A Young Local Diver’s World

INSIDE OUR SCHOOLS

Luca Fassi (Photo – Antonella Fassi)

I started diving at 9 and a half years old at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center for fun, because I loved water and gymnastics and it seemed like a good mix of the two.

By Luca Fassi

I was invited to join the team shortly after, and I was finally promoted to the Junior Olympic team at the age of 10 and half.  At this level the training is very intense with 2-3 hours of practice a day for 6 days a week. Training consists of water practice, conditioning and dryland. We usually have one competition a month but the main ones are the regionals and zones to qualify for USA nationals in the summer.  Diving is my passion, and I would love to be able to compete at Worlds or maybe even go to the Olympics one day.  I love the thrill, physical and mental challenge, and athleticism of the sport, as well as the travel and connections with people. Diving is a very small community and my dive club is like a big family. When you train together every day for so many years, and you travel together for up to 14 consecutive days for competitions, you get to become very close to your teammates, and the kids you compete against from other clubs, from all over the country.

Luca Fassi (Photo – Kremer / Johnson)

Some of the highlights of my career are:

• 3 international competitions:
• CAMO International finalist on all boards 1m, 3m and Platform (2018)
• Dresden International Youth Meet platform finalist (2019) as a USA DIVING team member
• Junior Panamerican Games platform 8th place (2019) as a USA DIVING team member
• AAU Nationals 3m champion (2019)
• Junior Nationals platform silver medalist (2019), Knoxville TN
• CIF (Highschool Diving) 2021 2nd place
• ALL AMERICAN Diving 2021
• Platform (5 m, 7m, 10m) finalist (top 12) at 4 USA Nationals
• Member of the 2019 and 2021 tier-3 High Performance Squad US team (Junior US team / top 30 divers in the US between boys and girls, top 15 boys)

This year is a very important year for me as a diver.  I am a Junior at Marshall Fundamental High School, and colleges are starting to contact student athletes for recruiting. I started getting contacted the first day allowed by NCAA which was June 15^th, 2021, receiving calls and emails from diving coaches of many Universities like University of Texas, Austin (one of the top three in the country for diving, producing many Olympic divers throughout the years), University of Arizona, University of Pittsburgh, NCSU, Alabama, Missouri, Princeton, Harvard, Duke, Berkeley, and a few others. I was invited to visit and offered official recruiting trips. I decided to visit only three so far and took the trips in September, and they have been very exciting and fun. I am almost ready to make a choice, which will not be an easy one when deciding on great academics, but also on a great diving program.  I will probably commit to my college in November this year as a Junior.

Luca Fassi is a diver and a junior at Marshall Fundamental. During the 2020 – 2021 Season as a Sophomore, Luca earned 2nd place in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 Diving competition representing Marshall Fundamental. Luca has been supported as a swim and dive team member by Coach Chiodo and Athletic Director, Stan Makiyama. Due to their support, Luca met the requirements to qualify as a Freelance Diver.

(Photo – Antonella Fassi)