Danielle Repper - (Author)

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern Picture yourself standing at the bottom of the steps of the diving board during a competition. Imagine the thoughts racing through your head, your palms becoming sweaty, and the sound of your heart beat. What may feel like an eternity waiting at the ...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern Many divers across the the United States hail from other countries.  It is a large commitment for divers coming from afar, leaving their homes, and having to adapt to a new world. But it's also an incredible opportunity for student-athletes to travel...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern "Thank you judges, thank you divers, and thank you table help!" The familiar phrase spoken by all announcers at the end of each diving competition.  There should be an amendment to the script including a thank you to all parent volunteers. In order t...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern The Bruins and the Trojans battled on the boards, Friday, February 12 at the Spieker Aquatics Center. The first event was the 3 meter competition. The points separating the divers between first and sixth place were close.  Madison Witt, freshman dive...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern Divers all around the world have experience diving both indoors and outdoors. We typically train in one environment and have our preferences, and all for good reasons! But let's compare, shall we? The Great Outdoors Ah, there is nothing like the grea...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern Pac-12-- the Conference of Champions! This past weekend at the Bruin Invitational was a great showcase for remainder of the season for UCLA, USC, Cal, and Utah. The Bruins marked their territory by bleeding blue and gold at home in all three events. ...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern Teamwork makes the dream work! Having a strong, cohesive team has a large impact on how athletes perform individually. Even though diving is an individual sport, the underlying foundation is teamwork. Team building exercises have increasingly become ...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern Kristian Ipsen had an incredible weekend at the 2015 USA Diving Winter National Championships. Ipsen competed this past week in both the men's individual 3 meter springboard, and the men's 3 meter synchronized competition with parters Sam Dorman and ...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern 2016 is just around the corner! This is the time of year when we often reflect on our accomplishments and what we’d like to achieve moving forward.  The challenge is not in creating our goals, but rather the ability to commit to those goals beyond th...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern Growing up, I learned that there was a difference between being hurt, and being injured. Bumps, bruises and pain, are part of any sport. If you are hurt, you brush yourself off and get back in the game. Injuries are not that simple. Athletes push the...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern 'Tis the season! There are many things to be thankful for in our lives. Throughout our careers as divers, we are given some rare opportunities. The diving community is endlessly supportive-- from divers to the coaches and to the table help! But of co...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern There is beauty to good ol' fashioned rivalries! Sidelines of players passionately screaming for their respective team, is part of the drive behind a great game. The level of adrenaline rises, confidence increases, and athletes become more motivated ...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern Has anyone ever had this thought-- "I've practiced this dive hundreds of times, and know I can nail it! So why do I completely blow it when it counts?" Performing under pressure is one of the most difficult tasks any athlete will face. Many will thri...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern "Take it up." The three most daunting words in the language of diving.  Why is it that when we hear these three words, our hair ties snap? Why do we have a sudden onset of doubt and fear? This occurs because when it’s time to take a dive up, we break...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern It's your freshman year, and first day of preseason. Skimming through the schedule you see in big, daunting letters, WEIGHT TRAINING. "Weight training? What does that even mean? I can't imagine a diver would ever need to lift weights, right?" You ope...

By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern Frequently, we athletes tend to make things more difficult than need be. I for one was certainly guilty on multiple occasions. My coach always told me, “Just decide. You have to make a choice.”  There are only two options, how hard can that be? I can...