The wizard of ahhhs

The first thing you need to know is how to pronounce the name: Sazzy Gourley.

For the record, it’s not Sazzy, as in “jazzy”; it’s pronounced SAH”-zee, with an emphasis on the “ahhhh” sound observers seem to make after watching Gourley execute another near-flawless dive for his Myers Park High School squad.

Not that Gourley cares what people call him.

“I get ‘Sassy, Sazzy’ (as in jazzy) – people say all sorts of things,” Gourley said with a laugh. “It’s no big deal, though. It happens so much, you just kind of let it roll off.”

Oh, and his last name?

“It’s GORE-ly,” he said. “You know, as in blood and gore?”

Why is it so important to know the correct way to say Gourley’s name? Well, it’s a name area high school water sports enthusiasts probably are going to see and hear a lot over the next few years.

For two seasons running, Gourley’s been ­Mecklenburg County’s top high school diver. Hands down. He’s never lost a Southwestern 4A conference meet, and the competition usually isn’t very close.

And he’s just a sophomore.

“It’s not overstating it – Sazzy’s the best male diver in Mecklenburg County,” said Roy Botsko, who’s been Charlotte-­Mecklenburg Schools’ diving coach for six years.

“He’s generally 30 points better than the field. It’s hard to imagine where he can be in another two years.”

At the moment, Gourley’s focused on having another strong showing at the 4A Western Regional diving meet, which will be held Friday, Feb. 5, at Huntersville Family Fitness & Aquatic Center. The swimming finals of the regional meet will be held Saturday, Feb. 6.

Last year, Gourley finished second at the regional meet. And while last year’s winner, East Gaston’s Ryan Hawkins, is back, many county diving observers believe Gourley has what it takes to come out on top this time around.

At the very least, they know he’s going to put in the work necessary to give himself the best chance.

Hard work pays off

During the school year, Gourley devotes about five hours a day to diving. The clock starts running as soon as Myers Park’s final bell rings at 2:15 p.m., when Gourley hustles to a carpool and makes the 30-minute trip to Huntersville’s ­Carolina Diving Academy. For at least three hours, Gourley and several other divers train with CDA’s Aaron Hintz, who’s also the Davidson College diving coach.

Gourley believes he often has to outwork his competition because he got a much later start in the sport. He didn’t get involved in diving until eighth grade, not long after moving to Charlotte from Lafayette, La., in the aftermath of ­Hurricane Katrina. Also, unlike many divers, Gourley doesn’t have an extensive background in gymnastics, largely because there weren’t as many opportunities for young boys in Louisiana.

But after a summer experimenting with diving, he was hooked.

“I guess I realized I was pretty good when I was going into eighth grade and people started saying I should do year-round diving,” Gourley said. “I had just sort of done the summer league just to see what it was like, and then I realized that I could do something with it. I thought, ‘All right. This could be a neat opportunity.’”

Since then, it’s been almost impossible to keep Gourley out of the water. In the summer, when he’s not competing for the Carolina Diving Academy squad, he’s at the Huntersville facility practicing from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“It’s pretty time-consuming,” he said, “but you get really good over the summer – that’s when you peak. It’s rewarding, too, but you’ve got to be willing to put in the time commitment. I want to be as good as I possibly can, so I just try to work as hard as I can for as long as I can.”

It’s a mind-set that’s been carried over into his everyday life.

After practices during the school year, Gourley often grabs a nap on the ride home, because he usually isn’t headed for a long night of rest or sitcom-watching; he’s usually up well past midnight, completing the mounds of homework he receives as a standout student in Myers Park’s rigorous International Baccalaureate program.

He’s also an ambassador with the Echo Foundation’s Footsteps in Rwanda program, a representative in Myers Park’s Student Government Association, a member of the Youth Leadership Team at Covenant Presbyterian Church and a key participant on Myers Park’s speech and debate team.

On days he has meetings for his other extracurricular activities, he attends Carolina Diving Academy’s late practice, which runs from 5 to 8 p.m.

“It’s pretty amazing,” said Gourley’s father, Hunter. “To be in Myers Park’s IB program and do all the other things he does, especially excelling in a sport like diving, he does a great job. He sets really high standards for himself, and he achieves them because he perseveres.”

Hunter Gourley, an English teacher and varsity boys basketball coach at Garinger High School, knows about accomplishing a lot in a small amount of time.

“Sometimes I get home late at night from a game or something, and he’s up doing homework after I go to bed,” Hunter said. “When I get up the next morning to leave for school myself, I generally wake him up around 5:30, and he’s at the bus stop by 6:15.

“He’s definitely willing to put in the work to do well at diving, and it shows.”

Taking the plunge

Gourley’s also blessed with some impressive athletic genes. Hunter Gourley was a hard-nosed football player at Davidson College in the early 1980s. He also played rugby, even spending time playing ­professionally in England. Meanwhile, Gourley’s mother, Eva, played both tennis and field hockey at Appalachian State University. She still holds the Mountaineers’ single-season record for scoring and ranks high on several school career lists.

Gourley prefers to show his athleticism on the diving board, which certainly has served him well but also has brought its share of pain.

This summer, while preparing for a national meet with CDA, he injured his wrist while diving from 30 feet.

“I was doing a reverse dive off the 10-­meter, and my hand hit the water funny and just snapped,” he said matter-of-factly. “I was out for about four months. It didn’t break, but the muscles were so torn that it took that long for them to heal.”

Was he hesitant to dive after that?

“I was looking forward to getting back in the water,” he said, “but it’s been really tough trying to get back to that level again.”

His competitors would disagree. Now wearing protective guards on both wrists, Gourley looks stronger than ever, and he believes he’s poised to improve on last year’s seventh-place finish at the state meet – a place that brought him more diving heartache.

“I failed a dive at states last year,” he said. “I fell off the board. I was going to do my front two-and-a-half, and my foot just hit (the board) funny. I tried to do my (dive) while I was falling off, but it didn’t work.

“That was an interesting experience. I had to regroup and get my focus back to try to make up those points.”

Even for a man who played a physically demanding sport such as a football, it’s difficult for Hunter Gourley to watch his son dive.

“I can’t stand it,” he said. “It must be how my parents felt watching me play football. Sazzy’s a really good diver, but watching how close they come to the board – they cut it so close! I don’t like to watch him. I’d rather just hear about how well he did after the meet.

“But I have to go watch him. Just knowing how hard he worked, we have to be there whenever we can.”

What’s in a name?

When the Gourleys are at the meets, they often get a laugh when they hear announcers try to pronounce their son’s name. In reality, though, the name has a very serious and noble meaning.

During World War I, Gourley’s great uncle, Alexander Sazonoff, was a Russian officer trying to escape the Bolshevik Revolution. Like many others, Sazonoff was placed before a firing squad to be killed. But as the family history goes, Sazonoff fell “a millisecond” before being gunned down, faking his death. Later, he bribed a guard and eventually joined a circus in France. Later, he made his way to New York and married a princess.

“He was a great man. I met (Sazonoff) when I was dating my wife,” Hunter ­Gourley said. “He died the week before we got married at 96 years old.

“When we found out we were pregnant and were having a boy, I told my wife I wanted to name him after (Sazonoff). I would bend down and talk to my wife’s stomach and say, ‘Hey, there Sazzy!’ I thought it was a neat little nickname, and it stuck.”

Sazzy Gourley’s legal name is Alexander Sazonoff Gourley.

“When he was little, we always told him he could change it to Alex or whatever he wanted,” Hunter Gourley said. “I thought he’d probably get a little grief having a name like Sazzy. But he wanted to keep it.”

And now, at least, everyone knows how to pronounce it.