Diving
Favorite athlete: My favorite athlete is Lyle Yost, a diver at Ohio State who won the 1m event at NCAAs last year. He competes a list of dives which are each so difficult that most other top-level divers would never attempt them, but still executes them extremely well, which is very inspirational to me.
Favorite team: My favorite team that I’ve been a part of would have to be the North Penn Swim and Dive team. I’ve had the privilege of diving alongside some of my best friends and being coached by my amazing coach Kyle Goldbacher.
Favorite memory competing in sports:
After I won the diving event at States last year, I stayed to watch our swimmers secure the team victory for North Penn. I don’t think I’ve ever cheered so loud in my life, and it felt great knowing that the points I had
gotten contributed to our team’s victory.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that
has happened while competing in sports: I compete with a very unique dive, a flying front 1.5 pike, which hasn’t been competed very often since the 80s. Every time an announcer who knows diving sees the number “113b” on my list, they are noticeably confused when reading it out.
Music on Playlist: Rush is my favorite band, some of my other favorites are Led Zeppelin, Yes, Dire Straits, and Queen.
Future plans: Next year, I’m very excited to be continuing my academic and athletic career at Yale University.
Words to live by: Work your absolute hardest towards your goals, and you will amaze yourself with the things you can accomplish.
One goal before turning 30: This is really just a college athletic goal, but I would love to make it to the NCAA national championship at least once before my diving career ends.
One thing people don’t know about me: I was a competitive gymnast for about five years before I started diving.
By GORDON GLANTZ
You can say what you want about North Penn senior diver Brady Stanton, but the Yale-bound defending state title holder is not afraid to speak his mind.
He went into last year’s state meet as a contender, but not necessarily the odds-on favorite.
After capturing the crown, he immediately went away from the form of the average “golly gee willikers” response while being interviewed to one that was so poignant that it seemed rehearsed.
However, since he couldn’t have known the moment was coming, Stanton could not have had this Gettysburg Address ready.
While one would need a Diving to English Dictionary to fully comprehend his angst, the bottom line was that the PIAA showed a lack of respect for the sport by dumbing it down to level the playing field (going from 11 dives to 6 dives) for divers not from the hot beds (Southeastern Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh area).
As much as North Penn diving coach Kyle Goldbacher was impressed with what his then-junior had done to win the gold medal, he was just as much in awe of the composure it took to use the moment to make his point.
“Brady was very adamant about wanting to represent the opinion of the overwhelming number of divers and coaches, which was that it was a disservice to the sport to institute these changes,” he said. “It was like the perfect storm. He won the meet. They had a post-meet interview, where they bring in a camera and a microphone, and he belted out this rant that was iconic. It went semi-viral, at least within the diving and the swimming world. He was really well-spoken.”
While the change back to the way it was cannot be completely credited to Stanton, he played a big part in it.
“There are a whole host of reasons why they went back to the 11-dive competition this year, but he is sort of like the poster boy,” said Goldbacher. “People credit him for speaking up.”
While Stanton kind of laughs about it now, he is proud to have been a part of the change back to the way it was.
“I think it was one of the big reasons,” he said. “A lot of coaches also emailed and tried talking to the PIAA officials. I can’t say that I was the only reason, but it’s good that we got it changed back.”
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Before that opportunity, Stanton had to keep his eye on the main prize, which was placing as high as he could against a formidable field.
The goal was to do his best and leave it up to the judges.
“I knew there was a chance, but I honestly didn’t expect it,” he said. “I knew there were a bunch of other really, really good divers who were going to be there.”
But, like many great athletes, he saved his best for the biggest stage.
“Everything just sort of went perfectly,” he said. “I did all my dives the best I had done them, really.
“Some people had some misses, which helped me to maintain the lead. Everything just sort of fell into place. It was good, because I was able to give the speech.”
Although he now goes in as the defending state champion, Stanton says he is not feeling that much added pressure to repeat.
“I’m less worried about winning states as I am about just doing all of my dives the best that I can,” said Stanton. “Obviously, I want to dive well, but I also want to have a fun meet. States is just a good time. You don’t see a lot of the guys since the year before, so I go around and talk to everyone on the pool deck and it’s really fun.”
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By his own admission, Stanton was never any good at any sport involving a ball.
Instead, he took to gymnastics and then, literally speaking, hit the water.
“He was always vigorously clapping for the competition, for kids that would beat him,” said Goldbacher. “This is when he was a freshman and sophomore. A senior from Central Bucks or something would do a big dive, and he would be, like, ‘Oh my goodness. That was amazing. Clap. Clap. Clap.’ I’m, like, ‘Brady, dude, you’re actually a pretty good diver yourself. It’s amazing that you are in such awe of your competition because you are not really that far behind those guys.’
“And now he has surpassed them. For example, in the first meet of the year this year, he broke our team record that was set in 2017.”
Part of that was merely how Stanton saw himself.
“When I came into high school diving, I wasn’t as much of a diver as I was still a gymnast,” he said. “I was probably more used to landing on my feet in 9th grade than I was landing on my hands. It was a whole process I had to learn, landing on my head. I was really scared of hitting my head on the board or something.”
However, Stanton believes his foundation in gymnastics gave him a strong foundation.
“Gymnastic to diving is a pretty common thing that happens with a lot of athletes,” he said. “Most divers, and some of the best, have come from gymnastics.”
In his freshman year, the COVID year, the state field was limited. The next year, as a sophomore, he went to states and finished 11th.
Last year, as a junior, he placed first.
“He’s a good kid,” said Goldbacher. “He has grown up quite a bit these last couple of years.
“He had a background in gymnastics. He came in as a freshman with limited experience in the sport. But, with a strong work ethic and a lot determination, he made some strides. Then, he really blossomed last year. It was kind of unexpected. He was a surprise state champion.”
Aside from the infamous speech, the maturation from a gymnast to a state diving champion who will be competing at the college level was not by accident.
“He grew up a lot, just over the course of last year,” said Goldbacher. “He’s gotten stronger. He’s gotten faster. He’s gotten more confident. He did some Junior Olympic competitions over the summer and qualified for nationals.
“And he went through the college application process and came out shining, with acceptance to Yale University, his top choice. Everything he has been working for, everything that he has had his sights set upon, have come to fruition for him.
“While it has given him a lot of confidence, it hasn’t gone to his head. He remains a very humble and diligent worker. He is extremely intelligent, both in the classroom and the diving board.”
Living in the Limelight
It was not an accident that Stanton’s favorite group is Rush, which features both the thoughtful lyrics and drumming of Neil Peart.
“I love music,” said Stanton, who also enjoys Classic Rock icons such as Led Zeppelin, Yes, Dire Straits and Queen. “I listen to music all the time.
“Music is great for helping me focus. I always listen to music while I do homework and really just any time.”
Diving takes up a lot of his time, as he also trains at Germantown Academy, but he is still deeply involved with North Penn’s Latin Club.
Stanton credits Latin for helping him with achieving nearly perfect SAT scores and a crazy high GPA.
Still, though, he had to kind of wait it out for the situation at Yale to fall into place.
While he got into the school, a rare spot on the diving team – coached by Lindsay Lordache -- was not guaranteed.
“I emailed Lindsay immediately after states last year,” said Stanton. “It was really just luck that she still had a spot. I kept up with emails. I talked to her on the phone a couple of times. She is just an amazing person. Everyone on the team there loves her.
“That was the biggest part in choosing Yale. The team was amazing, and so was Lindsay. As soon as she said she had a spot, I said, ‘Yep, I’ll take it.’ To be able to dive there, and be part of that team while getting such a good education, I consider myself very lucky.”
In spite of his success at North Penn, Stanton was comfortable with the idea of studying computer science at the best school he could find and not be a collegiate diver.
“For the longest time, I didn’t even want to do any diving in college,” he explained. “I was looking at really good academic schools. At some point, I realized that it would be awesome to try and continue doing it in college, so it became important to me.”
A Debt of Gratitude
Aside from his parents – Tiffanie and Michael – Stanton wanted to thank his teammates (Josh Gratton, diving co-captain Lily Vogel and David Dian)
And, mainly Goldbacher.
“I don’t think I would even be a diver without him,” said Stanton, who also wanted to thank the coaches at GA (Tom Henninger, Megan Beradelli, Sam Henninger and Erica Kenski). “He was one of my first coaches. When I was first doing the basics of diving, he would do private lessons with me, actually at the same facility where I did gymnastics. It was all the fundamentals, and he laid it all out so well for me to transition. He has been huge part of it.”
