The Red and Black

Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: Sports

COLWILL

Media Credit: Courtesy Georgia Sports Communications Decorated diver Chris Colwill prepares to dive. His hearing impairment aids his concentration in meets. [Click to enlarge]

Chris Colwill can't hear you cheering for him.

The most decorated diver in Georgia history is hearing impaired, and while hearing aids allow him to hear normally outside of the pool, he can't wear them while he's diving.

"It's actually helped me in terms of being more focused," said the Brandon, Fla., native, who was born with a 40 percent hearing loss.

"I'm able to zone out a lot of things."

"When he wears his hearing aids obviously he can hear a lot better," Georgia diving coach Dan Laak said. "When he's diving he pretty much can't hear anything, and that works in his favor in many ways. He can tune out the crowd and the noise and things like that, and I think it's helped his other senses."

Colwill is back in Athens this season after taking a redshirt to compete internationally last year, and he's been back with a vengeance. After winning NCAA titles on the 1- and 3-meter boards in his junior season, the Bulldog senior won SEC Diver of the Week six times this year.

Though he missed this year's SECs to go to Beijing for the World Cup (where he clinched two diving spots for the United States in the upcoming Olympics), he's ready to "defend" his titles at NCAAs, which start today in Federal Way, Wash.

"Obviously my goal is to win the 1-meter and the 3-meter and see if I can repeat," Colwill said.

"I want to see if I can beat my best score. I just want to shoot for the best."



Practice makes perfect

Chris Colwill's diving career began the same way so many childhood dreams are dashed or forgotten about - amid a mother's skepticism.

"I used to be a gymnast because my mom kind of just put me into a sport so I'd be out of her hands," Colwill said.

"One day a couple of great divers happened to be at the pool and I was just watching them, and I told my mom that I wanted to do it. She told me to wait a year and if I bring it up then maybe she'll consider it."

"I kept bugging her ever since."

Colwill, who will be vying for one of those Olympic spots he secured, began training with Joe Greenwell and Jetstream Diving at the age of five.

"The thing that definitely makes a difference is he always wanted to be there," said Greenwell, who's been at Jetstream for 30 years.

"He's always been very interested in being there and practicing and getting better. It's always been what he wanted to do."

For the layperson, diving may be all about flips and turns. But Laak said Colwill's biggest strength as a diver is, well, strength.

"He probably outjumps anybody in the world, and it's allowed him to do some of the harder dives better than some people in the world," he said.

"That's his biggest asset is his strength. He's a hard worker and a great kid."

Love for the sport made Colwill truly a world-class diver and the "most successful" one Greenwell has ever coached. But Colwill credits coming to Athens with allowing him take it to the next level.

"By the time I became a freshman in college, I just decided to forget about the outside factors and just focus on diving, and started working and working and didn't give up," the eight-time All-American said.

"I've never really said, 'That didn't go' and given up. I just keep working on it until I get it right."



Olympic hopes

Away from the pool, getting to know Colwill is a process.

"He's quiet until you get to know him very well, and it took me a while to get used to coaching him because he is so quiet," Laak said.

"But he's hilarious. He says some pretty funny things."

Colwill doesn't deny his shyness, but says he's gotten better about it.

"I've been known to warm up to people, but I think as I get a little older I'm changing more and more, I'm not as shy anymore," said Colwill, who is on track to graduate with a degree in Speech Communication, despite his learning disability and being abroad for a year.

"I'm getting used to being around hundreds of people in college, and after about my 20th public speaking class I guess I just got over being shy."

After this weekend, Colwill's attention once again will turn to Beijing and the Olympic trials in June. Although he is responsible for the U.S. having its two spots, he'll still have to compete to make sure one of those spots is his.

While nothing is certain, his chances look good.

"He's been asked to do a job and step up to the plate throughout his diving career, and he's been good at doing that," Greenwell said. "He's definitely got my vote."

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