Sitting on the wet and cold floors of the swimming pool is the diving team
forming a circle, shaking, throwing up their towels, and shouting in unison, as if in
celebration. This is one of the days the dive team has a meet.
They are “shaking it out” as Hayley Fisher put it, describing the dance they
usually do before their meets. Members on the dive team can often be seen doing things
that may be considered strange (by the pool) to some people, if it was noticed.
Rachael Waldbillig has a habit of gnawing on a toddler’s chew toy on the pool
side, which is normally used for teething tots. “I get nerves so instead of chewing on my sammy…”, (sammy is the
name of the towels they use to dry off) “…it gets all
gross, they are dropped on the
floor and stuff, so I chew on my chew toy” Rachel said.
Alicia Graham gave her friend the idea of nibbling on the toy. “If you look at
Rachael’s sammy it has holes in it, and they get expensive after awhile. So, was watching
my cousin one day and he was chewing on a toy, because of his teething, and for some
reason I thought of Rachael.”
Although, some things are done out of habit, and not nerves. “I never get nervous
unless it’s a new dive, but I seem to do better under pressure.” Hayley commented.
“I know Aly makes sure sure that her hair is not dripping at all.” Hayley said, talking
about Alicia’s habit after coming out of the pool.
Friends are generally comfortable with each other and tend to act more like themselves,
doing what humans do: falling into routine and habit. “I love diving team! We have a
family.” Hayley said.