Team Vision
Program director Ken Armstrong and his coaching staff are committed to challenging and developing athletes in the sport of diving at all levels from beginning, introductory level lessons all the way to the elite Olympic level team. A hard-working, focused and motivated training environment allows the divers to grow athletically, competitively, and personally along with learning and having a lot of fun. Armstrong and the entire coaching staff concentrate on perfecting the diver’s technique, aesthetic traits, and physical strength to allow athletes to achieve full potential in the sport. The coaches have developed long-standing relationships with numerous NCAA Division I college coaches and act as strong proponents to help the graduating divers achieve scholarship offers.
Always students of the sport, the coaches are passionate about staying on the leading edge of coaching and specialize in quickly developing athletes into top divers. The team hosts and attends a full schedule of competitions locally and across the state and nation to offer the competitive experiences to achieve the highest standards in the sport.
Armstrong was the official Olympic Coach for the USA Diving Olympic Team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
Team History
The Woodlands Diving Team began in the 70’s with coach Dick Smith. Several international Olympians trained at the Woodlands Athletic Center under Coach Smith including top USA diver Keith Russell. After over 10 years with Dick Smith as head coach, in 1985 coach Terry Faulkenberry took over the team and built a very strong US Junior National Championship team. Several US Junior Champions came from the Woodlands under Faulkenberry’s coaching: Kelly Jenkins, Terri Seipel and 1992 Olympic Silver Medalist Scott Donie.
In 1986, Coach Ann Farger from New Zealand took over the reins and continued leading the team with a strong Junior National presence. In 1987, coach Milton Braga from Brazil, once an Olympic diver training at The Woodlands under Dick Smith, took over for 2 years.
Current Program Director Ken Armstrong moved from his coaching position under US Olympic Coach Ron O’Brien at Mission Bay in Florida to accept the head coaching position in 1989. Under Armstrong’s tutelage over the past decade, the Junior and Senior teams have grown substantially and produced numerous Age Group and Senior National and International Champions. Armstrong has maintained the legacy of 100% of graduating High School Seniors from the Junior/Senior Olympic National Team receiving diving/academic college scholarship offers for NCAA Division I schools.
A high point for the team came in 2000 when Woodlands Diver Laura Wilkinson, together with Coach Armstrong, qualified to represent the USA in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and won the Olympic Gold Medal in the women’s 10m Platform event. This was the first Olympic Diving Gold Medal for a US women in that event since 1964 when US diver Leslie Bush won and a first ever Olympic Gold medal for a Woodlands Diver.
On December 31, 2008, the Woodlands Athletic Club (facilities where the team had been practicing for years) closed its doors forever and the team is now practicing at the CISD Natatorium about 2 miles from the previous location. The Woodlands Diving program lives on with its rich history of diving past and aggressive pursuit of diving success into the future.