Meet the teen diver who defies stereotypes with his talent
An Arizona teen is wowing people on social media with his majestic diving skills.
Zeke Sanchez, 17, has developed a following on TikTok by sharing clips of himself spinning through the air or performing a twist or rotation before diving gracefully into the swimming pool.
"You make it look easy!!! So cool!!! 🧜🏾♀️👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽," one person wrote beneath one of his videos.
"Your finesse is impressive🔥🔥🔥," another wrote.
Zeke, a high school senior who dives for East Valley Dive Club and Desert Ridge High School in Mesa, Arizona, told "Good Morning America" he started diving at 8 and competing soon after.
Zeke said when he first started diving through a summer, city-run recreation program in elementary school, he immediately fell in love with the sport.
"Right away, even before the two weeks ended, I told my mom, 'You know what? I don't want to go do water polo. I love diving. I want to keep going,'" the 17-year-old recalled. "It's been really crazy. I've been diving for nine years now."
When he started diving competitively, Zeke said he often felt prejudged by others, noting, "Everybody always second guesses my ability."
He added that it's gratifying to be able to step onto the diving board and show off his skills.
"They see me – I'm a big kid -- and I walk out on the board and they're expecting to see me maybe not do the best, and sometimes I even win the competition," Zeke said. "So, it's always a great feeling to show these people that even though I look a certain way, I can do the same or even or better than what you'd expect."
Zeke said he's also inspired by the impact he can have on others when he steps on the diving board.
"There have been some times where a few people came up to me after the competitions," he said. "They're also a bigger kid or even an adult, [and] they're like, 'Dang, I had no idea that somebody like me is capable of doing these amazing things.'"
Zeke said he grew up watching his sister compete in gymnastics. With diving, he said he has been able to incorporate some of those gymnastics elements but also make diving his "own sport."
"My favorite [moves] are back dives and inward dives," Zeke said. "[With] back dives, you start backwards, and then you can either go to your hands or to your feet, and then an inward dive is where you jump back and then flip forward."
