Complex sentence: To prepare for the trick, he practiced in a neighbor's backyard swimming pool next to his mother's house in East Meadow, New York, and prior to the performance he had only managed to spent 12 consecutive hours in the water.
Split into simpler sentences: To prepare for the trick, he practiced in a neighbor's backyard swimming pool next to his mother's house in East Meadow, New York. Prior to the performance he had only managed to spent 12 consecutive hours in the water.