Hongping Li

Hongping Li was honored and excited when he was promoted from his elementary school gymnastics team to the provincial team. And he was again honored--if not quite as excited--when he was selected to become a member of the national diving team. "In China, all families are quite poor, I had six brothers and sisters, and this is not only a great opportunity and honor, it's quite a financial addition for the family," he said. "Plus, you have no choice." Li was 10.

Hongping Li was honored and excited when he was promoted from his elementary school gymnastics team to the provincial team. And he was again honored--if not quite as excited--when he was selected to become a member of the national diving team. "In China, all families are quite poor, I had six brothers and sisters, and this is not only a great opportunity and honor, it's quite a financial addition for the family," he said. "Plus, you have no choice." Li was 10.

Fourteen Mission Viejo Nadadores divers between 10 and 17 years old will visit China on a 10-day trip beginning Friday. The Hong Kong-U.S.-China Junior Diving Cultural Exchange was set up by Dick Smith, president of the World Diving Coaches Assn.; two-time Olympic gold medal winner Sammy Lee, and Nadadores diving Coach Hongping Li, with financial help from the Kalos Kagathos Foundation of Laguna Beach. The divers will work on the technical aspects of diving as well as experience Chinese

Volleyball player Misty May, swimmers Aaron Peirsol and Kaitlin Sandeno and diver Erica Sorgi and her coach, Hongping Li, are among the many Orange County athletes in Winnipeg, Canada, for the Pan American Games, which begin today and continue through Aug. 8. May, a graduate of Newport Harbor High, was named college volleyball player of the year for the second time this spring after leading Long Beach State to a 36-0 season.

Mission Viejo's Erica Sorgi withdrew from the women's platform competition of the U.S. National Diving Championships Thursday at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta. Sorgi, a favorite going into the competition, removed herself from the semifinals on the advice of her coach, Hongping Li. "I've been to a lot of meets this year," said Sorgi, 16. "I did the Goodwill Games, juniors and this all in a row. It's hard."

Pete Bonny was fired Friday as girls' basketball coach at Marina High School, Athletic Director Paul Renfrow said. In nine seasons, Bonny had a record of 223-58, guided the Vikings to at least a share of six Sunset League titles and took them to the 1998 Southern Section Division I-A title.

The guard didn't change, but it did look over its shoulder once or twice. Erica Sorgi, a 4-foot-7, 75-pound diver, will be a sixth-grader at Mission Viejo's Castillo Elementary this fall. At the Southern California Invitational Diving meet Saturday afternoon, at the Marguerite International Swimming and Diving Complex. Sorgi put the entire senior women's field on notice with her performance in the three-meter competition.

One would think after six years of diving off the high platform, Erica Sorgi, 14, would be used to it. But every time she climbs to the top of the 10-meter concrete structure, she feels fear. "I've never gotten used to it, and I still get a little scared before I dive," said Sorgi, a freshman at Capistrano Valley High. "But I can't let that stop me. I have to rely on my training and the confidence I have knowing I can do it." Despite Sorgi's fear, she's still a good high platform diver.

In sports, being in sync is good. Being synchronized, that's not so good. The word summons images of waterproof makeup and costumes and odd underwater maneuvers. Synchronized swimming has ruined it for synchronized anything else. That's the PR problem faced by synchronized diving, a new event at most national and international diving competitions (with the notable exclusion of the Olympics). "It's totally different.

With bloodlines like hers, what else was Arika Earley going to do? "It was always the thing to do," said Earley, the defending Southern Section Division I diving champion who has rarely strayed from a diving board in 17 years. "I grew up hanging around the pool." Home at the Earleys was an ongoing conversation that centered around springboards, multiple back somersaults and degrees of difficulty.

This is the week Erica Sorgi should have been eagerly anticipating. Sorgi, 17, tanned and fit, recent graduate of Capistrano Valley High, a member of the Mission Viejo Nadadores, will be competing in the U.S. Olympic diving trials this week. Today and Wednesday, she will compete in the three-meter event, then Friday and Saturday in the platform event.