Navy senior Bradley Buchter has been nailing excellent dives in the heat of competition for more than half of his young life.
 
At age 11, Buchter qualified for the first of several international events as a member of Team USA. He graduated from Trinity High School in Camp Hill, Pa., as a four-time state champ and four-time All-American. He is arguably the top high school diver in the state's history.
 
Eleven months ago, in the one-meter springboard competition at his third NCAA Championship appearance, Buchter earned Honorable Mention All-America recognition with a 13^th-place overall finish. That marked the first All-America honor awarded a Midshipman since Nate Smith earned it in 1996, and made him the third Mid to earn the recognition.
 
As he prepared recently for his final Patriot League Championships meet, Buchter talked about how much he'd love to cap off his career next month with a first-team, All-America honor (top-8 finish).
 
There was not a hint of overconfidence in Buchter's voice, despite the way he has dominated the Patriot League over four seasons. Never mind that, in regular season meets, Buchter has racked up 38 wins on the one meter and 31 on the three meter.
 
On the contrary, Buchter says every time he is poised to leap from a platform or launch from a springboard to attempt a competitive maneuver, he still confronts a palpable fear of failure.
 
"I don't think that feeling [of fear] ever goes away. From the beginning to the end of your dive, you're always afraid there," says Buchter, who pointed to the platform as an example.
 
"No matter how many times you go off a three-meter board or 10-meter platform, it's never comfortable. We weren't meant to climb up there and jump off and twist and turn," he adds. "There is always fear in your stomach, any time before you dive. And it always feels really good to overcome it."
 
To Rich MacDonald, Navy's seventh-year diving coach, those words sum up the hard-driving, ultra-competitive, tightly-wound teenager he got to know and appreciate when Navy was recruiting Buchter.
 
Among the things that struck MacDonald, outside of Buchter's obvious natural gifts, which he honed through years of diving and gymnastics, was Buchter's refusal to take his talent lightly.
 
The unusual strength In Buchter's legs, which give him such exceptional lift, also stood out. Then there was his steadfast dream to become a U.S. Navy officer, even after getting offers from Pittsburgh, Penn State, Missouri and Cal-Berkley.
 
Pitt is the alma mater of Buchter's parents. Shelly Buchter, his mother, was a gymnast for the Panthers. His father, Bradley Buchter, Sr., dove at Pitt and coached his son through high school.
 
"[Buchter] could have gone [to college] just about anywhere he wanted to and gotten good scholarship money. He was more polished than most divers coming in here," says MacDonald, who counts Buchter among the best of the more than 200 divers he estimates he has coached over 23 years at the collegiate level.
 
"Some of it is God-given talent. [Buchter] is so strong, his legs, his back, his core. And he's been [diving] for a long time. He's not afraid to do extra work, whether it's in the gym lifting weights or working on visualization," MacDonald adds.
 
 
 
"He is definitely a perfectionist, very intense. He puts so much energy into each dive and performing at the highest level and conquering his fear. He's a lot less tough on himself than he used to be. He smiles more."
 
Bradley Buchter, Sr. laughs at that accuracy of that observation.
 
"[The younger] Bradley is definitely one who likes to have a plan," Bradley Sr. says. "He was a tough competitor from a young age. For some [divers], it's not good to look at the scores [during a competition]. For Bradley it was. He'd see someone closing in on him then step it up. He'd see another diver miss, then take advantage."
 
As for the fear factor, the father says it is rooted in having to execute an especially challenging dive – such as a reverse two-and-a-half pike off a three-meter board, or a two-and-a-half front dive with two twists off a three-meter.
 
Buchter says he has continued to improve as a collegiate diver by employing visualization – for example, by studying videotapes of his best work shortly before bedtime.
 
"I keep a journal. I work a lot on my concentration before I compete," he says. "The less I think [when it's time to dive], the better I do. You want your body to take over."  
 
As a young boy, Buchter would hang out at the pool, where his older sister, Ashley – a future diver at Virginia Tech – was being coached by their father.
 
Bradley took a quick liking to the diving board and showed good, natural form. He took up gymnastics enthusiastically in grade school. The conditioning and fundamentals it stressed – for examples, proper tumbling and somersaulting skills, good posture – offered an excellent primer for the sport that would become the boy's passion.
 
With his mother chipping in as his diving coach early on, Bradley progressed steadily. But he took his parents by surprise when he won the East Nationals in Maryland and qualified for an international diving competition with Team USA in England at age 11.
 
"My parents made it super-accessible to practice any time of the day at home after I qualified for that," says Bradley, recalling the addition the Buchters put on their home that featured a dry diving board and a pit mat.
 
Buchter, who has qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials this summer, hit the water at Navy with immediate success. As a freshman, he won eight times on the one meter and five times on the three meter in the regular season and earned five Patriot League Diver-of-the-Week awards.
 
He won both boards at the league meet, was selected for the first of three straight years as the league's Diver of the Year, and earned the first of three consecutive NCAA tournament trips at the NCAA A Zone Diving Championship.
 
At the NCAAs last year, Buchter barely came up short on a backward, two-and-a-half off the one meter board, putting him in a shaky position as he pursued a coveted, All-America honor.
 
"I knew I had to destroy my last dive, or it was all over," he recalls. "It takes a lot out of you, with the adrenaline pumping like that. I was praying."
 
Buchter nailed a reverse gainer. He wound up 13 ^th overall.
 
"I don't think I've ever hit it better than I did in that moment," recalls Buchter, who also has a thin margin between disappointment and higher victory burned in his memory.
 
"I was 10 points away from finishing 17^th (and missing All-America status] and I was two points out of eighth place [first-team All-America]," he says. "That was a bittersweet moment. But I hit my goal, so I had a restful sleep. And now it's all about doing enough to hit the next goal."