Superintendent’s Spotlight: Drew Voloshin
Warwick Valley Middle School seventh grader Drew Voloshin wants to put his family’s name back on top of the Wildcats record books!
A standout in both academics and athletics, Drew manages to achieve honor roll status every quarter, while also maintaining the rigorous (and totally fun) training schedule that helped him earn a spot on the varsity Wildcats Swimming & Diving team.
This is Drew’s first season on the team and, despite having more than a year and a half to go until even getting to high school, he has already made a significant impact on his team and local scholastic sports. Drew shared some insights into his diving journey, beginning with how he first looked at the sport as something he might want to pursue himself. Up until then, he’d certainly spent time around diving and seen others enjoy and excel at it. Drew’s father, Greg Voloshin, is a WVHS alum and past New York State champion diver. After his record-setting Warwick career, he went on to compete at Boston University, where he set two university records.
“My dad set some school records while he was here,” said Drew, with both pride and aspiration. “I’d like to try and beat his records. Another swimmer already beat my dad’s records, though, so I guess I’ll go for those!”
Having admired his dad’s passion for diving, Drew started training and competing at seven years old. He has been honing his skills ever since! He explained that his training regimen includes travelling to Rutgers University three nights a week to train with his club team. The diving facility at Rutgers is a unique and challenging environment where divers can refine their skills.
“It’s really cool. They have everything; they have a full set of platforms,” explained Drew. “Here, we do one meter, but they have the one meter, a three meter, a full set of platforms, all the way up to 10 meters.”
Drew has participated in numerous local, regional, national, and even international meets himself. Currently, he ranks in the top five divers in Section IX.
When he’s not in the pool at WVHS or Rutgers, you can find Drew with his dad at the athletic training center that Greg owns and operates in Goshen, called Athletic Republic. Drew said he enjoys everything about the sport, which includes all of the hard work and training it requires to compete at the level he wants. He said that without that part of it, he wouldn’t have opportunities like the exciting one he in November.
“I went to Montreal for the CAMO Invitational,” he shared. “It was divers from all over the world, which was really cool.”
Drew competed in the 14-15 bracket (he’s 13) and finished in 2nd place in the 1 Meter, 3rd place in the 3 Meter, and 3rd place on the platform.
Drew’s advice for aspiring athletes echoes the importance of perseverance and setting goals. He encourages young athletes to never give up, consistently train to the best of their abilities, and work towards accomplishing an objective. Put simply, dream big, work hard, have fun.
There’s no doubt that, with his hard work and talents, Drew is well on his way to doing the one thing no diver ever wants to do… he’s going to make a big splash!
