Discovering Her Place Amongst Europe’s Greatest: Manou Meulebeek’s European Championship Journey

RIO GRANDE VALLEY – From Uden, The Netherlands to competing within the European Aquatics Championships, junior Manou Meulebeek has grown into a frontrunner, diver, and as an individual on the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV).

For Meulebeek, representing the Netherlands on the European Aquatics Championships was the belief of a aim that had been almost a 12 months within the making. After months of coaching, growing the issue of her dives and studying to handle the psychological calls for of elite competitors, the UTRGV diver lastly discovered herself on one of many greatest phases of her profession.

“I was smiling on the board,” Meulebeek stated. “I was smiling after my dives. I was so happy with how it went.”

For UTRGV Diving Coach Jennifer Mangum, seeing that second unfold was notably rewarding as an lively mentor in her journey from the very starting.

“I’m very proud of Manou,” Mangum stated. “One of the things that we had talked about last year as she was training was trying to increase some of her degree of difficulty and get ready to try to make a spot to qualify for the European Championships.”

It wasn’t one thing Meulebeek completed merely by means of her performances as a collegiate diver within the United States. She earned a spot on the journey crew for The Netherlands and needed to compete at her residence nation’s nationwide championships. To qualify for bigger worldwide competitors, she wanted to complete among the many high two divers in her respective occasions.

“She earned her spot through a national competition,” Mangum stated. “It was very pressure-filled because you have to perform on that day.”

Her efficiency earned her a spot on the Dutch crew for the European Championships in Paris and despatched her to a Diving Grand Prix in Bolzano, Italy, the place she would start making ready for the championship stage.

For Mangum, the achievement represented the payoff of months of labor.

“She had been shooting for that for about a year,” Mangum stated. “So, when she actually did qualify for the European Championships, I was super thrilled for her because that was her goal.”

At the Grand Prix, Meulebeek competed towards roughly 30 divers within the one-meter springboard towards athletes from nations throughout Europe. She completed 17^th after scoring 213.35 factors within the occasion on May 7.

Meulebeek noticed a possibility to embrace the chaos and seize the prospect to carry out her finest.

“I was just kind of like, ‘Let me just see how this goes and just see other divers, what are they doing?'” Meulebeek stated. “And let me learn from that.”

That mindset turned one of many defining traits of her expertise. Rather than specializing in who was forward of her, Meulebeek centered on what she may be taught from them.

She watched their method, studied their entries, and paid consideration to their physique positions and execution. The finest divers weren’t merely finishing their dives. They had been executing each element with unimaginable consistency.

Preparing for a Championship Unlike Any Other

In the United States, national-level diving competitions characteristic athletes from an enormous nation with a deep expertise pool. In Europe, the construction is totally different with quite a few nations competing towards each other, the European Championships carry collectively the very best divers from throughout the continent.

“It’s a very big deal,” Mangum stated. “The European Championships is a huge meet because it’s all the best of Europe against each other. It’s very, very prestigious.”

The work resulting in Paris started lengthy earlier than Meulebeek ever boarded a aircraft.

At UTRGV, she and Mangum spent the earlier season working to extend the issue of her dives whereas persevering with to develop the consistency essential to compete at the next stage.

One of the largest modifications was the addition of a reverse tornado, a sort of dive that’s enjoyable to look at, however arduous to grasp. Mangum described it as a major improve from the twisting dive that had beforehand been a part of Meulebeek’s checklist.

“That was something that we specifically worked on for this,” Mangum stated. “Manou has been working so hard, and I can’t take all the credit, it makes me happy to see her perform.”

For Meulebeek, diving had been about managing the nerves that got here with stepping onto the board. At the European Championships, Mangum wished her to method the second in another way, to embrace the stress as a substitute of fearing it.

“Just the general training mindset at meets, learning how to embrace the big pressure meets and not be so scared of them,” Mangum stated. “That mental preparation became perhaps the biggest takeaway from the experience.”

Time to Dive

For Meulebeek, as a substitute of being consumed by nervousness, she was merely pleased to be there. Taking Mangum’s recommendation, Meulebeek felt an amazing sense of leisure on the board.

“I actually loved being here,” Meulebeek stated. “I enjoyed standing on the board. I loved seeing the stands and crowds.”

That shift in mindset was important, for an athlete competing internationally, the temptation might be to focus totally on outcomes.

Meulebeek as a substitute centered on the expertise and the outcomes adopted. She completed Seventeenth within the one-meter occasion, scoring 218.35 factors, surpassing the aim of 215 that she set coming into the competitors.

She was 5 spots away from reaching the ultimate, a niche of about 13 factors. For Meulebeek, the consequence confirmed one thing she had hoped to find, that she belonged on the boards with among the finest athletes on this planet.

“It was my first European experience, my first experience in such a big competition,” Meulebeek stated. “It was very nice to see that I did feel like I belonged in that group.”

Unable to make the journey, Mangum witnessed the identical factor from residence, not simply on the championships however all the summer time. Mangum stayed related with Meulebeek all through the summer time. Meulebeek despatched coaching movies and so they exchanged messages about how she was feeling bodily and mentally.

When the European Championships lastly arrived, Mangum awakened early to look at her student-athlete compete on the largest stage of her profession.

“I actually got up early the morning of the European Championships and watched her event online,” Mangum stated. “That was great fun.”

For a coach who had spent the earlier 12 months serving to Meulebeek put together for that actual alternative, seeing her carry out was a second of delight and pleasure.

From the RGV to Paris

Although Mangum couldn’t be bodily current on the pool deck, the work performed within the Rio Grande Valley traveled with Meulebeek. So did the assist of her UTRGV teammates, for Meulebeek, her teammates have develop into a second household throughout her time within the Valley.

That assist system was particularly significant whereas she was representing the Netherlands 1000’s of miles away from campus.

Family and associates additionally traveled to see her compete, giving her acquainted faces within the stands.

“When you’re sitting on the board, you know that you have such a big support group,” Meulebeek stated. “It meant so much to me knowing I have a ton of support.”

The second represented greater than a person accomplishment.

It related the totally different chapters of Meulebeek’s life, her childhood within the Netherlands, her growth as a diver, her resolution to attend UTRGV and the worldwide profession she continues to construct.

Competing and assembly divers from nations this summer time, Meulebeek found that diving can create connections that stretch throughout the globe.

She even met one among her greatest idols within the sport, Australian diver Alysha Koloi, and the 2 exchanged nationwide crew shirts.

Bringing the Lessons Home

Meulebeek returned to UTRGV with greater than a Seventeenth-place end. She returned with a brand new understanding of what separates the world’s finest divers from everybody else. The European Championships confirmed her particular technical areas she desires to enhance, together with cleaner entries and stronger execution.

It additionally confirmed her that the hole between the place she is and the place she desires to be shouldn’t be as giant because it might sound. She was shut, now, she desires to get nearer.

For Mangum, meaning persevering with the development Meulebeek started final season. This 12 months, the coach desires to see better consistency, notably on the three-meter springboard.

“One-meter was very successful last year, and three-meter was getting better,” Mangum stated. “We want to be a little more consistent and just feel comfortable with the list that she’s doing.”

The aim is for that consistency to translate into stronger performances on the convention and NCAA ranges.

Meulebeek has a good greater aim in thoughts, the NCAA Championships.

“I genuinely just want to keep improving,” she stated. “I want to keep getting new records, and I would love to see if I could qualify for the NCAAs this year.”

Her European expertise has given her one more reason to imagine that aim is feasible, however greater than that, she’s simply able to smile on the board once more.

Support UTRGV Swimming & Diving | Become a Fan on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Follow us on Instagram | Follow us on YouTube