Veteran Dive Coach Molds Inexperienced Divers into Contenders

Andy Berger had never participated in competitive diving until he signed up his freshman year at Oakton High School.

He had no predictions for his prospects in the sport, but hoped he could work to become of value to the team over time.

Now Berger is a senior, a three-time regional qualifier and captain of the team who hopes to dive for his dream college, the Fashion Institute of Technology. He is surrounded by teammates who started in the sport as inexperienced freshman just like him — excluding standout diver Joseph LeBerre, who started earlier.

But Berger quickly discovered how the Oakton dive team has been able to stay competitive over the years in spite of inexperience, and to contribute to Oakton swim and dive's undefeated season for both boys and girls this year: Coach Cheryl Meltz.

"She's been a diver for a long time and competing at the highest level," Berger said of the coach in her 13th season at Oakton. "She knows what she's talking about and Oakton is so lucky to have her. Nobody should take Cheryl for granted."

Meltz brings an impressive résumé to the Cougars. A two-time high school All-American, Meltz continued to dive at the collegiate level for all of her four years at Colgate University. Continuing the coaching career she started while still in high school, Meltz took the job at Oakton High a year after graduating college. She also helped launch the Oakton Swim and Racquet Club's dive team in 2005 in order to create a better pipeline for for kids to learn how to dive before entering high school.

She started competing again in 2007, becoming a five-time Masters World Champion who will next compete in the World Championship in Riccione, Italy, in a new age bracket in which she hopes to break the world record.

She's training both herself and students all while holding down a full-time job as a engineering manager. For Meltz, allowing dive to take over much of her time is a no-brainer, especially coaching.

"It's a sport where I can see the kids start like, 'Oh, I'll never be able to do that,' and then we build their confidence up and I see how amazed they are at themselves at what they were able to achieve over the season," Meltz said.

To mold her divers into competitors, Meltz uses a demanding coaching style, one she admits likely startles the kids at first.

"I'm very demanding. I'm probably more demanding than any other coach they've ever seen," Meltz said. "I make them work at practice, even between their turns on the board. They're not just standing around in line waiting for their turn, they're working on their dive."

She also has them study video of their dives after meets, and teaches them the physics behind the diving to finesse their mechanics.

Her intense coaching techniques pay off, and most divers who stick with her program are grateful for it, Berger said.

"She's tough, she's hard, she'll push you to your limits, she'll make you want to cry, but to go from just starting a sport to competing in a championship meet would be impossible without Cheryl," he said, effusive in his praise for Meltz.

He said her insistence on having them work through their routines on dry land in between dives does more than just help the athletes master their dives. It also helps ease anxiety because they can rely on muscle memory.

"She'll tell us how diving is such a mental sport, that it's 10 percent physical and 90 percent mental," Berger said. "She's helped me to realize that my potential can be what I want it to be, in diving and just in life. The only person who can limit it is myself. That's a great thing to take away from someone. She's been such a great motivator and mentor for me."

The Oakton dive team will compete in the Concorde District meet Friday starting with the boys at 10:45 a.m. at Cub Run Recreation Center. The dive team's scores will be combined with the swim team, which will compete in finals Saturday, to determine which teams will advance to the Northern Region meet.