada announced this junior program, I was just so excited. Like, this is my moment. Game on.

“We started training in February, and six months later, I mean, they had been to Utah for a Canada/USA challenge and Bosnia… like, no one expected that.”

Indeed, Cohen and Tiaglei were selected to participate in a cliff-diving camp in Mostar, Bosnia this summer. At that camp, both performed their first bridge dives, which tasked the duo to leap into a flowing river from 20 metres above.

“Well, first you acknowledge the height. And it’s just, “OK, I can do this,” said Cohen, who’s been diving since he was in kindergarten. “You just have to have confidence in your ability and when I’m up there doing the dive, I know that I can. I’m up there because I can do it.”

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam