Farewell to Jon Fox

Parents,

First of all, congrats to Elissa Dawson and Connor Callahan.  Both of them had excellent National meets.  Connor competed very well on platform, and ended up with a great score, and walked away from the meet knowing what the competition is like at the highest possible level he can dive at.  Elissa Dawson, did awesome as well.  She managed to final again on 1 meter finishing 8th after moving up from 10th in prelims. Her 3 meter was great as was her platform.   The level of competition was tougher than we thought, but the exciting thing is that they showed many people that they can dive and be successful at Nationals. 

Last night we had our going away party for Jon Fox.  It was a nice “night cap” if you will to the summer season.  We had many people show up, which was a nice tribute and shows the impact he had on all of our lives.  If you were not able to make it, he will be around for a bit before he graduates.

Jon will be missed by all of us for various reasons.  He touched the lives of many divers and parents.  He is an excellent coach, and has an enormous about of passion for life in general.  I was very blessed to get to work with Jon.  Of course, he is an excellent diver, and great coach.  But what I will miss is the type of person he is.  Jon has a very caring nature and treats everyone with the highest form of integrity possible. 

Life is about the challenges that lie ahead of us, and how we decide to deal with issues and problems.  The good things in life are the simple things.  Great food, great people, watching those around us be successful.  The great things in life are when you meet exceptional people and they have an impact on our lives.  You should never let those people go.  I once read a quote that goes something like this.  “People come and go in our lives all the time.  Sometimes they stay around awhile, and sometimes they don’t.  But it’s those people that stay around for a time period, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same.”  Jon is one of those guys.  I know he has for me, and I’m sure that he has left footprints on our hearts that will be there forever.

Bitter sweet.  Best to Jon Fox.

Kevin