2008 Woodie Awards
High Five:
Five-Time All-American Diver Sounds Off About Diving, Hendrix Athletics, and Being One of the Best Divers in the Country
Ethan Moore
Issue date: 2/10/06 Section: Sports
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To collegiate athletes, "All-American" is the apex of individual achievement and represents being the very best in your field.
Britney McCarthy had been named an All-American. Five times.
Perhaps even more remarkable about her achievement (if anything can be more remarkable than being a five-time All-American) is that fact the McCarthy, a junior, started diving when she was a sophomore in high school.
"I did five sports in high school and I quit all of them but track, so I needed something to do. I'm originally from Georgia, where diving is a much bigger deal, and so my brother was a diver. He recommended me to a coach and I've been diving ever since."
McCarthy is a three-time consensus All-American on the one meter springboard, the prototypical pool diving board, and a two-time consensus All-American on the three meter springboard.
"Being an All-American first requires you to score well-enough at a national qualifier to be considered for national attention. Because Hendrix is a Division III school, we don't participate in a national diving competition. Instead, we compile tapes from all of our meets and determine our best meet over the past year. We then send the tapes to a national panel of judges who review the tapes and judge your performance. If you're named in the top sixteen in the country, you're named an All-American."
While it may seem to some, the author included, that being an All-American diver is about as difficult as being an All-American pie eater, or an All-American miniature golfer, McCarthy asserts that diving is "maybe the hardest sport."
"Diving isn't a very cardiovascular activity. We don't sweat all the time like soccer players," she said, "but the amount of body control required - knowing where the board is, knowing where your feet are on the board, knowing where your body is in the air, knowing where your body is relative to the water - while trying to make as little splash as possible and trying to make your dive look pretty, makes diving a much harder sport than I think most people understand. Plus, I have to maintain good physical shape by working out even when I'm not in the pool."
Britney McCarthy had been named an All-American. Five times.
Perhaps even more remarkable about her achievement (if anything can be more remarkable than being a five-time All-American) is that fact the McCarthy, a junior, started diving when she was a sophomore in high school.
"I did five sports in high school and I quit all of them but track, so I needed something to do. I'm originally from Georgia, where diving is a much bigger deal, and so my brother was a diver. He recommended me to a coach and I've been diving ever since."
McCarthy is a three-time consensus All-American on the one meter springboard, the prototypical pool diving board, and a two-time consensus All-American on the three meter springboard.
"Being an All-American first requires you to score well-enough at a national qualifier to be considered for national attention. Because Hendrix is a Division III school, we don't participate in a national diving competition. Instead, we compile tapes from all of our meets and determine our best meet over the past year. We then send the tapes to a national panel of judges who review the tapes and judge your performance. If you're named in the top sixteen in the country, you're named an All-American."
While it may seem to some, the author included, that being an All-American diver is about as difficult as being an All-American pie eater, or an All-American miniature golfer, McCarthy asserts that diving is "maybe the hardest sport."
"Diving isn't a very cardiovascular activity. We don't sweat all the time like soccer players," she said, "but the amount of body control required - knowing where the board is, knowing where your feet are on the board, knowing where your body is in the air, knowing where your body is relative to the water - while trying to make as little splash as possible and trying to make your dive look pretty, makes diving a much harder sport than I think most people understand. Plus, I have to maintain good physical shape by working out even when I'm not in the pool."