2009-2010 News

Diving: Two LB Divers Compete For Youth Olympic Berth

Report by Jessica Pollack (as seen on lbpost.com)

Two Junior Divers from McCormick Divers in Long Beach are headed to Columbus, Ohio for the U.S. Youth Olympic Games Trials.  On February 4 and 5, Deon Reid and Sydney Czaus will compete in this first leg in a journey to the Youth Olympic Games. 

Several years in the making, this is the first year of the Youth Olympics.  The diving competition is only open to athletes born in 1993 and 1994 who compete at the national level.  Five thousand athletes from 205 countries are expected in Singapore to compete in 26 sports including diving. 

McCormick Divers Coach, Charly Collins, says this is an amazing opportunity for Junior Divers to experience world level athletics.  With the tight age range and close qualifying scores of divers expected to attend, he believes Reid and Czaus have a good chance receiving top scores in Columbus.  Most of the Youth Games Trial divers will already be in Columbus for the USA Diving Winter Nationals.

Top finishers in Columbus move on to the FINA qualifying event in Guadalajara, Mexico in March.  The competition has four main events on 3 meter springboard and platform competition separated into boys and girls.   The top nine finishers in each event move on to Olympic style competition in Singapore August 14-26, 2010.

Poly High School Sophomore, Deon Reid is excited to attend the Youth Olympic Games Trials.  He expects to encounter tough competition from divers he met at Diving Nationals over the past few years.  Deon needs to perform his personal best to move on to Guadalajara. 

Los Alamitos High School Junior, Sydney Czaus, has an excellent chance at moving on to the next leg.  She will be up against many of the same competitors she has faced at the last USA Diving and AAU Nationals where she finished second in the platform competition.

Both divers train with McCormick Divers at the Belmont Plaza Pool.  Head coach Debby McCormick says “We are all very excited to have our divers represent Long Beach and the United States on the world scene.”  Debby and Asst. Head Coach, Charly Collins, train the divers six days a week with extra platform training every week from Kim Berbari.  All three are very familiar with international competition and excited to help these excellent divers move up to the international competition level.

Local Bixby Knolls diver competing for spot at Youth Olympic Games

Bixby Knolls resident Deon Reid (pictured) is in Columbus, Ohio this week, competing as a diver for the U.S. Youth Olympic Games trials. Top finishers there will travel to Guadalajara, Mexico in March for the qualifying event administered by Fédération Internationale de Natation– the organization recognized by the International Olympic Committee for conducting international competitions in aquatic sports... (more after the jump)

A couple MCD divers get a glimpse at their high school outlook for the new season: Los Al dive team expects best season ever in 2010  By Jessica Pollack (as posted on sunnews.org)

Los Alamitos High School Divers are gearing up for what Coach Shane Butler expects to be the team’s best season ever in 2010.  Los Al Junior, Sydney Czaus led the Sunset League in 2009 finishing third among the girls at CIF Southern Section Masters Championships. 

The Los Al Varsity Boys easily won the CIF Sunset League title in 2009.  All members of the champion boys’ team, except one 2009 graduate, are returning when the season officially starts in February.

The Sunset League Champion Boys are led by...(Read more here after the jump)

Asia Pacific Rim Junior Diving Invitational December 16-18, 2009 .

McCormick Divers were invited to compete in Wellington , New Zealand in December, 2009.  Four of our team members and their families were able to attend and make a family vacation out of the opportunity.  Adam Springer, Erica Curry, Clark Pitti and Paulina Guzman competed at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Center just before Christmas.

We all met at LAX Dec 12 and arrived in New Zealand after traveling for over 21 hours on December 14!  We found the hotel, unpacked our bags and headed right over to the pool!  Each of the kids bounced the boards and did some diving, met a lot of new people and Debby met with some of her old friends from years’ past. 

All of the officials and athletes stayed in the same hotel and ate breakfast lunch and dinner together in one room.  The food was outstanding and satisfied every palate.

Most of the kids managed to find a synchro partner from another country.  What a nice way to meet new friends.  They had “knock off rounds” which was a new experience for our kids.  Once the results were in, the top 6 did a dive off and were eliminated round by round.  They could play it safe and put in their best dives first in order to stay in through the end.  All of the kids got plenty of diving in!

Clark surprised himself and came home with 3 bronze medals.  Erica and Adam worked really hard and made lots of corrections.  Adam won an award at the Award’s banquet for filling his form out wrong!

Paulina really shined on this trip.  She and I were both interviewed and on the New Zealand News.  It is the best she has competed in some time.  She was really steady and finished 2^nd to the Chinese gal in both 1 & 3 meters.  I got a lot of positive comments on her diving.

After the meet the kids and parents took off to go bungee jumping and “zip lining”.  I am sure they will be proud to show off those photos!  They also had a chance to see some of the most beautiful countryside anywhere in the world.

This was an invaluable experience for everyone and hopefully it will motivate them to train hard to insure future trips like this one.

Impromptu USDiving Social Re-Connects Diving Alumni 

A Divers Social was held at BJ’s restaurant in Huntington Beach , on Monday December 7.  The purpose of the event was to bring together alumni and diving coaches.  Debbie Hesse, CEO of US Diving and Steve Foley, High Performance Director of US Diving spoke to the group about their 4 year plan for our sport. 

Debby and Frank Gorman combined efforts to reach out to as many diving coaches and supporters to make the event a success.  40 people “weathered” the stormy day and freeway traffic!  It was a wonderful turn out. 

Dr. Sammy Lee, Roz Lee, Debbie Hesse, Steve Foley, Debby McCormick, Patty Simms Whiles, Frank Gorman, Felix Grossman, Fred Fox, Ray Vincent,  Chris Boyd, Andy Kwan, Amy Kwan, Steve Eberle, Kevin McMahon,  Jennifer and Grant Lappe, Cole Young, Charly Collins,  Brian Early, Craig Lincoln,  Curt Wilson, Derek Starks, Dave Cotton, Marnie Young, Joe Gerlach, Kathy and Marc Dumais, Tony Cacciapaglia, Larry Brennan,  Kim Stanfield Berberi, Bill Gardner and Nancy Brunet Janik were in attendance.

Diving Legend Sammy Lee Visits Local Divers

By Jessica Pollack (As posted in www.hbnews.us/feature.html)

     89-year-old Dr. Sammy Lee of Huntington Beach is a legend in the Platform diving world.  Ten meter platform Olympic gold medal winner in London in 1948 and in Helsinki in 1952, Sammy Lee went on to become a respected doctor and a mentor and coach for some of diving’s elite including Greg Louganis and Huntington Beach Resident, Debby McCormick who continues as head coach of McCormick Divers.
    This weekend, Dr. Lee came to Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach to watch the Platform Competition at the Glenn McCormick Memorial Dive Meet.  Dr. Lee has been a great supporter of the team since it started.  Debby McCormick continues the great work Glenn started coaching and mentoring young divers from Orange County and Long Beach.  This year she and coaches Charly Collins, Kim Berbari, and Assistant Coaches Jackie Jones and Cole Young coach some exciting new Orange County Divers.
    15-year-old Amy Losciavo and her 12-year-old brother, Brandon both won their events this first year diving.  Fellow HB resident 13-year-old Clark Pitti used this meet to prepare for 2010 when he has to move up to the next age group.  Clark competed in his first diving Nationals this summer competing in the 13&under competition in Georgia this summer.  Orange County also boasts 15-year-old Erica Curry who competes for Fountain Valley High School in the spring and some new Novice Divers including Jacqui Cleugh from Huntington Beach who competed in the 9&under girls.
    The Glenn McCormick Memorial Dive Meet attracts divers from all over Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, New Mexico and Texas.  This great turn-out for a club meet in such difficult financial times is testament to how well respected Debby and McCormick Divers are in the diving world.  Also notable is the amount of community support.  While ad sales for the program and cash donations are down from previous years, the team has received great door prize, food and merchandise donations from local businesses.  These divers are grateful to local businesses like Universal Care Medical Group, Diets by Design, CAS-Competitive Aquatic Sports, Tru-West, Orthopedic and Spinal Care, and Dr. Ben Rubin for their generous support. 
    Athletes looking to try diving and local businesses interested in being part of local divers’ success are encouraged to contact McCormick Divers at McCormickdiver@aol.com or 714-642-0317. McCormick Divers Booster Club is a registered 501c (3) charity.

Former McCormick Diver Gets Once in a Lifetime Opportunity

Chris Beck is a former Master's Diver for McCormick Divers.  He is an Opera singer, teacher and star.  Chris always sings the National Anthem (like no other) at every one of our events. He teaches at Cal State Fullerton and has been contacted  by the New Your Metropolitan.  He will sing for them on December 17th. He is very excited about this!  And we are excited for him. Whether they offer him a contract or not, a chance to sing for the Metropolitan Opera is a less than once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  Way to go Chris!!

Diving Legend Sammy Lee Visits Local Divers

Dr. Sammy Lee is a legend in the Platform diving world.  The 89-year-old was the ten meter platform Olympic gold medal winner in London in 1948 and in Helsinki in 1952.  He went on to become a respected doctor and a mentor and coach for some of diving’s elite including Greg Louganis and Glenn McCormick who went on to start McCormick Divers.  This weekend, Dr. Lee came to Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach to watch the Platform Competition at the Glenn McCormick Memorial Dive Meet. Dr, Lee has been a great supporter of the team over the years.  McCormick Divers has called Belmont Plaza Pool home since it was built in 1968.  Debby McCormick continues the great work Glenn started coaching...(Read more here from LBPost.com)

Huntington Beach Independent: Briefly in Sports

Just a short while ago, four Huntington Beach Divers were competitive gymnasts. Now they are preparing for the annual dive meet at their home pool, Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach, starting Friday. (Read more here)

Glenn McCormick Memorial Meet a HUGE Success!!!

Many thanks to all the parents and divers that helped in organizing this years GMMDI which was the biggest meet year-to-date! We had a few new teams from Nevada and Arizona which pushed our diver count to over 275 and over 525 entries!!! Thank you all for your hard work, dedication and long hours for a very successful invitational.  Here's to looking forward to next year!!!

2008-2009 News

•             Moore League Diving Champ

•             CIF Division 1 Diving Finals

•             Press-Telegram Dream Team 1^st Team

•             Won the 2008 CIF Masters Title for the second year also 2007

•             One of only two locals to win at Masters

•             International Competition Qualifier

•             Millikan’s Most Valuable Player

•             All-American and also in 2007

Events