FAIRHOPE, Alabama — To dive right into a new sport and win a state title may seem impossible, but Fairhope High freshman diver Helen Legg — who won the girls state diving championship at Auburn University Nov. 30 — practically did. Baldwin County produced a number of individual state champions this past year, and Legg is the latest and youngest.

The 14-year-old Fairhoper has been swimming since the age of five, but only took to the air above the pool at 12. As a 13-year-old eighth-grader, she made the top 10 in 2011 with a sixth-place finish at last year’s state meet and was 12th as a seventh-grader.

Legg said winning the state championship was a serious goal that she knew would take a lot of work, but was worth every soaking-wet hour and every Bay Way mile to and from practice in Mobile.

“It feels great. I’m still excited,” she said Dec. 17, about two weeks after the state meet finals. “I felt pretty confident, more than last year. But I also worked on the things I didn’t do so well with last year. And I knew I was going to do better, just not sure how much.”

She won with the state’s best female score of 340.15, ahead of Kenedy Williams’ 325.35 (James Clemens High, Huntsville) and McGill-Toolen Catholic’s Heather MacDonald (309.95).

Both the 2012 girls and the 2012 boys champ, Robert Raley of Murphy High train with coach Barbara Parker of Port City Diving in Mobile, who has coached a number of divers to state crowns in the last 20 years.

“The signs that she had what it takes to be a state champion came very early,” Parker said. “I saw athletic ability of course right away and then got to know her and her dedication and willingness to work. And soon, saw the character, the inner mental capability and strength that it takes, too. Diving can be a very mentally tough endeavor. But she has that toughness, the drive, the body type and the athleticism. And she’s able to visualize the moves in the proper sequence.

“That helps her have good control in the air. Those good body lines, which help her keep her body tight in the right positions throughout the dive. Body control is essential to your score, where you maximize your points. The idea is to make it look fluid and effortless and graceful, but in reality you have to think and act on a lot of different body parts in order. And then also, sometimes, all at the same time. And that's why it takes so much commitment and determination. It can be discouraging at times. But once you make it work and get the perfect or high score, it all feels worth it. She’s been diving with me now for about two-and-a-half years and she had no diving experience before that. She was already a good swimmer and gymnast which really helps a lot in this sport with some dance in there, too.”

Fairhope High swim coach Cathy Hudson, who helped coach Legg’s older sister Hannah into a swimming scholarship (Savannah College of Art and Design, Ga.) as well as their older brother William, said Helen took to the air the way Hannah took to the water.

“First of all Helen is a very good swimmer in her own right, like Hannah and their brother William,” she said. “They all were since they were very young. But once she tried diving, Helen fell in love with it and has just blossomed. And having Barbara as her coach helped that tremendously. She also gets a lot of her ability from her mother (Francesca Legg) who is a dancer and a Jazzercise instructor with a gymnastics background, so I think Helen gets a lot of that precision and discipline and the artistic side of the sport needed in diving from her mom. And she has the heart of a champion, too. So, I’m not surprised one bit. And as a coach you can’t help feeling proud and happy when one you know and worked with does well. What she has done has inspired the team, too, including all the boys. We just hope this is the first of many, many more and of course we’re all just so proud of her at Fairhope.”

Parker said the sport can be demanding and difficult at the high-school level because of the judging, but Legg is her own worst critic.

“She's very hard on herself. She wants to be good. If she misses a dive even a little, she's keeps at it until she's a more satisfied customer. I don't think she’s ever satisfied completely and that's a good thing in a sport like this. For instance, this year her big thing was to be able to land a front two-and-a-half. Which is a very, very difficult dive. In general, the only girls good enough to perform that dive in high school are juniors and seniors. And Helen is just a freshman doing it and doing it well. She's our youngest diver ever to use that dive at the high-school level. Helen is also a very good student of the sport. She takes instruction well as well as criticism and advice because she understands that we're working together to make her better.”

The Alabama High School Athletic Association uses the one-meter springboard competition for the state championship so much of a young diver’s time is focused on that platform. But many also work out on both the 1-meter and the higher 3-meter (about nine-feet, 10 inches) boards all year. But during the fall they concentrate on the low board for high-school diving competition.

“We still try to get comfortable with high-board skills because it helps with confidence and training and ultimately hope that translates to better performance in the fall when the state season in Alabama is held,” Parker said.

Divers have to do 11 different dives from five different categories. The categories are: Forward, Backward, Inward, Reverse and Twisting.

Parker, who grew up in the highly competitive diving atmosphere of Orlando, Fla., added that some dives can be daunting to young divers.

“They can be physically difficult. They can be psychologically difficult. So we want to make sure we prepare them with all the skills and tools they need to be physically and mentally and emotionally set for that dive in competition. Helen has some strength in each category and I would say the inwards dives are her strongest and generally her highest scoring. She’s also very strong in the back category and most consistent in those two. But there are some she is not as proficient in as she would like, just yet. But that's kind of the big thing and what can take some time to master with so much variety—the number of different dives involved.

“So in all she has to do 11 dives, each one counts. It's kind of like competing 11 different times, but each contribute or don't contribute to your score. Each dive gets individually scored so (against) good competition you need to make 11 good dives or you don't have a chance to win.”

Legg said she didn’t do it on her own.

“I never could have done this by myself. All my coaches helping me, especially coach Hudson and coach Parker. They know what to do and I trust them. They always get us pumped up and excited. And also my mom and my dad (George) for everything. Everything’s a lot to mention. And my sister and brother who helped me. I had been a gymnast and a swimmer, too, then my mom suggested I take a look at diving and combine the two and I’m glad I did. It’s a really great sport. I love it.”