Redshirt sophomore diver Sophie Verzyl is used to being a 10-minute drive from home, just a few miles away from her parents and dog, while living on the University of South Carolina’s campus.
But for the past 13 months, Verzyl has spent her time with RIPFEST Diving, a USA diving club in Arcadia, Indiana, training with its CEO and head coach John Wingfield.
Verzyl's efforts have have led her to the opportunity to compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials, which could lead to a spot on Team USA's Olympic diving team.
Since she was in elementary school, Verzyl has dreamed of competing in the Olympic games. She specialized in diving during high school and decided to pursue it further at South Carolina.
Verzyl took the next step towards making her Olympic dream a reality just over a year into her collegiate diving career. In the fall of 2022, her sophomore year, she chose to take a gap year the following season and use it to train for the Olympics.
“My family, they were super supportive. They’ve always been very supportive of me,” Verzyl said. “They’ve always just wanted me to follow my dreams, and they were like, ‘You need to take this opportunity. That's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to do this.’ And my dad was like, ‘If I could have taken a gap year or done something cool like this, I would have done it.’”
Verzyl stepped away for the 2023-24 academic school year, as well as the diving season, and took a redshirt year. While enrolled in school she could only train 20 hours a week, but for the past year, she’s been able to train for 40 hours a week.
“She's a great athlete, great person as well, really wants to improve on a daily basis, and has a very positive attitude,” Wingfield said. “For her age, just being 21, she's very mature in her approach to not only the sport and the training but to life situations as well.”
South Carolina head diving coach Michael Wright also urged Verzyl to take the chance to compete for a spot with Team USA.
“It's tough to think about one of your best athletes saying, ‘We're gonna take a redshirt,’ but obviously, in the mindset of developing student-athletes, we want what's best for the athletes,” Wright said.
Verzyl said if she hadn’t gone to South Carolina, there’s a chance she would’ve never taken the redshirt year. The Gamecock coaches had connections to Wingfield and helped Verzyl make it to Indiana.
In her time away from school, Verzyl has competed in the Canada Cup and in China for the World University Games, among other competitions. Wingfield said his favorite memory of Verzyl comes from her time in China, where her sole goal was to earn a medal.
“I said, ‘Okay, well, that's great, let's go out there,’” Wingfield said. “Sure enough, she went over in her first event; she medaled … I said, 'Well, time to reset that goal the rest of this trip.' And she said, ‘I'm going to win another medal,’ And she managed to win another medal.”
Wingfield also coaches athletes on the mental side of the sport, and said he has been able to see Verzyl grow her mindset.
“She's been fantastic at putting together her routines on a daily basis, of relaxation, breathing, meditation and all those types of things, so that she can relax in competition and really achieve what she's capable of achieving,” Wingfield said.
Verzyl described diving as “monotonous,” and said she doesn’t think people realize how much discipline it takes to do the same skill repeatedly.
Wright said he anticipates Verzyl bringing her gained experience from competing internationally back to Columbia in the form of strong leadership skills. Verzyl said she hopes she can break program records when she returns to the collegiate level.
“I think in some ways it'll be nice because I do miss school. I really enjoy school, so I think that'll be fun to kind of use my brain again,” Verzyl said. “But the other side is, I think it might be frustrating because I'm used to training so much, so I think I'm in really good shape, and I don't want to get out of shape. And I think if I train less, that might be concerning, but I think I'll fill my time with other things too, that'll make me happy, so I think it won't be as hard as I think.”
The U.S. Olympic Trials will take place June 17-23 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Verzyl has qualified for the 3-meter springboard and will compete for a spot on Team USA ahead of the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
“She's represented the community well, the university well,” Wright said. “For her, to have her opportunity to maybe get to the world stage and represent South Carolina and then the city of Columbia, I mean, it's awesome. It's just, it's a good feeling to have a kid like that who's worked her butt off from the ground up, and now this is her time to shine.”