View from the top: Senior diver Ryan Helms a true team player

Ryan Helms' final dual meet at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center won't bring near the stress or angst that will consume him at next month's SEC championships.

It's not because today's meet merely serves as a sneak preview to what will be the Tennessee senior diver's final performance in front of a home crowd.

It's because Helms won't have to dive off the 10-meter platform, an event he's never exactly embraced. As UT diving coach Dave Parrington said, it's an event for a "rare breed," the divers who are a "little wacko."

Helms might not be "wacko" enough to enjoy "tower diving," but he does it anyway and without complaint. That's the way it's been all throughout his UT career.

"It's not necessarily the height that gets me," Helms said. "It's the fact that I'm doing three-and-a-half, four-and-a-half flips before I hit the water.

"It's never gotten much easier. Every time I get up there, I still hate it just as much."

Helms doesn't have to revisit those uneasy feelings today (11 a.m.) against Florida, a meet UT will treat as its senior day. Helms will be in his comfort zone and performing in events where he's thrived against the best of the SEC and nation, diving off the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard.

"Really, since the time he stepped on campus, he's been an impact contributor," Parrington said. "Not only that, he's reliable and very consistent in his performance throughout the season. Just a very, very fine young man."

That consistency and reliability barely wavered throughout Helms' four-year career, Parrington

said, even during stretches of time where his thoughts were elsewhere.

Helms' brother, John, is a U.S. Marine. During the past few years, he's been deployed to an aircraft carrier in Haiti and, most recently, Afghanistan. What exactly his brother was doing on these deployments was largely a mystery because, well, "they keep that stuff pretty confidential."

"It was always a little wearing just to know that your brother is not close by and you're not too sure what he's doing on a daily basis," Helms said. "You don't know if he's safe or not, you know?"

Year after year, John's seat at the table was empty for Thanksgiving and Christmas at Helms' home in Moultrie, Ga., a small farming town that has a rich history of producing talented divers. As spiritual as Helms and his family are — Helms' father, Michael, is a well-known Baptist preacher and author — and as much of a "man's man" John is — "He's usually the one that you don't have to worry about all that much," Helms said — his absence was understandably tough to handle.

Helms just didn't show it when it was time to dive. Even from atop the 10-meter platform.

"He's one of those guys that is pretty focused and he keeps stuff that's going on outside, outside," Parrington said. "Obviously, he cared about his brother over there being in the Marines, but he really kept it pretty much separated from what he was doing over in the pool.

"In diving, it's such a focused kind of sport where your concentration level has to be really, really on to be on your game."

John returned from Afghanistan seven months ago and enrolled at University of North Carolina-Wilmington. It marked the first time in years in which all of the Helms family was accounted for during the holiday season.

"A true blessing," Helms said.

The reigning SEC Diver of the Week, Helms has taken first place four times in the 1-meter springboard this season. In December, he qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 3-meter competition by advancing to the finals at the USA Diving Winter Nationals. Helms will represent the U.S. at May's Canada Cup, where he'll compete from the 3-meter boards.

In the meantime, Helms will compete for the Vols from whatever height they need him to — no questions asked.

"I do platform because I want to be as good of an athlete for the team as I can," Helms said. "Throughout the rest of the competitions for the year, I'm just trying my best everywhere I go. Outside of that, whatever happens, with that goal, I can still be pleased and satisfied."

Andrew Gribble may be reached at 865-342-6327. Follow him at http://twitter.com/Andrew_Gribble and http://blogs.knoxnews.com/gribble