Diana Voscott had dreams of being a great swimmer.
Unfortunately, that’s all they were.
Voscott is a rising sophomore at Little Flower High School, and when she enrolled at the school, she really wanted to be a member of the Sentinels swim team.
It’s a great club that under coach Sean Clothier has produced some of the top swimmers in the Catholic League over the past decade. It’s also a team that works very hard, but at the same time always has fun.
It’s the perfect sport for competitive swimmers, but Clothier has also made it a great activity for those new to the sport.
And, boy, was Voscott new to the sport.
So new, in fact, that she had no experience at all, and she wasn’t too keen on the idea of even getting in the pool.
She came out for the team, but in the beginning, she had a lot to learn.
“My dad wanted me to swim because he was a swimmer and taught himself how to swim, but I never learned before I got to high school,” said Voscott, who lives in Lawndale. “I knew Little Flower had a swim team so I decided to join, but I was really nervous. It was scary, I was afraid I would drown.”
Clothier saw her trepidation. Then he got down to coaching.
“I tried to swim with the board, he gave me the board to help me, but I still couldn’t do it, I was too scared,” Voscott said. “So he sent me down to the other end, the shallow end, and I just practiced my kicking to know what it’s like. I did that for a while, maybe two months?”
A rescheduled practice then helped her take the next stride.
Clothier originally canceled practice, but after getting access to the pool, he decided to have it. Because of the late notice, all the lanes weren’t full, so Clothier started working with Voscott and she took the first stroke to becoming a contributor for Little Flower.
“It was funny, I came late to practice, and that was the day I really started to get better,” Voscott said. “I came late, not many people were there, so (Clothier) had me try it without the board. I would just keep hanging on to the wall to stay up.”
What happened next was either genius coaching or luck.
“We were scheduled to have a meet with Lansdale Catholic but before we got there, one of the wall anchors for the lane lines broke and we were unable to hold the meet,” Clothier said. “In what is normally a five-lane pool, that night for practice we now had four lanes, three regular-sized ones and one very, very large one in the middle of the pool. And then it struck us to put Diana in the middle of the big lane. It was twice as wide as a regular lane and she wouldn’t have anything nearby to grab onto.
“So we pulled her out, explained what we were going to try, gave her a little pep talk reminding her of all the strides she had made so far and where she started from. She was up to the task and we put her in the big lane. We stopped everyone else from their sets and had them cheer Diana on along the length of the pool.”
She didn’t just stay afloat, she showed some skill while doing.
She conquered her fear and at the same time officially began her swimming career.
“I felt proud of myself because I wasn’t able to do it and then with help, I was able to do it,” Voscott said. “I was scared to swim. I had a fear of drowning. Once I was able to do it, I wasn’t scared. I kept pushing myself to learn more. I really wanted to help the team.”
She eventually did help the team.
Voscott eventually worked her way into the lineup. She made her debut against Nazareth, where both teams cheered on the new swimmer.
Now, she’s no longer a rookie.
She even swam for Little Flower in the biggest race of the year.
“When it came time for district championships, we decided to put her into one of our relays,” Clothier said. “She had earned her spot. Working so hard night after night, sometimes seeing little or no improvement, she stuck it out and stayed with it, trusting that her coaches would help her improve. She holds an incredibly high work ethic and commitment to the team and for that we decided to put her into our 200-yard medley relay, swimming the freestyle leg.
“With the confidence of all she accomplished over the course of the season, Diana did not falter under the pressure of now competing in the biggest meet of the season. She swam her freestyle leg great and helped the relay team finish third overall in the event, being named to the All-District Team in the process.”
All the hard work, all the putting herself in uncomfortable situations, all the facing of her fears paid off. She did exactly what she wanted to do.
“I was very lucky,” said Voscott, who is ranked third in her freshman class. “I love the girls, they’re very nice and very supportive with each other. They helped me when I needed it. The day I was able to swim without the board, they were very supportive and told me to keep going!
“Everything about joining the team was great. The coaches really helped me. My teammates helped me, they’re very supportive. And I’m glad my dad pushed me to do this. I’m very proud and excited to do it next year.”
