Coach Belinda Wolf founded the Andover Diving Program in 1991. Wolf started her diving journey when she was 13 years-old, before becoming a NFL Cheerleader for the New England Patriots. Her five time NCAA All-American National Springboard Diver title amongst her Junior Olympic Gold Medal is a testament for her passion for diving.
Wolf began diving after her father read an article in the newspaper seeking divers. His influence got her into diving, and her passion for the sport forged her path as a coach 33 years later.
Wolf said, “Harvard University needed [divers for the] USA diving teams and I made the team. So all throughout high school, I trained three or four hours a day. As soon as I graduated, I started coaching diving and then a faculty member here at Andover saw me coaching at the Andover YMCA and said Phillips Academy needs a diving coach.”
A philosophy that Wolf lives by is coaching with optimism and compassion. She recalled a recent event that inspired her to continue building relationships with each diver and creating a productive environment.
“My goals as a coach are to make sure that my team has a great time during practice, a great time with their teammates and try to make them into the best possible diver that they can become. I actually recently got a note from someone that just graduated and they said that they have lived in seven different countries and have gone to seven different schools and I am the most positive, caring and nicest person that they’ve ever met. And that’s what I live by every day,” said Wolf.
Aeva Cleare ’26 credited Wolf for her sticker board, which motivates the team when looking to try different stunts and sets a gratifying tone during practices.
“She has a sticker board that she uses if someone does something really good. One of the divers on the team Sydney [Jan ’26], threw a reverse dive. And she was the first one on the team to do it, so she got a sticker. And then there’s stuff she says like, ‘Get your head to the bottom of the pool and you’ll meet the penguins down there.’ It’s just little things, those little comments that don’t quite make sense, but make practice more fun,” said Cleare.
Wolf coaches with passion and care. She observes each dive and rewatches tapes to offer feedback. Sophia Lazar ’26 highlighted Wolf’s attentive coaching style.
Lazar said, “We get a bunch of dives off the board every practice and she stands on the side and she gives us feedback for every single dive that everyone does… She takes the sport of diving very seriously, but her coaching and her coaching method is strict. However, it’s also very kind… The personalized feedback after every dive really helps us because we have a lot to work with. She just consistently puts in so much effort into making us improve and she’ll even watch back on the TV and video us and watch the playbacks with us to give us even more feedback.”
Wolf’s light-hearted personality helps bring a positive light to practices, according to Cleare. She emphasized Wolf’s personalized feedback and openness to creating an enjoyable space.
“Belinda is very bubbly. She’s a great coach. Every time she has a criticism for us she tries to wrap it in a joke so it lands a little bit softer. She’s just like a really fun person to be around… I know a bunch of people who have one or two interactions with her that are super memorable. One of my friends will make the Android notification sound at her and everyone will laugh. It’s just random little things like that,” said Cleare.
Editor’s Note: The online version of this article differs from the original in-print version due to factual errors.
