Kaya Nepomuceno (11) poised on the edge of the diving board, preparing to execute a tuck dive during warm-ups. Though she was new to diving, with 11 years of gymnastics experience behind her, she leaped, moved through the motions effortlessly, and dove with barely a splash into the water a meter below.

Because she trained in gymnastics from such a young age and continues to compete in this season at Westview, Nepomuceno said she has accumulated the strength and skills that have allowed her to transition smoothly into her first season on the dive team.

“I feel like gymnastics is a sport that gives you a lot of background for other sports too,” Nepomuceno said. “I was trained from a very young [age] to have certain body positions and to be able to conform my body in certain ways to do different skills. I think that really ties into dive. [For example, the skill for] being able to hold a hollow position or an arch position [in gymnastics] is the same for doing a back dive. I know how to use my body in a way that will help me be successful in both sports.”

While the body strength and flexibility are transferable between the sports, Nepomuceno said there are other factors that she finds to be similar, including the diving board in comparison to a gymnastics springboard for vault. However, there are some aspects of diving that are new to her.

“I think the water makes a big difference [mentally],” Nepomuceno said. “The fact that you’re going into water makes it more comforting because it’s not as bad as hitting the floor. It really relaxes your mind.” 

With the water, Nepomuceno said she is able to easily judge her diving performance and assess what she can improve on, as well as recognize her strengths.

“Sometimes, when you watch a video of yourself going over a dive, you can [see if you] went into the water without making a splash, and you’re able to be say, ‘Oh my gosh, that dive was so much better than the last one,’” Nepomuceno said. “[Part of how] you judge [how good your dive is] based on the splash and the way you enter the water.”

As Nepomuceno balances gymnastics and diving this spring, one of her key concerns for the season has been the fear of injuring herself in training. However, Nepomuceno has found ways to overcome this problem and find a calmer mindset that allows her to improve.

“In the end, I always get over the mental block,” Nepomuceno said. “I know I have the skill [to make sure I don’t get injured]. I’ve learned to tell myself that it’s okay, I’m going to be fine, and then [I can] do the skill.”

In both dive and gymnastics, the team aspect is crucial even though they are mainly individual sports. With the encouragement of her teammates, Nepomuceno has been able to grow and thrive in the group environment. 

“Both of my teams are really supportive,” Nepomuceno said. “Everyone has individual things that they’re working on, but [for the sport], everybody comes together. With both, it feels like a really big family. Even though I’m new to dive, I feel like I’m just as much a part of [the team] as with gymnastics.”

In both gymnastics and dive, Nepomuceno said she has been able to bond and grow closer with her teammates, though each team has different strategies and activities to do so.

“We do outside team bonding a lot [in gymnastics],” Nepomuceno said. “We [have done] potlucks, and we have ‘secret sisters’ where every meet we buy gifts for each other [anonymously] and at the end of the season we find out who our gifter was. It’s things like that outside of the gym that bring us closer.”

In contrast, according to Nepomuceno, even though they don’t spend as much time outside of practices and meets together, the dive team is still able to form connections.

“Everybody is super outgoing,” Nepomuceno said. “So, even though we might not do a lot of outside bonding, we’re able to have that same connection together through us trying to learn the same skills. It’s nice to get that support from each other.”

Nepomuceno said this support extends to her coaches as well, as she must balance both sports along with her classwork and outside activities. However, she has found it easy so far to be able to keep up with the two.

“Our coaches give us a wide range of practices that we can go to,” Nepomuceno said. “I just split my schedule in half. My coaches are super flexible too because they know that I do both sports.”

After the first few weeks of the spring sports season, Nepomuceno said she plans to continue both gymnastics and dive at Westview next year along with cheerleading in the fall.

“I want to be a tri-sport varsity athlete,” Nepomuceno said. “I’ve done gymnastics and cheer, I tried dive this year to see if I liked it, I ended up going to more practices, and now I really enjoy it.”