Hello DH Dive Families,

It's time! Welcome to the 2026 DH Thunder Ducks Dive Season!

We’re so excited that practice starts tomorrow, May 18. This will be the final email sent to the parents of least year’s divers. If you haven’t yet registered this year, it’s not too late!

This year we are excited to be welcoming some new (but familiar) faces to our coaching staff:

• Head Coach - Riley Shelton 
• Assistant Coaches - Hannah Ax, Logan DiBenigno, Charlie Morrison, and Leah Robbins 
• Junior Coaches - Helen Butler, Joe Mathieson, and Ben Panko 

We have a large team again this year, with 51 registrations already, including lots of new families. Kirsten will be at each practice this week to meet you and answer any questions you may have. 

We know this is a busy time of year and kids have other evening activities. We try to keep practices fun and low-pressure. Try to make as many practices as you can, but don’t worry if you can’t make practices or can only attend a partial practice. Diving is a sport that requires skill building through repetitions, the more time they spend at practice, the more they’ll develop those skills over this very short season.

Your child can attend a one-hour practice at either 6:30 or 7:30. If you child is also on the swim team, it’s ok to leave practice early to transition to swim practice. Keep in mind, however, that with so many kids, they are unable to remind them to transition to swim. If your child is arriving late, please have them check-in with head coach Riley Shelton.

Some other logistics and answers to frequently asked beginning-of-season questions:

• For the first few days of practice, we use a washable marker to write your child’s name on their arm or leg so coaches can remember all the new names.
• Have your child bring more than one towel or an old bathrobe until they figure out their practice routine. It can get cold waiting between dives and the dive well is shaded by trees in the evening.
• Most pools have two diving boards, and we only have one. Finding enough board time for 50 kids is a challenge, so we have other skills development activities off the side of the pool or on mats. Divers often make more progress on dry practice or off the side, so do not interpret the fact that your child is or is not on the boards as any indication of their skill or progression. We have multiple practice stations, which includes the diving board.
• Only Swimmers/Divers, coaches and team representatives are allowed on the pool deck during practice.
• Families are welcome to sit on the upper deck or outside the pool area.
• The pool closes at 7:00 and the trash cans are emptied. Please refrain from eating after 7:00. However, if you must, please take your trash home with you. Raccoons and rats can become a problem if trash and food is left in trash cans overnight.
• For those attending the 7:30 practice, please ask your kids to approach the dive well through the baby pool area. This prevents congestion for the swim team.
• Your main point of contact will not be the coaches. The coaches will be busy managing the safety of 20 or so divers. If you have any questions or concerns, please work with us. You will be able to meet the coaches at our season kick-off social on May 27.
• Weather policy – we will practice rain or shine, warm or cold. If we must cancel practice for any reason, we will send an email. We’ll do our best to send this out at least 30 minutes before the start of the practice. If we do have to end practice because of a storm, the coaches will bring the divers upstairs to the check-in desk to be picked up.

See you on deck tomorrow!

Kirsten and June

Upcoming Dates

Monday, May 25 – No practice on Memorial Day

Wednesday, May 27 – Season Kick Off Social

Tuesday, June 23 – First A Meet!