DIVING GOODWILL CHINA TOUR!

Springboards and More along with some members of The Duraflex International Corporation; a former Olympic Gold Medalist and a Past President of USA Diving will spend nearly two weeks in China on a diving goodwill tour.

Their travels will take them to Beijing where they will see and tour the 2008 Olympic Venues including the "Water Cube" (pictured above). They will visit and tour the National Aquatic Training Center for Diving and watch some practices. They will also spend some time in Shanghai before heading to Guangzhou where they will get to watch some of the springboard competition at the 2010 Asian Games.

The hope and plan is to make daily blog posts about the trip right here so be sure to check back often!

TEN, TEN, TEN!!

If you are a diver and perhaps a bit superstitious, then today is your day!! October 10, 2010 -- the 10th day of the 10th month of the 10th year of the century (or the millennium). Abbreviated, today is 10/10/10!!

This day will only happen once in your lifetime so if you have a diving meet today -- hopefully, today's date will impart some kind of good luck to you. If you do not have a meet today but will be attending practice -- it might be a good idea to really put in some extra effort so that someday in the future you just might hear the announcer reading your scores as today's date!! 10/10/10!!

REMEMBER: According to the new FINA Diving Judging Chart, a "10" does NOT mean perfect -- a "10" means EXCELLENT so go out there and try to be excellent today!

Are You Really Putting in the Time, Effort and Work Required?

The legendary Muhammad Ali once said: "The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses -- behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."

If we change the words around to make this quote more relevant to diving, perhaps it would read as: "The meet is won or lost far away from spectators -- behind the lines, in the pool, and in the dryland room, long before I soar through the air and knife through the water."

The question is are you as a diver doing all that it takes to be a champion? Are you putting in full workouts with maximum effort -- both in the pool and in the dryland room? Are you eating right, getting enough sleep and taking good care of your body? Are you doing extra stretching, watching films, practicing hurdles, working on entries, handstands, kick outs, slow-motion simulation, visualization, etc.? If not, chances are good that you will not be as successful as you could be (or should be). If you are, then perhaps this other Ali quote will ring true:

"I hated every minute of training, but I said (to myself) 'Don't quit. Suffer now and the live the rest of your life as a champion'."

NEVER GIVE UP!

While attending the 2009 United states Aquatic Sports Convention in Chicago, IL I had the honor and pleasure of sitting in on a forum hosted by Olympic Gold Medallist Laura Wilkinson (USA) and 2x Olympic Silver Medallist Alexandre Despatie (from Canada).

The two of them fielded questions from the packed house audience for a good 1.5 - 2 hours about anything and everything related to their diving careers. They answered every question -- whether about training, mental preparation, fear, exercise, competition, diet, burnout, sleep patterns, etc. with honesty and with a few funny anecdotes scattered throughout. (i.e. Alex going to "The Dark Place").

The underlying theme I took away from both of them was to NEVER GIVE UP. Everybody in the diving community knows the success these two have enjoyed but often times do not realize nor comprehend the amount of work, sacrifice, time and effort that went into those successes. Along the way, there were many set backs where they could have easily quit and just walked away. But great champions never quit -- they never give up. They keep working and working and working and as the old saying goes: "The Cream Always Rises to the Top"!

(The photo above shows Laura Wilkinson holding her Gold Medals from the Olympic Games; The World Championships and The World Cup -- the only female diver in history to win all three.)

Happy 95th Birthday LYLE DRAVES!!

One of the true coaching legends of the sport of diving turns 95 years old today -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY to LYLE DRAVES!! Here is the biography from the International Swimming Hall of Fame on the 1989 Inductee:

LYLE DRAVES (USA)1989 Honor Coach

FOR THE RECORD: Lyle Draves was the first pure diving coach developing 3 Olympic Champions: Vicki Manalo Draves (his wife), Pat McCormick, Sue Gossick. Vicki was the 1st woman to win the Platform and Springboard at the same Olympics (1948). McCormick followed by becoming the first double, double Olympic gold winner (1952, 1956). Gossick won the Springboard in 1968. Draves coached female divers to 12 Olympic medals and 35 National Championships. His Olympic silver medalists include Paula Jean Myers and Zoe Ann Olsen, each of whom took a bronze. His divers Olympic medal count reads 7 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze.

Lyle Draves was America's first great diving coach beginning an era when diving coaches could specialize in divers and not coach swimmers too, or vice versa. He was a Hollywood film editor and his show biz background has helped his coaching or again, vice versa since Draves was diving in and then producing, top rated diving water shows before he became a film editor.

An Iowa farm boy, Draves met Fred Cady at a swimming meet in Iowa. Fred invited him to California where Lyle began coaching divers at the Lido Club at the famed Ambassador Hotel and at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. One of his first pupils was a 12 year old girl named Zoe Ann Olsen. Next, they both moved to the Athens Athletic Club in Oakland where he met Vicki Manalo. He later married Vicki, who was given away by 1948 and 1952 platform winner, Sammy Lee. Vicki and Zoe Ann took first and second off the springboard in the 1948 London Olympics. Vicki became the first woman diver ever to win gold medals in both tower and springboard at the same Olympics, narrowly beating Zoe Ann on her last springboard dive. After the Olympics, Vicki and Lyle toured the United States and Europe with Buster Crabbe and Dick Smith.

They quit barnstorming to raise 4 boys, all divers. Lyle returned to his coaching, first at tennis champion Jack Kramer's Athletic Club and then at UCLA. His Olympic medal winning divers, in addition to Vicki and Zoe Ann, include Hall of Famers Pat McCormick, Sue Gossick, and Paula Jean Myers. The Draves boys are Acapulco and World Champion high divers who have followed the show biz side of their father's heritage doing high and trick dives in such places a Magic Mountain, Sea World and Marineland.

Lyle lives with his wife Vicki in Palm Springs, California and says Fred Cady was the most brilliant man he ever met and that the secret to success in coaching diving is to follow Sir Isaac Newton and his 3rd law of motion.

** Special thanks to the International Swimming Hall of Fame for this biography of Lyle. Next time you are in Fort Lauderdale, FL -- be sure to check out the ISHOF -- it truly is an incredible collection of aquatic sports memorabilia from the past 100 years!!

Diving Related License Plates?!?!

In this day and age of customizing just about everything, I have seen some very clever custom license plates that got me thinking about DIVING related custom license plates.

Most states allow a maximum of seven letter or numbers per license plate. Here are some I have seen, used or thought of (in no particular order).

DIVE 10; A10DIVE; GR8DIVE;
GR8 RIP; GR8PIKE; NICERIP;
HIGH DD; DURAFLX; CHZBRD;
SPLASH; O SPLASH; NOSPLSH;
SMACK; FLATHND; 10 METER;
HISCORE; GLDMEDL; BADCALL;
GAINER; HNDSTND; DIVING;
TWISTER; DIVER; TITETUK;

SPINFST; RIPDIVE

Feel free to use any of these or please suggest other ideas for our readers to enjoy.

LET'S DIVE!!

FINISH THE DIVE!!

This week, I had the opportunity and privilege to judge at the 2008 FINA Grand Prix International Diving Championships at the Hall of Fame Aquatic Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL. During the first of our daily judges' meetings, we discussed a number of things about the events from the previous day. One such topic that we discussed I felt was very relevant to diving at all levels from beginner to international elite and that topic was how some divers did very good dives but they did not FINISH them well and therefore the scores from the judges were not as high as they could have been.

WHAT IS THE LESSON?

The best divers know how to finish their dives.

REMEMBER: The dive is not over until your toes have disappeared underneath the water. Make sure your divers are taught and learn to stay TIGHT with legs straight, feet together and toes pointed all the way through the entry. The extra half point or point they could receive from the judges could make a huge difference in the final results -- it sure did at the FINA Meet!

2008 FINA Grand Prix Meet!

If you are in the Fort Lauderdale, FL area this week, be sure to stop by the Hall of Fame Aquatic Center located at the International Swimming Hall of Fame and Hall for the 2008 AT&T USA DIVING F.I.N.A. Grand Prix. This international diving competition will feature the best divers in the world in one of the last major competitions before the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Click here for a schedule of events.

While there, be sure to stop by the Springboards and More Booth (located on the 3M side of the pool) where you will find all kinds of diving related equipment, supplies and novelty items sure to please any diving enthusiast in your family.

The Springboards and More Booth will be open Wednesday May 7 - Saturday May 10 from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. We hope to see you there!!

Diving Coach Research Project

Springboards and More is researching and compiling a listing of all the awards and honors that have been won by diving coaches over the past 100 years. We plan to upload all of this information to a website that will be available soon. The website will be a constantly growing database as we collect more and more information.

Not only are we compiling listings of the major diving coach award winners, but we are also looking to compile NCAA Coach of the Year Winners, US Diving Coaching honors, College Conference "Coach of the Year" winners, as well as High School and Geographic area diving coach award winners.

If you would like to assist in this project, please send a note to springboardsandmore@cinci.rr.com or if you have any awards or honors you would like to see added to our compilation, please send that information as well.

We appreciate your efforts towards this project and we hope that this new website will be a source of inspiration to future diving coaches and help to keep our sport moving forward!

Former PDCA President Keith Russell Named U.S. Olympic Diving Judge

Keith Russell, Diving Coach at Brigham Young University and former President of the United States Professional Diving Coaches Association, Inc. has been named Olympic Diving Judge for the United States. Springboards and More congratulates Keith and we know he will represent the United States and the Sport of Diving in a very positive light.

• Keith Russell Bio - Click Here

Congratulations to Team USA

Members of USA Diving competed in the FINA World Cup and their success assured the U.S. of maximum participation at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The U.S earned six Olympic spots at the 2007 World Championships but needed to qualify for six more at the world cup held in Beijing. Congratulations and get ready for Beijing!