Army West Point head diving coach PJ Hughes was sitting in his office chair on a mid-April afternoon when he got an unexpected email. It was from a plebe who was asking to try out for the team.
The rookie was Jorie Mason, and her diving background wasn't exactly something that would excite many Division I coaches. In fact, Mason had no experience with diving outside a month during her junior year of high school at Northern Lebanon in Fredericksburg, Pa.
What she had to lean on though was nearly 10 years of being a power gymnast. That is someone who has the strength to do the harder and more difficult skills and tricks, but does not always look the cleanest or most graceful. Unfortunately for Mason, being clean and graceful means a lot in diving. Divers are not only judged on difficulty, but also the execution of the dive, and that requires great technique to create as small of a splash as possible when impacting the water.
After spending nearly an entire year as a manager for the men's gymnastics team at West Point, Mason was starting to feel down. She spent most of her life training as a gymnast, and when she arrived at the Academy, she was only able to watch others compete in the sport she loved.
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