Q&A with Marian all-state diver Grace Morgan
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. — Congratulations to Grace Morgan on receiving an All State Diver award! Grace, a senior at Marian High School, has been a member of the Marian Swim and Dive Team for the past 4 years.聽 Before Grace graduates from Marian in June, she shared some of the lessons she learned from being on the Swim and Dive Team.
What are your personal goals within your sport/athletic dreams?
Grace Morgan: My personal goal at the start of the season was to achieve more dives with higher difficulty level and make it back to the second day of states and compete in the finals. I was able to achieve both those goals! I placed 8th and received an All State Diver award! Unfortunately, I do not plan to dive competitively in college but that does not mean I won’t do it for fun occasionally.
What is your biggest challenge in your sport, and what do you do to manage this challenge?
Morgan: By far my biggest challenge throughout my dive career was my own head. I would get really down on myself and believe the jumbled thoughts and fear spiraling in my brain when i’m on the edge of the board, but in these moments I would just repeat over and over in my head, “I can do it, I’ve done it before, and I can do it again.” Being confident and believing in yourself is the only way you can get things done.
What was the best advice you were ever given?
Morgan: The best advice I was ever given was by my coach, Scott McHugh, which was to just have fun with it. Messing up is okay, not every dive is going to be perfect and when it’s not just laugh it off and move on. If you’re able to do that you can accomplish anything.
What do you love about your sport?
Morgan: What I love about diving is how rewarding it feels to be able to do something so challenging. Diving is hard and takes a lot of brain power, but that is what makes it exciting.
Do you have a pregame ritual you follow?
Morgan: A pregame ritual I follow is that I always have to be jamming out to my favorite songs before a meet.
What has being a member of a team taught you?
Morgan: Being a member of a team has taught me that no one else has your back like your teammates do. Throughout the 4 month season, there is a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and exhaustion. It is the team’s job to lift each other up and that is exactly what the Marian Swim and Dive team does. MSD is one big family where each and every athlete is important.
What is the best piece of advice you received from a coach or mentor?
Morgan: I’ve made a couple mistakes when competing. My first being the start of my senior year at my first meet I bailed on my last dive and got an incomplete. From then on, I practiced my hurdles for that particular dive and it never happened again. My second mistake happened during several meets throughout all 4 years where I would just be too hard on myself when I didn’t do a dive that well and get the score I wanted. I would have a bad attitude the rest of the meet. I learned that getting a bad score on one dive that you did out of the hundreds you do during practices does not define you as a diver. It is okay to make mistakes but it is not worth it to dwell on it. The next one will be better.
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