Diving into success
Carter Pfeffer was able to find a shiny silver lining in the black cloud of the COVID pandemic.
The 17-year-old, Grade 12 student at E.L. Crossley was a competitive gymnast at the time the pandemic hit and put sports on hold. Pfeffer continued to train on line but soon became weary of doing the splits on a Zoom call.
“After a few months of that I got very bored with it obviously and when we came back to gymnastics the spark wasn’t there anymore,” Pfeffer said.
Looking to remain active, Pfeffer took a suggestion from his mother to explore diving.
“I wanted to get into a sport where I could still do all the flipping because that was still fun to me,” he said. “A lot of skills transfer over with the flips and twisting and so I tried that.”
Pfeffer began with a basic learn to dive course and immediately enjoyed the sport.
“I liked it a lot and stuck with it,” he said.
Pfeffer joined a diving club in Burlington and was doing so well it was suggested he move to a competitive team which practised in Etobicoke with coach Tatyana Siroch.
“There were definitely a lot of rough patches, but a lot of success as well,” he said. “I learned a lot of new things. I eventually figured it out, but not without a few tears at some points.”
Pfeffer then enrolled in his first competition where he more than held his own.
“I went in blind not really sure what to expect but I went and did pretty good for my group,” he said. “I don’t remember exactly but I did fairly good and then stuck with it and learned a lot of new things.”
Pfeffer admits being somewhat taken aback at how quickly he took to the sport.
“I knew gymnastics would help with a lot of the prerequisite skills I had but it definitely gave me a lot better background than I thought it would,” he said. “In diving, you’re landing on your hands but in gymnastics it’s mostly on your feet. There were a couple of times where I had trouble with the spatial awareness part of it but I never thought in the two-and-a-half years I’ve been doing it I’d get to where I am now.”
Pfeffer recently won three medals — gold, silver, bronze — at the Ontario Winter Games in Thunder Bay and this weekend will compete in London in a national qualifying event with the goal of qualifying for the national championships this summer in Saskatoon.
“It would be awesome, especially because at no point in gymnastics or diving did I think I had the chance to make nationals,” Pfeffer said. “I was always provincial all the way through gymnastics and never that good where I had an opportunity to make it to nationals.
“It’s crazy that I have an opportunity now — and it’s a serious opportunity — to be able to go to nationals.”
Pfeffer works hard to hone his craft as well as keep his grades up. He travels to Etobicoke about three times a week for practice, leaving at 5:30 p.m. and arriving back home at 10:30 p.m. His parents, Larry and Cindy Pfeffer, normally do the driving which leaves Carter Pfeffer free to do school work in the car.
“It’s really, really, helpful and if I have big assignments or research reports I have to do them as soon as I get home.”
Carter Pfeffer plans to study biochemistry at either Western or Queen’s next year, leaving his diving future up in the air, so to speak.
“I’m very split. Part of me does want to pursue diving because I’m doing so well it would be almost a waste to end my diving career here, especially after only doing it for two-and-a-half years,” he said. “On the other hand, I do want to focus on my studies because the work load increases. I think I will see what the work load is like and how I can manage it and if I need something to take my mind off school, I’ll consider diving.”
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