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02/19/2020 11:00 PMFor five years, Christian Butler was a gymnast who trained at New Era Gymnastics in Hamden. When he entered his freshman year of high school, Christian took a different path in his athletic career by joining the Greater New Haven Warriors co-op boys’ swimming and diving team.
Christian is one of two divers who’s competing for the Warriors this season, joining fellow North Haven student Joe O’Connor. Christian’s former gymnastics coach, Alex Flores, told Christian that some of the skills he learned in gymnastics could help prepare him for a career in diving.
“I was very interested in diving, and the transition has gone really well,” says Christian. “Once I got used to the board, my gymnastics experience helped me, and I learned new dives.”
Christian is in only his first season as a diver, but he’s racked up some impressive achievements in a short amount of time. On Jan. 21, Christian qualified for the Class LL Diving State Championship when he scored a then-career-best point total of 181.15 against Lyman Hall-Coginchaug. Last week, he topped that mark by scoring a 187.60 in a meet versus Foran-Law. Christian also came in sixth place out of 25 competitors at the Sheehan Diving Invitational this year.
The Warriors’ diving coach, Bob Lewis, was impressed to see Christian qualify for the state meet with only a few weeks of experience on the board.
“You don’t see that very often, not from a freshman. A lot of times they don’t even make it until their junior year,” Lewis says. “For Christian to make it as a freshman is extremely satisfying. His face just lit up when I told him he qualified.”
Christian met Coach Lewis at church when he was six years old. After getting to know Christian and his family, Lewis asked him to join the swim team once he started high school. Christian signed up and is excited to be working with Lewis.
“I remember meeting him in church and talking to him. After I told him I was leaving gymnastics, he said I should consider joining the diving team when I got into high school,” says Christian of Lewis. “I only used to see him in church, but now I see him every day of the week at diving.”
Christian and Lewis are clicking this season. Christian says that Lewis helped him learn the basics of diving, while also helping him transfer his gymnastics skills to the pool.
When it came to gymnastics, Christian loved participating in the floor routine. The event allows gymnasts to perform for 90 seconds and incorporate elements of acrobatics into their routine.
“In floor, you get to dive and tumble, I really enjoyed that. Joining the diving team, I knew I was going to be able to do some of those same things,” Christian says. “So far, it’s been really enjoyable learning all the new dives.”
As he continues to work on the fundamentals of diving, Christian says that he’s trying to improve his inward technique. Christian calls it the “hardest technique” and says that getting the right amount of height while twisting your body at the same time makes it more difficult than others.
Christian is putting in some long hours to refine his diving skills. He typically gets to practice 30 minutes early for some extra reps.
“Practice makes perfect,” says Christian. “The more time you work at trying to get better at something, the better you’re going to be.”
Coach Lewis has no doubts that Christian is going to work as hard as necessary in order to make his mark as a diver.
“We’re working on refining the dives he has now and continuing to up the difficulty. Hopefully, he takes a school record in the next year or two,” Lewis says. “Christian’s working very hard and always wants to improve. I expect that he’ll be right at the top of the State Championships when he becomes a junior or senior.”
Even though he didn’t step on the board until his freshman year, Christian has adapted to life as a diver pretty quickly. Now that he has some experience under his belt, Christian is looking forward to continuing his career, both in and out of the high-school season.
“After the season ends, I’m considering going to different clubs for diving and seeing multiple trainers. I really enjoy diving, and I don’t want to stop when the season ends,” Christian says. “Gymnastics was all year-round. I’m planning on doing diving for most of the year, as well.”