For a guy whose job title has an “interim” label attached to it, Scott Cranham gets awfully excited talking about the long-term future of the White Rock Divers club.
The 61-year-old interim head coach has been living on the Semiahmoo Peninsula since December, arriving to “help out” the White Rock club for a while, after former head coach Grant Brehaut left his position to pursue a teaching career.
“I’ll stay for sure through junior nationals in July, then maybe run some camps, and then we’ll see,” said Cranham, standing poolside at the club’s new home in Grandview last week.
And though his time with the group is up in the air, there’s no doubt about his commitment level, nor his enthusiasm. Over the course of conversation, the diving coach marvels at the Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre – “a great facility” – the White Rock Divers’ chance to expand, and his new home near the water on Crescent Beach – “a beautiful place.”
“It’s been a real joy to come here. I think it’s a real exciting time for the club – it’s growing, we’ve got this great new facility… I think it’s a great chance for us to grow,” he said.
Regardless of what he decides to do beyond the summer, there’s little doubt White Rock Divers founder Bev Boys would like to keep Cranham around well into the future.
His resume, after all, speaks for itself.
Cranham’s diving experience dates back decades, and he is one of Canada’s most decorated divers. The Toronto native is a 28-time senior national champion and was a member of three Canadian Olympic teams – 1972 in Munich, 1976 in Montreal and 1980 in Moscow, which were boycotted by a number of countries including Canada.
He is also a four-time medallist at the Commonwealth Games, and finished in the top eight at world championships on three different occasions.
After the 1980 boycott, Cranham retired from competitive diving and, when it became clear there were no coaching jobs available in the Canadian diving community, Cranham chose to put his psychology degree to good use.
For 20 years, Cranham worked as a family therapist in the Toronto area, but was eventually pulled back into the water when a Dive Canada opportunity a little further west became available.
“There was a job opening in Calgary, and they asked me to come back into it,” he explained.
Cranham took them up on the offer, and moved to Alberta to work with Dive Calgary, and following that, with the Canadian national junior high-performance development program in Ottawa.
“I did miss (diving), but now that I’ve been back, I miss my other job, too,” he explained.
“They’re both very rewarding, but also very different.”
Despite the obvious contrasts, Cranham is quick to point out that, in some ways, the two career paths are not without at least a few similarities. In both cases, he was dealing with young people, and his psychological background often comes in handy when dealing with a large number of athletes, each one of them unique.
“I’m still organizing, still trying to change the culture to better the people I’m working with – whether it’s an emotionally disturbed level as therapist, or whether it’s at a very high athletic, competitive level,” he said.
“Certainly working with families is part of my job here now, too.”
Cranham has known Boys for a long time, ever since they were young divers coming up through the ranks in Ontario, and after leaving his diving job in Calgary last year, a chance meeting in Australia eventually led him to the Semiahmoo Peninsula.
Noted Boys: “We were in Australia together at a friend’s birthday party – that sounds much more glamourous and exotic than it was – and I knew he was great at developing divers and running camps. It was perfect timing that we had an opening and Scott was available.
“So he came here in December to run a camp with us – which was a real coup for the divers who took part – and Scott and I talked about coming here and he liked it. So here we are. It’s very exciting.”
Next up for Cranham and his young divers are provincials – which will be held at Grandview Aquatic Centre May 27-29 – and following that, junior national diving championships in two cities.
Two divers – Madeline Green, 10, and Taylor Pai, 12 – will head to Montreal for that age-group’s national meet, while two older club members, Carlyn McNeely, 18 and Tavia Walz, 17, will be in competition in Winnipeg.
“I really hope they just perform the best as they can. It’s not so much about placing, but just about doing the best that you can do,” Cranham said. “If they do that, I’ll be very, very happy – and I think they should be as well.”
With increased pool time available since the move to Grandview Aquatic, Cranham and Boys are working on expanding the club. Interest in diving does tend to grow in Olympic years, both agree, and this year, the club has already increased membership enough that White Rock Divers has created a masters group (age 25-plus). Registration is ongoing (at www.southsurreywhiterockdivers.com), Boys added.
“Interest is growing here, and it’s a really exciting time to be involved,” Cranham said.