While she may not totally grasp the significance of what she’s doing, Emily Ann Wolfson is blazing a trail for future divers at Valwood. Nobody has ever represented Valwood until she came along. And she already has established a championship resume. “It feels good to be recognized by my school and my friends. It makes me feel pretty good,” said Wolfson. Still, it may be awhile before another Valwood diver comes along. It’s not an easy sport to get into, and it’s even more difficult to keep up.
A diver’s whole family has to be on board – pun not intended. It’s a two-hour round trip to Moultrie each day and there aren’t any days off. It’s going to take a family as committed and supportive as the Wolfson clan, and those aren’t easy to find these days. But when that next diver comes along, he or she will have an excellent blueprint to follow.
It’s not easy being the first at anything. It’s even more difficult if you’re not just the first, but the only. And that is where Emily Ann Wolfson, a 14-year-old eighth grader at Valwood School, finds herself. At the moment, she is the first and only member of Valwood’s diving team. And she has already brought the school its first-ever state championship in diving.
It’s not a stretch at all to say that Emily Ann Wolfson was born to be a diver. Her father, local attorney David Wolfson, attended the University of Georgia on a diving scholarship. Wolfson began diving just over three years ago after dabbling in gymnastics. She loved the twisting and flipping of gymnastics but wanted to apply her love of aerials in a venue other than a gym. The pool seemed like the perfect place.
David Wolfson had heard of Moultrie’s Moss Farms Diving Academy. In July of 2011, he had some business in Moultrie. While he was down there, he stopped by and visited the facility. He was impressed with what he saw and he hit it off with the staff. Not long after, his daughter was diving.
Diving isn’t easy. It takes tremendous nerve to stand on a springboard or platform anywhere from 10 to 30 feet off the 
water and fling yourself into the air, twisting, turning, and flipping all the way down. Water is a very unforgiving substance and poor finishes are painful. Wolfson battled her nerves by working her way up in height and difficulty of maneuvers. Within her first year, she was diving off the five-meter springboard and doing a little at 7 ½ meters. Her specialty, however, is on the one- and three-meter springboards. In her short diving career, she has qualified for the national championships each year. This year, she won the three-meter springboard event in the girls 14-year-old division at the 2014 AAU National Diving Championships in Atlanta. The AAU named her an All-American at that event as well. Wolfson also won Valwood a state title this year in the one-meter springboard at the 34th Annual War Eagle Middle School State Championships at Marist. The championship was Valwood’s first ever in a diving event. The day after winning the state championship, she won the Georgia All Stars Diving Meet at the University of Georgia in both the one- and three-meter springboard events.
So what is the secret to Wolfson’s success? “Practice, practice, and more practice,” she said. Monday through Friday, she travels to Moultrie where she works out three hours a day. Weather doesn’t stop the Moss Farms Tigers. If it’s 50 degrees or warmer, they are in the pool (which is, thankfully, heated). If the temperature dips below 50, they are inside doing dryland workouts on trampolines and in foam pits. Wolfson’s schedule is a demanding one; in addition to the daily workouts an hour from home, she also competes year-round in AAU, YMCA, and USA Diving competitions.
“Diving involves a big sacrifice, not only for me, but also for my whole family. We plan everything around diving, including vacations and holidays,” she said.
To keep from getting burned out, Wolfson takes every day as a new challenge. She also looks forward to being with her teammates and her friends at the pool. “Each day is a new day. I love being around my teammates and my coaches. You also get to meet new people and make new friends,” she said.
Her father is impressed by her tireless work ethic and insists her career should surpass his. “She works so hard and is very committed to the sport. She showed a lot of aptitude early on. She’s better than I was when I was her age,” David said. “She isn’t bothered by the sacrifices the sport requires.”
Wolfson would like to follow in her father’s footsteps and earn a scholarship to a Division I diving program. “I want to go to a major university with a great diving program and great academics. But now I want to have fun and do my best,” she said.
Special Feature/South Georgia/February 2015
Emily Ann Wolfson
Valwood School
Valdosta, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
Valwood’s one-person diving team sets records, blazes a trail for others
