Lower Merion’s Grady Gardner is Main Line Boys Athlete of the Week (Feb. 20-26)
The senior diver and team captain was undefeated in Central League dual meets this winter, and finished second at the Central League Diving Championships for the second consecutive year. He has qualified for the PIAA 3A Diving Championships. Outside of the pool at Lower Merion, Gardner participates in Amazing Ace, is one of the Spirit Committee heads for Student Council, and writes for the school newspaper. “Grady is a very outgoing guy — he loves hanging with his teammates, listening to music and dance-jamming with his teammates,” said Lower Merion diving coach Carol Gibbone. “He has impressive perseverance and dedication. He’s a great team captain and a total pleasure to work with and have around us on deck.”
Q: What is your most vivid memory of the Central League Championships? What was the key to your success that day?
A: My most vivid memory was definitely my last dive, 5223d (Back 1 Somersault 1.5 Twists Free). This was so vivid for me because I was behind in points and I knew I had to nail the dive to try and capture the lead and I stayed calm and performed the dive successfully.
Q: What (in your opinion) has been your best dive so far this season? What was the key to your performance on that dive?
A: My best dive this season was my 5233d (Back 1.5 Somersaults 1.5 Twists Free). Not only has this been my hardest dive throughout high school, but I have worked and made it my cleanest dive. I’ve consistently done it well and it’s gotten me a lot of points and has secured me some close wins.
Q: What are your best dives, in order?
A: My hardest dives are 5233d (back 1.5 somersaults with 1.5 twists free) – 2.5, 105c (front 2.5 somersaults tuck) – 2.4, 403b (inward 1.5 somersaults pike) – 2.4, 203b (back 1.5 somersaults pike) – 2.3, 5223d (back 1 somersault with 1.5 twists free) – 2.3, 303c (reverse 1.5 somersaults tuck) – 2.1. I’ve also practiced even more difficult dives, but have not competed them, like 5225d (back 1 somersault with 2.5 twists free) – 2.7, and 404c (inward 2 somersaults tuck) – 2.8.
Q: What aspect of your diving have you been working on the most recently?
A: Recently I’ve been working on my crow hop in my dives. A crow hop is where your feet leave and return to the board before completing the dive when doing a back approach. While this is not a deduction in club diving, PIAA can take off 0.5-2 points on each score if there’s a noticeable crow-hop, so I’ve been really working hard to correct this aspect of my technique.
Q: What sparked your original interest in competitive diving?
A: My original interest in diving started due to my experiences with both swimming and gymnastics. Diving seemed to be a perfect combination of the two and I started to quickly progress with the sport.
Q: What coaches/mentors have been particularly helpful to your diving career?
A: Some important mentors along the way have been Kayla Murray, who coached me in my time with Lower Merion Aquatic Club and now over the summers at Rose Tree Woods. My current club coach, Tom Henniger, who has helped me to hone in on my dives and make upgrades and he has given me great advice on how to keep the right mindset during meets. Last is my high school coach, Carol Gibbone. Carol has been with me for four years and has really gotten to know me as a person and diver. She knows what I struggle with and knows how to keep me calm and collected in stressful diving situations. I’ve been so fortunate to have so many amazing coaches and mentors over my diving career.
Q: How do you view your leadership role (in and out of the pool) as a senior captain?
A: Personally, I really enjoy having a leadership role as a captain. Not only has this been a very fun experience but it has also given me a whole new perspective on diving. In my leadership role, I like to try and encourage new people to start diving and it’s really rewarding when I get to see my teammates thrive and improve. An example of this would be my teammate Chloe Morton. At the beginning of last season, Chloe had expressed some interest in diving after being a competitive gymnast. After seeing our similar backgrounds, I knew that she had the potential to be an amazing diver. I have consistently encouraged and gotten her through learning new dives with success. Back then, she had never even done an approach, and now she is currently preparing to compete alongside me at the PIAA State Championships in March.
Q: What, to you, is the major difference between indoor and outdoor diving competitions?
A: In my opinion, the major difference between indoor and outdoor diving is the ability to spot. When you go up in the start of a dive, you’re supposed to spot something to see until your legs come up and you can’t see your spot anymore. This ensures you keep the dive going high and closer to the board instead of shooting out across the pool and not getting enough height to execute the dive. When diving outside, it is more difficult to find a specific spot when going up to perform dives like back dive or a back 1.5 somersaults.
Q: What’s the coolest place you’ve ever dove from?
A: It might not be that cool, but I’ve recently been starting to practice 3 meter and it has been a really fun experience. It requires a lot of control and mastery on your dives in order to be successful which I think is really cool.
Q: Tell us a little about your pre-meet preparation the day of a meet.
A: My pre-meet preparation the day of normally consists of a lot of mental reps and preparation. I like to go through and watch videos of the dives I’m competing from practice and visualize myself recreating those and nailing in the meet. Along with this I like to stretch and get my muscles ready for the dives I’m competing that day.
Q: Take us through a typical workout session, both in the pool and in the weight room.
A: A typical workout session in the pool consists of constant reps of my voluntary and lead-up dives (for example, back dive and back flip) before trying my optionals (back 1.5 somersaults). After I do a couple optionals and get one that I’m happy with, I move on and continue with my other categories. A typical dryland practice consists of doing leg and ab workouts, and then practicing my dives on the dry-board and trampoline.
Q: What is your favorite academic course at Lower Merion? What would you like to major in at college? Is there a particular career path that interests you at the present time?
A: Out of all my classes at Lower Merion, my favorite has been AP Biology. I’ve always had a profound interest in biology and life science, and doing this at the college level was very interesting last year. I plan on majoring in biology in college, and want to go into a career in the pharmacy industry after going to pharmacy school.
Fun facts – Grady Gardner
Favorite book: The Hunger Games.
Favorite author: Suzanne Collins or JK Rowling.
Favorite TV Show: Survivor.
Favorite movie: The Hunger Games, Gone Girl.
Favorite Athlete: Tyler Downs.
Favorite pre-meet pump up song: Low by SZA.
Favorite Team: Germantown Academy Dive Club.
Person I most admire: “Both of my parents.”
Family: parents Geoffrey and Karen, brother Kellen, sister Gemma.
(To be selected as Main Line Boys Athlete of the Week, a student-athlete must first be nominated by his coach.)
