Ky Duong '21 Recruiting Profile

**I  am committed to the University of Southern California Men's Diving Team**

I am a hard-working individual who is motivated to work and to be the best I can be. Failure gives me a reason to get back up, train harder, and to perform better than I did before, because without failure you can't learn to improve yourself.

Although I only joined diving in 2016, I have made lots of great progress in the sport and would like to be part of a collegiate team to become a better diver and to improve holistically as a person. I believe that being part of a collegiate team really lets you explore yourself and helps you find your best qualities that you bring to the team

I am a multi-time qualifier for the USA Diving Junior National Championships, which is personally quite impressive for beginning the sport at such a late stage.  I also hold many section and conference wins from my three years of high school diving. I intend to make more achievements during my 2020-2021 high school season, club season, and collegiate seasons.

In the world of academics, I am a very detailed and diligent worker. I spend most of my nights up late doing homework and studying, while also performing very well at school during the day. I am very academically inclined and I'm always interested in learning new things; giving up is never an option for me. I plan on majoring in biochemistry or pharmacology in college with intentions to work with chemicals and study drug development.

While being a student-athlete, I am also very involved and have a passion for playing music. I have played the cello for 7 years and also play the piano. I believe music is a fundamental part of life and is connected to everything around us. Just like music, diving also has a tempo; you cannot go too fast to the point where you lose control and you cannot go too slow to the point where you cannot complete the dive. Just like music, academics also has a tempo. You can't expect to play a piece of music perfectly the first time you read it, much like when you learn new things in your classes, you can't expect to understand the concepts perfectly the first time you learn it. When you play through a song, you will reach points that are more difficult than others and some that are easier. This idea can also be applied to the art of diving and the rigors of academics. You will not always have things easy, but it's important to direct your mind towards overcoming the challenges rather than predicting the effects of failure.