February 3, 2012
Austin's Diving Career in Clear Focus
Chris Austin grew up around water.
As a child, he loved playing in the creek that ran through the backyard of his family’s home in Naples, NY. Countless summer hours were spent on the lake adjacent to Austin’s childhood home, with Austin spending as much time as he could in the water, from jet skiing and boating to swimming in the lake.
That love of the water carried over to the pool, where diving ran in the family. Austin’s older brother, Shawn, was an accomplished high school diver who eventually became an All-American while competing at both Monroe Community College (MCC) and Alfred.
So it was only a matter of time, then, before Austin followed his older brother Shawn into the high-flying world of competitive diving. Chris loved watching Shawn launch his body off the board and maybe by becoming a diver himself the 12-year difference between them could find some common ground.
Chris was seven years old when his interest in diving was more than just watching his brother compete.
“That summer Shawn was coaching and I was just bouncing around the pool,” recalled Chris. “He asked if you’re going to be here and jump in the pool, then why don’t you get on the boards and dive. I thought I can do that, I want to jump anyways.”
“When he stopped messing around on the board, I realized he had some talent,” said Shawn.
“Before Shawn started to coach me, there really wasn’t much of a relationship because we were so far apart in age but then we had diving in common. The travel to practice and meets allowed for a lot of conversations and our relationship grew.”
The brothers have definitely developed a special rapport in the water over the years, but it hasn’t always been smooth sailing.
Shawn was on his way home during a bad winter storm in March of 2000. He came to a traffic light when a Ford Bronco went straight thru the intersection and hit him head on. The accident caused major damage to his body; broken bones, a compound fractured femur, crushed and lacerated radial nerves.
“I think I was too young to even understand it,” said Chris. “I didn’t really quite comprehend the fact that my brother had that much damage.”
After several reconstructive surgeries and months of therapy Shawn worked his way back to a career focused around diving. He currently is the head diving instructor at Blue Wave Diving where Chris lends his expertise as an assistant coach. Shawn is also the diving coach at SUNY Geneseo.
“Shawn is my hero. To come back from what he’s come back from, and to do what he’s done, it’s impossible for anybody else to be my hero. He’s a big, huge role model for me.”
Chris was a standout diver in High School, diving at varsity level as a seventh grader. He set multiple high school and Section V records, was a six-time sectional champion, and went to states three times.
“I was getting better and better because Shawn was pushing me to become better,” stated Chris. “When I finished high school, thought I was done diving, but it was Shawn who told me ‘no, no, no, you’ve still got four yrs of college to dive’.”
Chris originally went to Finger Lakes Community College (FLCC) and took some time away from diving as they do not have a swim team there. After a year at FLCC, Chris transferred to Brockport to dive for the Golden Eagles under Head Coach Jack Stover. Stover, a Naples native himself, has known the Austin family for years.
“To come here [Brockport] and dive for Coach Stover is like having an aspect of Shawn here,” said Chris. “He knows what I’ve gone thru and he’s like another brother watching out for me.”
Chris’ semester was a bit of a challenge and he was not able to participate athletically in the 2010 spring semester. But with some refocusing and dedication Chris was excelling in the classroom and was back on the boards for the 2010-11 year.
“I have a natural drive to win and not just in athletics,” states Chris. “When I found out I was struggling academically and had my participation taken away it was a wakeup call that I had to push myself harder. I came back, did the best I could do in and out of the classroom and men’s swimming and diving had highest team GPA that fall and I got to be a part of it.”
“Chris brings a great deal of experience to our team as a competitor who has a strong technical coaching background which he learned from working with his brother Shawn,” said Coach Stover.
Austin knows the movements pinpoint because he has done them for so many years.
"He knows where he is in the air, knows how to come out of dives and hands down he could coach the sport, and that comes from being a diver since he was seven years old," states Shawn. "Behind the mechanics he understands where he needs to go. It took a long time, but he understands what it feels like and what it should look like to be able to success on the boards."
After a successful junior season as SUNYACs where he earned second team All-Conference for this third place finish on the one meter board, Chris wok up seeing double vision one day. After multiple doctor visits Chris was told it was in his best interest to stop competing. But that wasn’t an option in Chris’ mind. He continued to get ready for the season and now he is in final preparation for the conference championships.
Chris has what they call cataracts and is hoping to have surgery this summer, but until then his focus is on SUNYACs and Nationals. He has already eclipsed the NCAA qualifying standard in the one-meter dive and was named the conference male diver of the week in mid-November.
“Going to nationals has been goal since my first season of collegiate diving,” said Austin. “There were smaller goals along the way, but nationals were always the overreaching aspiration.”
Austin has competed against many of the top divers from other schools this season and done very well against them, so he is used to the level of competition he will find at the SUNYAC Championships.
Austin has competed against many of the top divers from other schools this season and done very well against them, so he is used to the level of competition he will find at the SUNYAC Championships.
“My goal at SUNYAC’s is to go out and have fun” said Austin. “I’m confident in my ability, so I just have to be patient and execute.”
Chris may be competing on the boards against some of the student-athlete’s his brother coaches but that’s what competition is all about.
“It puts a lot of fun into it because Shawn is training people to beat me.”
If nothing else Chris has learned on more than one occasion that you only have a limited time to be able to compete at this level, and sometimes it becomes easy to push things off until tomorrow.
“It is easy to take for granted the opportunity you have in front of you, but you never really appreciate what you have until that opportunity has almost been taken away from you.”
