To get the most out of the dives that matter, seven Powell athletes made the most out of the ones that don’t.

At Tuesday’s Powell Aquatic Center Dive Clinic, Powell High School head boys swimming coach Stephanie Warren hosted high school and middle school divers in hopes of getting them some practice reps prior to their upcoming 2015-16 seasons.

Warren held the clinic last year, but upcoming junior Mary Lynn was the only participant. That changed this year, as sophomore-to-be Julia Kay O’Neill and upcoming junior Garret Henderson joined the fray along with some PMS eighth-grade swimmers.

“It was quite a nice surprise to have seven of them,” Warren said. “One of the main reasons I put this together is to give the divers an opportunity to get back on the board. They don’t get a lot of opportunity to practice outside of season, so this is one way to get the divers on the board in the summer time.”

The two-hour workshop helped the divers with basic fundamentals, technique and form, and Warren led the athletes through a series of different drills and dives. Warren also gave some of the more experienced divers a chance to explore new dives, which could potentially give them an edge over the competition during the season.

The extra work helped O’Neill, who is coming off a freshman season in which she qualified for the Class 3A state meet in diving, the 100-yard butterfly and 200 freestyle relay.

“I just really like diving and I want to get better,” the youngster said of her motivation to attend Tuesday. “There’s just things I want to work on outside of high school girls practice so I can perfect it in practice, where as here I can work on it beforehand.”

As a freshman, Henderson qualified for state in diving, but was forced to miss last season due to personal reasons. He’s preparing to return to the board when the Panther boys hit the pool next season, and said getting back into diving felt a little weird after the time off.

“I just wanted to get some practice to prepare,” he said. “It’s definitely going to take some practice to get back to where I was, but it just takes time.

“This is really nice, this clinic ... it’s really nice that coach Warren is doing this for us.”

While the majority of their teammates weren’t present, both O’Neill and Henderson said it was motivating to see other PHS swimmers making an effort to improve.

“It’s really nice. I like seeing the PHS kids come out here,” Henderson said.

“It’s really good. I’m glad they’re here — it shows they care,” O’Neill added. “It’s always nice to know your teammates care.”

An eagerness to get back in the pool is always a pleasant sight for a head coach, and that was no different for Warren on Tuesday. Now she’s hoping to get more athletes into the pool to help keep both the boys and girls programs near the top of 3A competition. Both teams finished second in the state last season, and Warren knows higher participation numbers could mean sustained success.

“It’s nice to see them all here; it’s nice to see them excited and wanting to dive next season,” Warren said. “I would really like to see it where we can get newer bodies into diving, and just get an understanding out there that this is even open to people who have not tried diving before, just so we can help our diving program with kids starting at a little bit of a younger age.”