Issue link: http://tcnj.uberflip.com/i/1532430
8 The College of New Jersey Magazine "Diving really changed my perspec- tive about sports and competition and life," Blevins says. "You get out what you put in. It meant so much to me that I wanted to give that back." Since arriving at TCNJ in 2018, Blevins has won the Metropolitan Collegiate Conference Diving Coach of the Year award four times and sent divers to the NCAA regional championships and beyond. Last spring, senior Ethan Weiss earned a spot to compete at the 2024 Olympic Trials Qualifier in Indiana. The key to the team's growing success is in part the determination of its athletes. But Blevins' approach — at once rigorous and exuberant — is equally critical. On a recent fall day, a carefully curated playlist, from Lady Gaga and Britney Spears to Pat Benatar, rose above the steady churn of splashing waves. The upbeat mix is intentional, one way to offset the intensity of the dives themselves, a series of somersaults and twists and backward flips midair. Blevins stood parallel to the boards, delivering detailed feedback in a playful tone that, too, is no accident. Square it out! Push through your toes! Pull your shoulders in! That's gonna be a nice bruise! "I personally thrive more in a positive, fun atmosphere, especially in a sport that's so mentally taxing," he says. "So that's how I coach. Diving is fun. That's the whole point." Creating that atmosphere requires more than just delivering critiques with a smile. Blevins spends hours outside of practice conjuring the details he believes help his divers succeed, from assembling the 500- song, profanity-free playlist ("Not easy!") to hosting ugly-sweater holiday parties and epic Halloween scavenger hunts. And then there are his infamous workouts. The method to his madness, Blevins says, is to build camaraderie — and serious core strength — so the divers challenge themselves. ON "VEGAS DAY," the divers roll dice to determine drills and repetitions. For "Hell Mile," the team runs laps while drawing from a stack of Blevins' handwritten notecards that might add 100 burpees to the challenge. During "Diver Jeopardy," they tackle trivia questions about diving history, sports trivia, and Blevins himself; each mistake earns a special exercise.