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Valley teen inspires others with diving skills

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Posted at 9:03 AM, Jun 15, 2022
and last updated 2022-06-15 12:06:38-04

MESA, AZ — You might have seen this video in your social media feed, possibly on Sportscenter's Instagram page.

The video shows a teenager pulling off some impressive dives. It's been liked by more than three million people with 47,000 comments.

Who is the teenager? Fourteen-year-old Zeke Sanchez, a soft-spoken kid from Gilbert.

"I really, really like flipping on the trampoline," said Sanchez. "I just wanted to try something that is something similar to that because I really, really like, love flipping."

Turns out, he's good at flipping off the diving board, too.

"The first time I got on the diving board, it was scary at first but, after the first practice I realized I was going to be OK and I had a blast," said Sanchez.

This isn't the first time Sanchez has gone viral. A video posted last year had 110 million views, except he wasn't tagged in the post so no one knew who he was.

"I just thought that maybe it wasn't meant to be at the time and maybe something, later on, might come around and be way better," said Sanchez.

When asked why he thinks so many people watched his diving videos, Sanchez says they're inspired.

"They've never really seen a kid like my size be able to do something like that before. But I think that if you really want to try and do something, if you put your mind to it, you can do it."

Sanchez has been diving with the East Valley Dive Club in Mesa since he was eight.

His teammates and coaches have been encouraging him all along the way and pushing him to do more advanced dives, so the fact that millions have watched his success is priceless.

"We don't see our sport represented all the time so literally anytime you see it, we don't even have an emoji, you know?" said Coach Lo who has been with Sanchez since the beginning.

"He's not out here just trying to do flips," said Coach Lo. "He's out here listening to his corrections and making sure he has the right form and he's listening to the stuff that I give him. You have to be very dedicated to a lot of the details in the sport and that's where a lot of Zeke's success has really come from because he cares about those details and you can see that in his diving."

A lot of people can now see it in Sanchez's diving.

The talent, the dedication and the drive to not only dive, but inspire.