Things Every Diving Judge Should Know (Part 2 of 3)

Here are the next seven items (#9-#15) of my total 23 "Things Every Diving Judge Should Know."

1. Every diving judge should know that diving is a sport of aesthetics – dives that “look good” score higher.
2. Every diving judge should know that any action a diver does beneath the surface of the water is not taken into account when scoring the dive.
3. Every diving judge should know that a higher dive is a better dive. If two divers do the exact same dive with the exact same form, at the exact same distance and with the exact same entry -- but one of the divers went higher in the air, THAT diver should receive higher scores than the other diver.
4. Every diving judge knows that a dive performed too close to the board is NOT a good dive. TOO CLOSE IS TOO DANGEROUS and should not be rewarded with high scores – even if all other aspects of the dive were good.
5. Every diving judge should understand and be able to identify a “crow hop” and should know that if two divers perform the exact same dive the exact same way, except for one of the divers “crow hops” on the takeoff, then that diver’s scores should be lower than the scores for the diver who did not “crow hop.” (A “crow hop” is defined as the lifting of one or both feet off of the board during a back or inward takeoff dive but prior to the actual takeoff for the dive.
6. Every diving judge should understand the concept of a “balk” in diving and how it DOES NOT affect the score they give for the dive. (A “balk” is declared when a diver, after assuming a starting position, makes an obvious attempt to start the dive and then stops for any reason. If a diver “balks” they get to try the dive one more time. Upon successful completion of the dive on the second try, each judge scores the second attempt as if nothing happened but the REFEREE instructs the announcer to reduce each judge’s score by TWO points as a penalty for the balk).
7. Every diving judge should know to show their score immediately upon command of the announcer. All judges should show their score for each dive simultaneously. NO PEEKING AT THE OTHER SCORES BEFORE YOU SHOW YOUR SCORE!!