Diving event becomes family affair for Holcombes

Karl Licis, Special to the Rocky

Thursday, August 2, 2007

COLORADO SPRINGS - When Preston Holcombe steps onto the diving board Saturday, he won't be lacking family support.

Not only will the Holcombe clan be in Schlessman Natatorium on the Colorado College campus, most also will be entered in the competition.

"Whenever I can come home, it's a good opportunity to spend some time with my family," said Holcombe, 19, a Sand Creek High School graduate who recently completed his first year at Southern Methodist University on a diving scholarship and finished 25th in the NCAA Diving Championships.

"I need to keep up my diving, and I think that would be a fun thing to do."

He'll get a chance at the State Games of America today through Sunday at various venues in Colorado Springs.

Holcombe, his mother, Kathleen, and brothers Devon, 13, and Braeden, 5, will be among the nearly 10,500 athletes from 47 states competing in 29 sports.

"It's great practice for getting back to that meet mind-set," Holcombe said of the State Games competition. "This will be my first meet after nationals, and the first meet, I'm going to have going into the new year.

"At the same time, it's kind of a relaxed atmosphere outside of the college scene and having those kinds of pressures. I'm still going to be throwing the dives that I would be throwing at the competitive college level. It's a good mixture of those two things. It'll get me started on the track I need to be on going into this year."

Relaxation of a different sort played a role in his mother's decision to participate.

"Fear of the board is why I'm doing it," she said. "I don't like to watch my kids diving from the bleachers. That scares me a little. If I'm doing it myself, it helps control the anxiety.

"That, and it's a great way to fight bleacher butt. It's better than sitting around watching someone else doing something."

Diving appears to come naturally for the Holcombes, a family of gymnasts.

Kathleen, 45, was a junior national champion on the uneven parallel bars, an Olympic hopeful in 1976 and 1980 and a varsity gymnast at Oregon State. Her husband, Layton, also was a college gymnast but has not taken up diving.

Preston had been a promising gymnast before a back injury four years ago, which ended his hopes of a gymnastics scholarship. Encouraged by coach Todd Matia, he moved into diving. That led to a stellar high school career, including high school All-America honors, a Colorado Springs metro championship, and, eventually, to SMU.

Devon is showing considerable promise as a diver, and Braeden already has indicated he wants to dive.

"This is a natural progression for people who have been at the private-club and college level," Kathleen said of the State Games. "It gives me one competition a year to prepare for, and it's just a lot of fun."

Preston welcomes the family involvement.

"I think it's pretty cool," he said. "Both my brothers are very talented and I know that they're going to be doing something with their lives that's eventually just going to blow everybody out of the water. If diving is that thing, then I say go full speed ahead and do it to the best of your capabilities, have some fun and don't waste the time.

"Diving is such a healthy thing, but it's also such a mental sport. It's a release from pressure and for my mom, I think it's a very healthy thing, too."