Final Project - Diving into a family tradition

Playing for dad can be tough on both the father and the child.

My dad coached my brother and I in just about every sport growing up, and our reaction from even the slightest bit of advice we received from him was like Jud Buechler giving basketball tips to Michael Jordan.

But this was merely youth sports, nothing compared to high school or collegiate athletics. Plus my dad didn’t know the ins and outs of the sports.

Not like Bob Rydze.

Rydze knows just about everything there is to know about his particular sport – diving. It’s a sport that has been a part of the family for generations.

His father was the president of USA Diving at one time and had the opportunity to judge the 1976 Olympic Games. His brother Richard won a silver medal in the 10-meter tower at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany. And now Rydze is the Chairman of the Board for USA Diving and is an extremely accomplished college coach.

As the head diving coach at the University of Iowa for the past 35 years, Rydze has received the Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year award three times, coached four Olympians, 31 All-Americans, nine Big Ten champions, and one NCAA champion.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of really good divers,” he said. “That is the secret to being a good coach – having good talent.”

The proud diving tradition continues in the Rydze family through his youngest daughter Veronica, although the elder Rydze was reluctant to get his daughter involved in the sport.

Rydze’s other two children weren’t divers, and after watching other coaches push their kids into the sport, he decided he wouldn’t force it upon his children.

Veronica, 21, excelled in numerous athletics growing up, including softball, track and gymnastics. She was the captain of her high school track team, leading the squad’s hurdle relay team to a win at the Drake Relays.

“I actually wanted my daughter to be a softball player or a track athlete in college,” Bob Rydze said. “She was really good at both sports.”

But the summer before her freshman year, Veronica told her father she wanted to continue the family tradition of diving.

Her decision to start diving had nothing to do with her family's background in diving or her father’s stature in the sport, she said, she just simply had more fun diving than she did in other sports.

Bob Rydze quickly figured out that he had something special when she stepped onto the board.
She was a two-time state champion in 1-meter diving in high school and a National Swimming Coaches Association All-American.

“I sort of kicked myself a little bit that I didn’t start her sooner because it’s really hard to start that late,” Bob Rydze said. “It takes six to seven years to become a really good diver, it’s a long process. It just doesn’t happen overnight.”

When it came time for Veronica to pick a college to attend, coach Rydze stayed completely out of the recruiting process, leaving it up entirely to Veronica and her mother, Elaine.

He would have been completely supportive had she chosen to attend one of the many other top diving schools in the country, he said, but she chose the University of Iowa as the place to continue her career on the diving board.

“I kind of always knew I wanted to come to Iowa,” she said. “My dad is just such a great coach. He has taught me so much and I just wanted that to continue.”

The success on the board has carried over from high school to college. Now a junior at Iowa, she’s posted the sixth best 1-meter and 10th best 3-meter scores in school history. Last season she and fellow Iowa diver Deidre Freeman placed seventh at U.S. Diving Nationals in the 3-meter synchronized event.

Despite her success, there have been frustrations along the way for both father and daughter. With Rydze teaching her how to dive, it was sometimes difficult to differentiate home life and life at the pool, he said. It wasn’t the coaching at the pool, but rather the coaching at home.

It got to the point where sometimes things that Veronica did would get magnified.

“If I see her eating some ice cream or if she stays out late at night one night,” he said. “I’m not upset that she stayed out late, I’m more upset with how that affects her training.”

He was also quick to point out that he sometimes wasn’t a good parent at her high school sporting events and would “give his two cents.”

Veronica recalled running track for Iowa City high school, and while the other parents cheered in the stands, her father was on the middle of the field with her coaches.

“It was more frustrating during high school than it is now,” she said. “It’s not too bad anymore, plus I’m more mature than I was back then. You just try to keep diving and family separate, which is what usually happens.”

There are times where it’s tough for the father, as well.

Veronica has battled through injuries during her collegiate career – she’s missed most of this season with a back injury.

Injuries are an aspect of sports that a coach must accept – it’s part of the game. But as a father, it can be tough at times.

“The injuries get you more emotionally involved,” he said. “As a father, you just want to see her healthy and able to compete. It’s a balancing act.”

Although there are frustrations, both said they have a great relationship both in and out of the pool.

Being the child of such a polarizing figure in a particular sport can provide added pressure or expectations that can be difficult to live up to.

Michael Jordan’s kids will never live up to the high-flying performance their father performed on the hardwood. Pete Rose's son could only muster two hits in his Major League Baseball career.

But that type of stuff doesn’t bother Veronica. For her, there is no added tension.

“I just have my own expectations of what I want to achieve,” she said. “I don’t really know if there are any other expectations out there.”

(Bob and Veronica Rydze photo credit: www.hawkeyesports.com)