My Story
I was born in a small village in the province of Prey Veng, Cambodia.  My birth parents died when I was a baby.  I was placed in an orphanage in Phnom Penh, the Capital of Cambodia, when I was just a year old. I lived in the orphanage until I was two; that is when my dad adopted me. My first home in the United States was in Naples, Florida. We moved to Walnut Creek, California, a couple years later and then back to Florida when I was 5. When I was 7, we moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  I was in 2nd grade.  I attended Virginia Shuman Young Elementary School.

We slept in baskets hanging from the ceiling.

These are the three nannies who took care of all of us at the Orphanage in Phnom Penh. There were more than 100 children and these three ladies took care of all of us.

I was blessed by a Buddhist Monk before we left Cambodia.

My dad holding me at the orphanage. The picture of him around my neck was brought by another family 3 months before my dad came. It was so I would know him when we met!

The summer following 2nd grade, my dad signed me up for a summer camp at the Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale. The head coach at the time was Tim O'Brien. He is the son of Dr. Ron O’Brien who coached, 4-Time Olympic Diving Gold Medalist, Greg Louganis. Tim saw me playing on the diving boards and thought I had a natural talent for diving. He asked my dad to put me in his diving program. Tim left the Fort Lauderdale Diving Team, and Dave Burgering became the head coach. Evan Linette is the Assistant Coach of Fort Lauderdale Diving. He was my very first coach.  Dave Burgering coached the older divers and Evan coached the young divers.

Greg is doing a line-up from 10 meters while Thomas Finchum and I watch.

Two years later, I won my first Jr. National Championship on the 1 meter springboard.   I owe so much to Evan for being a great coach and being like a big brother.  Evan used to pick me up at school every day to take me to practice and always said I would be a great diver one day.

When I was 11, I was chosen to be on the Junior Elite Performance Team; and in November, 2010, I was invited to dive and train at the National Training Center in Indianapolis, IN.  My dads sold our house in Fort Lauderdale and we packed up our lives and moved to Indianapolis so I could train with John Wingfield at the National Training Center on the campus of IUPUI.

In May of 2011, just 6 months after coming to the National Training Center, I finished in 4th place at the World Championship Synchro Trials in Tallahassee, Florida. That finish earned me a spot at the 2012 Olympic Trials on the 10 meter synchronized event.

At 12 years old, I became one of the youngest divers to ever qualify for the USA Diving Olympic Team Trials!  That was pretty cool!

I train six days a week. I start my day at 6am. I get to our dry land training center by 7:30am. I am in the pool at 11:30am and I finish each day around 4pm. During my day, I dive a lot.  But, I also train in ballet, Pilates, weight training and sports physiology. When I am not diving, I like to read, play video games, and play baseball and basketball with my two dads.

My family picture! Dad, me, and Papi.

I have been featured in several videos. I was selected to be in the American Red Cross Water Safety training manual and video. I also filmed a program called “Getcha Head in the Game” for the Disney Channel with my diving mentor, Greg Louganis. I was in my first Super Bowl Commercial for Visa this year, and I recorded a video for the “It Gets Better” campaign.  I am really proud of that video, because I want kids to know that they shouldn’t let bullying keep them from going for their dreams.  Even when kids teased me about being a different color than my dad or for having 2 dads, I didn’t let it get to me.  My dad’s taught me that “Love is Love”.  Everyone deserves to be happy.  I know there are a lot of kids out there who would love to have a family as great as mine.

My dad and I wrote our first book, called “An Orphan No More…the true story of a boy – Chapter One”.  It started out as a bedtime story.  My dad and I made it up one night when I was going to sleep.  It was pretty cool, so my dad wrote it all down.  I am proud of it because it’s a good story, but also because it shows people that there are all types of families and that “love is love”!  I hope lots of people will read the books we are writing because if they help someone to stop teasing and bulling other people or if it helps other children who were adopted or have different families, then that would be awesome!

My dad and I at a book signing for our children's book,
"An Orphan No More...the true story of a boy".

For school, I attend a virtual, on-line school called Indiana Connections Academy (INCA).  I love INCA because it allows me to be flexible with my schoolwork so that I can train for the Olympics and hopefully win a gold medal or two for the United States! What I like most about INCA is that it is a virtual program. It gives me the flexibility to study within my schedule and I can watch the recorded LiveLesson® sessions as often as I want to.

I am going to try my best to make it to London for the 2012 Olympics, but my goal is to be a member of the 2016 USA Olympic Diving Team. I also want to the first diver to complete a front 5 ½ somersault from the 10 meter platform and maybe even a back 4 ½ somersault!  With John Wingfield’s help and the support of my family, I am pretty confident that I will reach all my goals!