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Schools

John Andrade: From Trampoline to Notre Dame Diving Team

The Avon High School graduate was recognized as an All State athlete this year.

John Andrade started his three-year journey from novice diver to All-American on his backyard trampoline.

Indeed, Andrade, who graduated from Avon High School in June, was encouraged to begin diving because of his acrobatics while bounding on his trampoline at home.

“Diving and jumping on the trampoline are basically the same,” Andrade said in a telephone interview Thursday. “The only difference is in diving, you are landing on your head instead of your feet. I’ve always been flipping around as a kid. [Diving] just came naturally.”

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His high school diving career at Avon High concluded with a fifth-place finish at the Class M diving competition and an eighth-place showing at the State Open, both personal bests.

“My goal was to try and have my best season yet and to go out with a bang,” he said.

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But it was his 450-point performance at the Out of Your League meet – a sort of conference meet for teams that were not members of traditional conferences - that earned him All-American honors by the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association last month.

To qualify for All-American status, a diver must submit a DVD of a performance that earned him at least 375 points in an 11-dive competition.

“It was a really good meet for me,” Andrade said in an understatement. “I was really focused. I wasn’t stressed out. I was in ‘the zone.’”

It was a performance that Andrade couldn’t have predicted when he took up diving at the beginning of his sophomore year.

“I didn’t know what I was getting myself into – not in a bad way, though,” Andrade said of taking up diving. “In my sophomore year, it was low-key, but I wanted to get better.”

Under the tutelage of his club coach, Pete Suydam, who is also the diving coach at Trinity College, Andrade made a significant leap from his sophomore to junior season.

“Pete taught me how to dive and do things correctly,” Andrade said. “He motivated me to dive full time.”

Suydam, for his part, said that he was thrilled, but not necessarily surprised, that Andrade earned All-American accolades.

“The event in which he qualified, he was absolutely flawless,” Suydam said. “He did what I told him to do all along. Don’t worry about the end results, just do what you know how to do, as well as you can do, and it will all pay off. … Save your pennies, and the dollars will come.”

Suydam, who has coached six high school All-Americans, said that Andrade possessed the traits necessary to be a successful diver.

“You have to be willing to crash and [accept] getting hurt,” Suydam said. “It’s a tough sport. [Andrade] has taken some serious crashes over his career. He kept coming back. He’s a really tough kid. … His success speaks for itself.”

Little did Andrade, who enjoys the outdoors when he isn’t at the pool, know that his bounding leaps on the backyard trampoline would land him on the diving team at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., where he will matriculate in the fall.

“It’s been an adventure,” Andrade said.

Editor's Note: Do you know of someone we should feature as athlete of the week? It could be anyone from Little League players to adult athletes or coaches. E-mail Jessie.Sawyer@patch.com or call 860-356-6339 with nominations.

 

 

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