By Mike Pearson, FightingIllini.com

Fourth-year Fighting Illini diving Coach Emanuel "Manny" Pollard studied psychology as an undergraduate student-athlete at the University of Minnesota, so he naturally is a huge proponent for mental preparedness.

"Our sport is about 70 percent mental," he says.

Typically, diving competitions will last two hours or more from start to finish, although each individual athlete performs for only a few minutes. They execute their dives, analyze their performance and then mentally prepare for their next effort.

In most instances, Pollard believes that it's important for first-year divers to adjust to life as a college student-athlete, to discover "where they're at" individually, and to focus upon what they want to do.

"The second year is when you usually see the most improvement," Pollard said.

He points to his tutoring methods and the successful progression of alumna Ling Kuhn who became the first female Illinois diver in history to score in all three events at the Big Ten Conference Championships, acquired the a school record of 287.65 on the platform dive, and qualified for the Olympic trials her junior year.

Pollard saw even greater improvements from Kuhn during her senior season, as the alumna diver earned a school-record of 341.70 on the three-meter and went on to be to the first Illinois diver to qualify for the platform dive event at the NCAA Championships. 

"Ling already understood how college worked and so it was easier for her to be able to transition," Pollard said. "In their second year, the girls typically come back a lot more motivated and understanding that their goals are more obtainable."

That's why Pollard is excited about his quartet of Illini divers in 2020-21 that include senior Erin Emme, juniors Taylor Shegos and Madelyn Crosby, and sophomore Erin Young.

Shegos had a breakthrough year in 2019-20 and placed eighth in both the one- and three-meter event at the Big Ten meet after placing 24th in the three-meter and 35th in the one-meter at the championships in the previous season. She totaled a 301.47 in the one-meter in the 2019-20 season, breaking a previous school-record achieved back in 2012.

"The other girls observed Taylor and are following in her footsteps," Pollard said. "They saw how fast she improved and they all want to do the same thing. I'm expecting a lot of improvement from the whole team this coming season and I'm predicting that they'll be the best diving team that Illinois has ever had."

Since COVID-19 reared its ugly head last March, Pollard has met every Sunday night via Zoom with his proteges.

"I give the girls challenges every week to help them stay motivated and to get in tune with their mental processes," he said. "I send them video and then we analyze it, and they also do workouts together over Zoom. I'm confident that they'll come back as much better athletes, mentally. They might be a less bit physically fit, but mentally they're going to be stronger. That is so important in our sport, for sure. Getting them fit will be the easy part, so I'm not concerned that they're not diving right now."

Illini head coach Sue Novitsky gave Pollard the opportunity to join her staff in July of 2017, becoming the first-ever Black male NCAA Division I diving coach, while he was residing in Beijing, China as an English instructor. An openly gay man, Pollard admits that the time that he and his partner were overseas was less than ideal.

"I was told not to tell anyone (about being gay) because I could have lost my job and had a lot of horrible consequences," Pollard said. "My time in Beijing (approximately one year) was not smooth. It's very much a 'don't see it, don't talk about it' type of situation in China, and that was very different from what I was used to. It was one of the hardest years of my life, but I learned a lot from it. Being Black and a homosexual in China are two things that are out of the ordinary. It wasn't a feeling that I liked and I don't know why anyone would want to feel like that. It kept me from experiencing some of the things I wanted to experience in China."

The month of June is LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning or queer) Pride Month and Pollard is an active advocate for the community. He admits, though, that there really haven't been a lot of people who are truly accepting of feeling comfortable about this aspect of their lives

"There are a lot of trailblazers who are doing it because they want it to be a better place for the future generations," he said. "It's definitely something that needs to be talked about and worked on. A lot of colleges and universities have diversity and inclusion to try to work on this vision but, to be honest, it's still extremely tough. Everyone is coming from different backgrounds and no one really feels 100 percent comfortable all the time with that."

Pollard initiated a group called Illini Allies two years ago to directly address the issue within the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics.

"It was something that I brought up to my sports administrator," he said. "I wanted to play a part in creating an environment where people could feel comfortable. We got a small group of people who thought this was important. We are able to do a few things that are really cool. We've had a few 'Pride' nights at sporting events and we walk in the parade every year with members of the athletics staff … which is awesome. It's a good environment."

Along with Illini Allies, Pollard is also a member of the Big Ten Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism Coalition and a member of the USA Diving Diversity council.

"I have been a part of activism and will continue to be a part of activism," he said. "My position as a Big Ten head coach and part of the black community is a lot bigger than what my coaching goals are, so it's important to be a voice and be a part of groups that promote and initiate diversity and inclusion."