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PHHS diver focused on goals, challenges
Written By: The Herald Bulletin
Published September 03, 2006 10:57 pm - PENDLETON — Seventeen-year-old Krissy Riley has anything but the normal life.
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PHHS diver focused on goals, challenges
PENDLETON — Seventeen-year-old Krissy Riley has anything but the normal life.
Riley is a student a Pendleton Heights High School, but that doesn’t consume nearly as much of her life as her other gig, a competitive diver. And a very good one at that.
Riley trains daily as a member of the Starz Diving Club in Indianapolis, which is a developmental program for up-and-coming young divers. She also hopes it serves as a launching pad for her ultimate goal — to become an Olympic diver.
“The Olympics has never been my dream,” Riley said. “But when it’s right there in front of you, and you can work toward it, you realize how far you’ve gotten and you want to take that chance.”
Riley’s diving resume is impressive for someone who is only 17. She began her career by going undefeated in middle school competition and winning the conference championship in both seventh and eighth grade. She also placed 14th in the state as a freshman and sixth as a sophomore. She also finished 13th out of 700 girls at the 2006 Jr./Sr. National Championships at the IU Natatorium, and finished first in the 2006 AAU National Championship in San Diego.
Becoming an elite national diver doesn’t happen overnight, and Riley has put in countless hours of practice to get to where she is today. Her typical day begins with going to school until 2 p.m., then diving until 7 or 8 at night. This leaves her just enough time to finish her homework before she goes to bed. But even in her busy schedule, Riley still finds some time to have a social life.
“I usually have the weekends off,” Riley said. “So that’s the time I have to hang out with my friends. It’s hard, but that’s the kind of sacrifice you have to make.”
While Riley may have lost some of the time she has to spend with her friends, she has made plenty of friends in the diving world, perhaps none better than her first coach Cory Yeager.
“He’s (Yeager) been with me every step of the way,” Riley said. “I realize the three years I was with him, I didn’t just get better, I got a lot better. A lot of coaches can’t guarantee that. I’m very proud to have had him as my coach.”
Yeager has since moved on to coach the Taylor Made Divers in San Marcos, Calif. The job of Riley’s coach now belongs to Eric Barnes, but she says she is confident she will continue to strive under Barnes’ watch.
“I haven’t been with Eric long enough to say much about him,” Riley said. “But he’s a great coach who’s won both national and state championships. I’m glad I got put in his group.”
Through her rise to the national level, Riley hopes to gather many fans along the way. But there’s one person who will always be No. 1 fan — her mom, Debbie.
Debbie Riley said she knew from the moment Krissy started diving that she had a lot of potential.
“Krissy finished third in her first meet in the sixth grade, and I don’t think she ever lost the rest of her sixth grade year,” Debbie Riley said. “I’ve known since the beginning that she had the potential to be an elite diver.”
Krissy added that her parents never pushed her to train for the Olympics but encouraged her to make her own decision. Her maturity is one thing her mom has noticed in this whole process.
“I’ve been so proud of her from day one,” Debbie Riley said. “Just to watch her grow as a diver, watch her grow as an individual and as a person. She has so much potential in diving, and her passion is diving.”
And Riley says she will keep training hard to achieve her ultimate goal of becoming an Olympic diver.
“The chance to go to the Olympics is what makes me work,” Riley said. “I’m almost there. If I can just push myself a little bit more, it will make me get better. I can’t say I dwell on it, but it’s something that would be pretty awesome if I got there.”
No matter what happens, Riley is just happy she has the opportunity to become one of the country’s elite divers.
“The thing I’m most proud of is the fact that I’m being looked at as a future Olympian,” Riley said. “That’s one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received. It made me feel so good to know that all my hard work has paid off.”
For now, Riley has set a goal for the 2012 Olympics in London. But with her determination, don’t be surprised if you see her in Beijing in 2008.
Posted 9-4-06 |
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