Scheduled to travel to Arizona this weekend for the Arizona
State University Invitational, the UCLA diving team has decided not
to attend due to weather uncertainties.
“It just wouldn’t be worth the trip,” UCLA
coach Cyndi Gallagher said. “It is better for them to stay
home and train.”
The weather forecast for Tempe, Arizona predicts showers this
evening along with showers and storms likely on Sunday.
Such bad weather would create an unfriendly environment for the
divers, with a high likelihood of cancelled events.
And with ASU’s outdoor facilities ““ similar to
UCLA’s ““ the risk of thunder and cancellation is too
high for the staff to be comfortable sending members of the team to
the event.
The divers already spent winter break practicing in the rainy
weather, where they had to endure cold temperatures and pelting
rain.
Despite not traveling, the divers will practice over the weekend
and have an opportunity to compete when UCLA hosts UC San Diego
next week.
The swimmers, however, don’t mind the rain.
“They are wet anyway,” Gallagher said.
“The team could care less if it rains. It’s the
coaches who care. We are cold and grouchy.”
Grumpy or not, Gallagher was pleased with the swimmers’
work over the break.
“We had a great holiday training,” Gallagher
said.
“Ninety-five percent of them trained even harder than I
asked them to.”
With only nine days allotted for vacation time, the swimmers
hardly spent their time relaxing. They were expected to train daily
with their past club teams, breaking only for Christmas Eve and
day. Gallagher even gave the swimmers a 10-page packet of things to
be worked on as a response to a disappointing showing at the Husky
Invitational in early December.
Even freshman Chiemi Yamamoto, who went home to Japan for the
holidays, made it out to the pool.
“I received e-mails from many of the club coaches,
praising the hard work of the swimmers over break,” Gallagher
said. “They are serious about swimming.”
And fortunately for the Bruin swimmers, next week’s meet
is at home, where there is rarely thunder and lightning.