Theodor Hrach '24 Recruiting Profile

I am a dedicated diver. After some endeavors in other sports such as club soccer and junior high volleyball, I have always found myself happiest on the diving board. Dive Calgary has been my club since I was nine years old. My neighbour encouraged me to dive off of the dock at the lake and I was hooked. I love the challenge of pushing myself to learn more difficult dives. Revisiting and perfecting learned dives requires patience, resilience and attention to detail which all allow me to become a more mature athlete. Even though diving is an individual sport where I enjoy focusing on my training and striving for my personal bests, it also has a team dynamic that is also a very important aspect of the sport for me. My teammates are like family. They inspire me and we always encourage each other. I have been told that I am very compassionate. I am always there to support the athletes in my group and also the little ones. I believe that the younger athletes on our team look up to me and I try my best to help them out. 

Since competing in Canadian Nationals last summer (July 2022) I have noticed a big improvement in my diving. I have developed stronger hurdles and take offs and have increased my dive difficulty in my list. I finaled on platform at the 2022 Canadian Nationals and I finaled on 3M springboard at the 2022 Canada Summer Games. Myself and my teammate also took gold in the rip contest at Nationals. Recently, I achieved my personal best on 3M at Victoria Sting (443). My personal best on platform is 424. Currently I am shifting my optionals from tuck to pike.

I have made consistent progress in my diving and I continue to learn how to bring everything from practice to the board while competing. I've had to work hard to get where I am and diving has taught me to be resilient, to never give up, that working hard can be fun, and how to take criticisms and apply them.

I train six days a week, 26 hours in total. My dryland and pool training is augmented with weight training and visualization. My parents have never had to push me to train; they have always supported me and they encourage me to think things through and make my own choices. It has always been up to me to decide how important my training is and they believe that I can accomplish the goals that I set for myself. Training motivates me and I am a coachable athlete. I find that it's completely possible to balance my diving, my academics and time with family and friends. I find time to do the other activities that I enjoy such as skiing, hiking, reading, photography, playing guitar and playing hockey with my brother. I also volunteer as an assistant coach for the dive team at William Aberhart Highschool.

I am looking forward to an opportunity to continue to compete at a high level in diving while I strive for academic success in pre-veterinary medicine. At the moment, I am interested in specializing in wildlife veterinary medicine. I am looking to be a member of a team where I can continue to grow and feel the success when hard work pays off.