BAD IS MAKING A POSITIVE SPLASH WITH LOCAL DIVERS

Author(s):    Chris Forsberg, Globe Correspondent Date: March 2, 2001 Page: E11 Section: Sports

WALTHAM - Lucy Hicks had just completed her sophomore year at Northfield-Mt. Hermon and was looking to take the next step in her diving career. Taking the advice of family and friends, Hicks decided to join Boston-Area Diving. "I heard BAD was the best place to go," Hicks said. "It's been a complete 180-degree turn. It's a lot of hard work and very serious, but I've seen a big change in my diving."

Hicks, now a junior at Concord-Carlisle, had a chance to show off her newfound skills at the MIAA girls' swimming and diving championships last Sunday at Northeastern's Barletta Natatorium. She placed third in the diving competition with a score of 396.05, while BAD teammate Jen Rhines, took home first place for Wayland with a score of 441.60.

Hicks is just one of the nearly 1,000 divers that have participated in BAD since its inception in 1979. A program that started to help local divers who had no other place to hone their skills quickly turned into one of the most distinguished diving programs in the nation.

BAD is an age-based program that starts with simple lessons and can evolve into competitive diving. Members include 70-year-old Bob Savoy of Sudbury, who recently competed in the World Masters Championships in Zurich and finished eighth in the 1-meter competition and third on the tower.

The key to BAD's success has been the hard work of founder and coach Joe Chirico, who along with Brandeis coach Jim Brainerd have taught diving for more than 20 years apiece.

Teaching on the Brandeis campus, both coaches have worked to upgrade the facilities, most recently completing a dry-training site.

In that facility, divers can practice all their techniques before entering the water. Using harnesses, spring-loaded floors, trampolines, and simulated pools, members can perform every dive possible in safety and even monitor their progress. "We just installed video feedback systems in our dry-training room," said Chirico, who is the diving coach at Boston College. "Our divers can do all their tricks and six seconds later be watching them on one of the four monitors in the room."

Technology has helped improve BAD's divers, but it hasn't lessened the workload.

"We do 1 1/2 hours of dry-land and [harness] workouts to start where we perform all of our dives," Hicks said. "Then it's sit-ups and push-ups followed by lots of gymnastics and stretching.

"We do conditioning and weights before finally getting into the water and diving for another 1 1/2 hours."

Chirico and Brainerd are careful to ensure that high school divers don't violate MIAA rules about practice times during the season.

"High school coaches often only get three months with their kids," Chirico said. "They have to cut corners, and I don't fault them for that, but we have an advantage."

It's this type of dedication that has produced some of the area's best divers.

Team BAD has won the New England Championships 18 of 19 years and boasts more state champions than any other diving program in the state.

"This past weekend when most college leagues held their championships," Chirico said, "we had the top divers on Bates, Brown, Yale, Villanova, BC, Holy Cross, and Vermont."

The downside to having so many former Team BAD members in college is that the group has had to rebuild.

"I'd say two years ago we had 75 percent of our kids 15 or older," Chirico said. "Now, 75 percent of kids are 12 or younger. We did a poor job of keeping up the senior base, but we have a lot of good young talent.

"Right now we are looking for some older kids, especially boys. There seems to be a shortage of boy divers and every team is looking for boys."

The coaching unit, which welcomed US Diving teacher Joan Flanagan to its staff in January, prides itself on helping divers get recruited and acquiring scholarship offers.

Five individual lessons can be purchased for $125. Once a diver graduates to competitive diving, the fee is paid monthly and can range from $100-$200.

Interested divers can contact Chirico at 508-785-3030 or visit BAD's Web site at www.gobad.com for information.

Boston Globe Online

© Copyright 2003 New York Times Company