Award-winning diving coach teaches local students how to become champions

Diving coach Eric Blevins

In the world of competitive diving, few individuals are as influential and dedicated as Eric Blevins. As a renowned diving coach at the College of New Jersey and the Jersey Diving Academy, Blevins has spent decades nurturing and shaping the careers of young divers, helping them achieve remarkable success both in and out of the pool. His unwavering commitment to the sport, passion for teaching, and remarkable coaching abilities have made the Trenton resident a revered figure in the diving community.

When Blevins was asked to join the diving team as a student at Grinnell College he approached the offer as a challenge to his athletic prowess. Growing up in an athletic family in Abingdon, Virginia where his father played college football and his mother played tennis, Blevins already knew he had athletic ability even though he said he could “barely” swim when he began competing. When Blevins began diving he said that he was awful, but eventually his tenacity gave way. “I’m just a very competitive person so I would say that I practiced four to five hours every day seven days a week and just got really good at it.”

Blevins would go on to have an illustrious career as a professional diver, competing around the world. He was a standout at Grinnell College, as he was an eight time conference champion as well as a two time All-American. In 2014, Blevins was inducted to the Grinnell Athletics Hall of Fame. During the summer of 2019, Blevins won gold medals in the 35 to 39 year-old age brackets in both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events at the FINA World Masters Championships.

After competing at the collegiate level, Blevins decided to share his love for diving and his wealth of knowledge with aspiring divers in the Garden State. He began his coaching career at a local club in New Jersey and soon found himself drawn to the transformative power of coaching. Blevins saw an opportunity to instill discipline, perseverance, and a strong work ethic in young athletes while helping them achieve their diving goals. All of the years of experience and skills that Blevins’ accomplished in his career, he imparts to his students at The College of New Jersey diving team and the Jersey Diving Academy team he founded in 2018. Lessons for the club team is $400 a month and lessons for the pre-team is $200 a month.

“For our lessons programs some kids go in there and they will try it for a month and say, ‘yea, it’s not for me.’ Some love it, some just want to stay in the lessons and just play around and have fun for the year,” Blevins said. Blevins finds divers by visiting community pools, such as the Princeton Area Swimming and Diving Association and the South Jersey Diving Association during summer meets. 

There are two types of programs at the Jersey Diving Academy (JDA) located in Ewing, New Jersey. JDA is a competitive springboard diving club that practices at the newly renovated Aquatic Center at TCNJ.  JDA divers who are in the competitive club compete in both the AAU and USA Diving age group meets at the regional and national levels. JDA also offers lessons to those divers who don’t quite have the skill set to compete on the club team, but can move up to competition status when their ability improves. Divers can be any age to participate in the lessons program, but the age group club is strictly at the youth level.

“A lot of the time, I get kids with not a lot of experience and they turn into these amazing athletes,” Belvins chimed. “I had a girl at Rider [and] when she was there, she never dove before and she ended up being All Conference.” 

When divers join JDA they are committed for the entire year, which concludes after AAU Nationals or USA Junior Nationals (if they qualify).  The divers know the practice schedule and can choose how many practices they wish to attend during the week depending on their schedules. In college, divers are required to practice 5-6 times per week, being a part of JDA will help the athlete learn time-management skills. Divers are encouraged to attend practices frequently to help obtain their careers goals. 

In July, Blevins took 21 divers from the Diving Academy to the AAU Nationals in Riverside, California, where they placed sixth out of 107 teams. One of the highlights of Blevins’ illustrious diving career is seeing his students grow from humble beginnings to self-assured divers. Some of Blevins diving students have gone on to win national championships and have won athletic scholarships to college. 

“Everyone learns at a different pace. Some kids learn really quickly. Like, I’ll [some] get gymnasts [who] get very discouraged because they can’t pick it up quickly sometimes, [while] some do. Just don’t compare yourself to other people. I personally struggle with it, especially when I’m competing, because I look at that scoreboard all the time. So you can really only just be as good as you are, you can’t compare yourself to anybody else.”