How do you plan bring the coaches together to focus on one goal, essentially dealing with the us and them mentality?
“I could be wrong, I think really half the time it is is, ‘I just want to be a part of it. I want to be involved in it, and how do I do that,’ rather than being brushed aside, or not being invited or not talked to, or whatever it is. That is why I want to run a really big assessment camp at the beginning, and with the focus on synchro because as I said earlier, that is where our base is right now to be more competitive in the world.
We have to be patient. The worst thing that I can do is make a few quick changes, and a few quick fixes and make a people happy and it starts leaking and falling apart again. Ultimately what I hope help with USA Diving is to put in a system. This is how a good young kid at 10 years of age goes and wins an Olympic medal. Here is the pathway."
You have made a point of stating that you want to keep both the athlete and the coaches involved in the process?
"It just seems logical to me. But I also know, having been an Olympic athlete, Olympic athletes will make choices at times. They might just turn to the coach and say, “I’m moving there.” What we are finding is that here is an athlete with two coaches giving him knowledge, so it’s going to be better.
We [as coaches] also have to realize that, ‘Don’t be afraid to share our athlete,’ and I think that that was what was wrong, not enough sharing. But at the end of the day, if I as an athlete could milk four or five of the world’s best coaches and get their knowledge, I gotta get better. That’s another thing that will take a while to do.
[The problem is that] it’s ego, and it’s pride, and this is my meal ticket to the Olympics, and I understand that and it’s normal but the other thing is, don’t be afraid to go to another coach and say, can you fix this dive because I can’t do it. Sometimes we think that means that we are useless but in fact that means, that your incredible. That’s a hard thing to do but if that happens that’s another thing that will make this country even better.
There is a lot of debate about using a “Chinese system” in training our divers vs. an “American system,” and the effectiveness of the two. What does your experience tell you about where to go in the U.S.?
"It’s almost like we need to reinvent ourselves a little bit. There is no doubt the Chinese copied [the U.S.] and put it into their system. If you had the resources to do a national center with all the feeder systems, there is no question it is the right sort of system to do it in our sport, but we can’t and we never will, and it also not necessarily the answer.
For the Chinese, it’s what they are doing out of the water - their dryland conditioning. These the things we need to incorporate into our program. What are they doing with a 10-year-old?"
How can we bring together our resources, especially the coaches?
“I think the thing that I’ve felt across this weekend, the biggest worry is not that they [the coaches] don’t want to work together, it’s that they are worried that someone might take their divers. I can understand that. And that’s why I think we can set something up to alleviate their fears. But I also think, and it’s hard sometimes, but you can get to a point where, that’s as far as I can take you. That is something that a coach has to be honest about.
We can see where limitations are [for a diver]. That is the same as coaches sometimes. I see that as a strength, like, I’m really proud of what I’ve done, but it’s time to move on.
A diver has a small window of opportunity and we have to remember that really, this is their shot and what do I have to do to get [the diver] there."
