ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Two weeks after the official announcement that UNC Asheville will now feature diving, UNC Asheville head swimming & diving coach Elizabeth Lykins named Anne Vilen as the Assistant Coach for diving.
The announcement was made official on Friday, Sept. 28, 2018.
“As excited as we are to now feature diving, I am even more excited to announce the hiring of Anne Vilen to join our staff,” said Lykins. “Her expertise in the field of coaching and long history of work in higher education provides a knowledgeable leader for our diving squad. Anne’s philosophies of commitment to self, academics and diving directly align with the culture of our program.”
Vilen is currently the diving instructor at the Asheville Jewish Community Center (JCC), which is home of the Bulldog diving program. She also is a school coach and senior writer for EL Education. She has worked at EL Education since 2011 and was recently named the diving coach at the JCC.
“Diving is a sport that takes strength, precision and grace, so it is quite a challenge to start a program with all novice athletes,” said Vilen. “However it’s an honor to work with these five women. What they lack in experience, they make up for in courage, intelligence and enthusiasm.
“So far we’ve only had a few practices on the board at the JCC facility, but all five divers have already learned somersaults and back dives. It’s exciting to see the progress they are making and how they’ve already come together as a team to support each other. I can’t wait to see what our first season of UNC Asheville diving will bring.”
The first-ever dive coach has plenty of experience in the sport, as she has been coaching diving since 1987. She started her career at Jordan High School in Durham, N.C. In between four non-consecutive seasons at Jordan, she gained collegiate experience as the interim diving coach at Duke. She returned to the boards in 1995 for a two-year stint at Smokey Mountain High School in Sylva, N.C.
During the same time of being a dive coach, Vilen has been heavily involved in teaching as well as an administrator at the middle school, high school and college levels.
Vilen spent seven years as an Associate Director at the Evergreen Community Charter School in Asheville. After that stint, she started working at the EL Education in 2011, and she continues to work there today.
Vilen dove at the collegiate level at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. As a four-year diver at Grinnell, she excelled off the boards, and during the 1980 season, Vilen earned an invitation to the DIII Nationals at Allegheny College.
While at Grinnell, she earned her bachelor’s degree in English and Philosophy. In 1992, Vilen received her master’s degree in teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and six years ago, she also earned her principal’s license in the state of North Carolina.
