New Canaan diver lands three crowns
Kelly, from Hungary, adapts to Whirlwind, Rams programs
Emma Kelly walked into the New Canaan YMCA for her first practice with the Whirlwind Diving program during the summer and the butterflies were fluttering.
She was 4,300 miles from her home in Budapest, Hungary, and joining a new team with new teammates, a prospect which would be daunting for anyone, let alone a high school sophomore.
“I was so nervous,” Kelly said. “But when I had my first practice, people treated me like they had known me for a long time even though I was a new kid. Everyone was so welcoming and that helped a lot.”
Kelly quickly established herself not only as a part of the Whirlwind and New Canaan teams, but as a champion, swept the FCIAC, Class L and State Open crowns in her first season. Each was a decisive win by at least 45 points.
Coach Joe Somma said initially, the goal was to get Kelly adjusted and “make her feel comfortable and a part of it all,” but there was more to the young star.
“She’s such an extremely competitive individual and hard-worker and you can’t teach that,” Somma said. “She just has that and that comes from her mindset and her soul.”
It was a few months before the high school swim season would start when Kelly moved to New Canaan with her older sister Theresa, a swimmer for the Rams. They were joining their parents who had arrived a short time earlier.
Coming to the United States was made with a clear goal.
“My parents wanted to give us a better opportunity in sports and academics,” Kelly said. “That’s the main reason.”
Kelly said she had been diving in Hungary for about five years, setting a strong foundation for her talents. Somma, a veteran coach, recognized her ability and potential immediately.
“Emma comes from a background of excellent diving and we’re lucky to have her,” Somma said. “For Emma and I, it’s teamwork. Communica
tion is very important and I told her right from the start, if she doesn’t understand something that I’m saying, let me know and let’s talk about how her training was (in Hungary). We’ve been a great team so far and that’s shown.”
There were a lot of adjustments to make between diving and training in Hungary and Connecticut, some technical and some in the atmosphere around the Whirlwind and Ram programs.
“The practices are different and the meets are very different,” she said. “There’s so many of us compared to my team in Hungary. There were four of us practicing together and here it’s everyone just having fun and at the same time working really hard. Everyone just lifts each other up and helps each other if there’s any problems.”
Somma said Kelly was unfamiliar with the 11-dive competition which is common in high school competition here but is not used in Hungary. They worked to get a few extra dives into her sets and learned new dives while fine tuning for the fall championships.
When the postseason began, Kelly was ready for the spotlight.
She first captured the FCIAC title, scoring 428.30 points to finish well ahead of Whirlwind teammate Ali Kolman of Norwalk/McMahon, who scored 381.50.
“Winning FCIACs gave me more confidence to do better at states and at Opens,” Kelly said. “But it also gave me that experience to know what to expect from the 11 dives, not just the six like at the (dual) meets.”
A week later, Kelly won the CIAC Class L meet, scoring 471.30 points, more than 50 ahead of her nearest competitor.
Kelly then capped the season as the State Open champion, scoring 484.65 to win by more than 65.
“Diving is everything all together,” Kelly said of the sport. “It’s mental, it’s physical, it’s not just one aspect. You have to be good at a lot of things and that’s what attracted me to it.”
Kelly is New Canaan’s fifth State Open diving champion in the 10 tournaments held since 2012, following Kylie Towbin, who won in 2012 and 2014, Claire Ross (2017) and Kaitlyn Maggio (2022).
With two more years of competition ahead of her, Kelly has a chance to be a three-time champion at all three levels.
“She’s extremely dedicated and she has goals to take her sport to the next level,” Somma said. “I can only hope to help her and guide her over the next couple of years. She’s a sophomore and if we can do it the next two years, I don’t think anyone has ever accomplished that. It’s hard to (sweep three titles) in one year, but she’s got two more years to possibly do it. It’s going to be fun to watch.”
In the meantime, Kelly continues to adapt to life in New Canaan and diving in the United States and that ability to adjust may be her biggest accomplishment thus far.
“It makes me feel really proud, not just for me, but for my whole family to be able to adjust in such a short time,” she said. “It’s a big adjustment and it’s hard. Not a lot of people would do it.”