Paige Tomberelli '21 Recruiting Profile

Diving has been a passion of mine for about two years now. I got into diving after talking to one of my teachers about gymnastics. She recommended that I try diving. I thought about it for a while and talked to my family and friends about it. I learned from one of my friends that there was a diving clinic in town where I could go and learn more about diving and give it a try for a small fee. I talked to my mom more and she supported me giving it a try.  As soon as I started diving I fell in love with the sport. It is similar to a sport that I grew up loving (gymnastics). I enjoy the feeling I get when I flip off the board and into the water. I enjoy the competition and how it feeds my athletic drive to my best. I have always loved the adrenaline rush you get when your about to compete. I have been told by coaches that I possess many leadership qualities that help out the team. For example I help my teammates when they are worried or stressed about a dive or a specific skill. I can see that they are stressed which will make me want to help them. I help them through whatever method helps that specific athlete. It helps some of my teammates when I just talk to them, some of them I need to distract them by dancing, singing songs or maybe a joke. 

Through sports I have learned that I have a lot of self determination and I am stronger than I appear. I originally got into sports as a recommendation from my gym coach to get into sports, specifically gymnastics to help me concentrate and focus in my other classes. I have found through the years that sports have helped me not only improve on my concentration and focus in class but it has also helped me to learn time management and improve my leadership capabilities. I have also learned how to control my emotions when I fall of the beam or don't have the perfect dive to keep my head in the game so I can focus on the next skill or dive to be successful in the meet as a whole. I strive for a perfect 10 all the time, I understand that may not always be possible but as long as I keep focused toward that goal I am able to keep pushing myself and improving.  I have had to overcome a lot of injuries in gymnastics to continue advancing in the sport. Sometimes this was difficult and took some guidance from my coaches and my mom. This has helped me this year in diving overcome a recent injury from last summer and gave me an opportunity to help motivate a teammate this year and give her guidance after she fell on a dive injuring her foot. 

My academic goals include keeping above a 3.0 average through my school career.