VAN AUSTIN NAMED HEAD COACH AT TUALATIN HILLS

After six years, Van Austin has stepped out of retirement to assume the
responsibilities as Head Diving Coach at Tualatin Hills Diving Club in
Beaverton, Oregon. He will be responsible for lessons, Novice team, Junior
Olympic team and Senior Team. Other responsibilities include marketing the
sport and increasing the size of the team which now numbers about 30. He
took over on November 4. As a current resident of Portland, Austin was
readily available when the THDC needed a new coach.

Austin had been a diving coach for thirty-five years in Southern California
before moving to Portland in 2000. His coaching background included, Novice,
Junior Olympic, Senior, High School and College teams. During that time he
coached the Los Angeles Diving Team, the Rose Bowl Aquatics Diving Team, UCLA
and California State University-Northridge, among others. A few of his
numerous awards include being named United States Junior Olympic "Coach of
the Year" three times, "College Coach of the Year" four times and "PAC-10 Coa
ch of the Year" three times. In 2000 he was the US Olympic Diving Team Leader
at Sydney.

"I'm happy to have this opportunity," says Austin. "The team has an excellent
facility, a hard working parents group, and quite a bit of talent. I want to
continue the high level of performance the team has exhibited in the past.
Oregon has a long history of high quality diving having put several people on
the Olympic Team in the past. Tualatin Hills is the only team in Portland, in
fact, it's the only team in the entire state of Oregon. I would like to help
change that and spearhead the redevelopment of the sport in the state."
You can e-mail him at: vanhaustin@aol.com