KEAAU – She had the platform to herself – all alone, 1 meter high – well aware that a bomb wouldn’t only be embarrassing, but perhaps also painful.
Welcome to Sydney Patterson’s world, or that of any BIIF diver, especially the first-timers.
“It’s a little nerve-wracking,” said Patterson, a Hilo High junior. “I wouldn’t say I’m scared of the water, it’s just the bad (dives) that are scary.”
She did a good job at keeping those to a minimum during the opening meet of the season, held on the last Saturday of 2018 at Naeole Pool. Rolling through her 11 dives, Patterson consistently made less waves than anyone else, and that’s a good thing.
“I’m supposed to memorize all (11), but you know,” she said. “I memorized the first two and last two, and everything else is a little …”
The 12-year veteran of gymnastics is learning her new endeavor on the fly, and she’s come to the right place.
High school athletics often mixes experienced club participants looking to master a sport with newcomers just trying to grasp it, a process that sometimes nets lopsided results. In BIIF diving, there is hint of parity because of the relative lack of inexperience of all involved.
“It took me a little while to figure out (the terminology) because I kept calling the wrong dives the wrong things,” Patterson said.
She liked her reverse pike and is looking to nail down a double front flip in the future.
Vikings senior Ryan Cabreira enjoyed his reverse two somersault and is working on a back somersault with a half twist.
“It’s kind of confusing to me a little bit,” he said, “I’m still getting the hang of it.”
In recent years, BIIF diving has undergone somewhat of a renaissance in terms of participation.
Of the 16 divers who participated last Saturday, nine were from Hilo High. All told, the Vikings have a robust roster of 15 under coach Malia Naukana.
“Super happy with the entire team,” she said, adding that their degree of difficulty had been higher than they previously thought.
“They had adversity put in front of them,” Naukana said, “because they were told their approach was wrong (before the meet), so they had to change their approach.
“Honestly, even though they had the challenge, it seemed to keep them more into the game.”
The sights and sounds at the pool included Hilo’s Keli Hanley providing a running commentaryinto the water once she realized she had attempted the wrong dive, as well as Cabreira trying to shake off the pain of an ill-fated entry into the water.
“You’ve got to block it out,” he said. “You have to focus on the dive that you’re doing.”
A baseball player since age 4 of 5, Cabreira hopes to balance his two sports once Vikings pitcher and catchers are due to report for practice. Baseball teammate Ocean Gabonia also is diving this season.
Naukana said her girls divers recruited themselves, but she’s been pursuing Cabreira ever since she taught him in physical education class during his freshman year.
“We were just messing around at the pool, and I did reverse reverse double somersault,” Cabreira said. “She kept after me. My senior year, I figured I’d give it a shot.”
Naturally, the boys divers soared through the air with impressive height.
Hawaii Prep’s Jon Kuyper scored 284 points, edging Cabreira (272). Kuyper was third last season at the BIIF championships.
But the girls were more precise in the three judges’ eyes.
Patterson (345) led way, followed teammate Taryn Oda (333.8), while Waiakea’s Caitlin Nakata (321.25), Isabelle Au (284.85), Rylee Au (284.85) and Hanley (281.10) rounded out the top six.
Oda, like Patterson, has a gymnastics background and is a first-year diver.
“Gymnastics was a lot of time, and I wanted to try something new,” Patterson said. “My friends, they did diving and I said this looks really fun.
“And it’s something different.”