The Last Thing the Judges See!

The outcome of a diving meet is determined by the diving judges. The scores they give for each dive directly affects the final scores and places.

The goal of the diver should be to perform each of their dives in such a way that the judges will reward them with high scores. This is NOT POSSIBLE if a diver gets sloppy or lazy at the end of the dive. I firmly believe that the last thing a diving judge sees on each dive he or she judges leaves an overall impression (good or bad) about that dive. Let's say a diver jumps high, spins fast, is good distance from the board and enters the water vertically but loses their feet on the entry (feet come apart) -- it is my opinion and experience that the judges will not reward that dive as well as they should because they formed an overall negative opinion of the dive simply because the diver's feet came apart on the entry. The judge starts thinking that there must have been other things wrong with the dive as well. The same could be said for similar dives as mentioned above that go in the water with flat feet, or a slight twist or a bad entry. Everything about the dive is good EXCEPT for the last thing the judges see.

Coaches need to constantly reinforce (and divers need to be constantly reminded) that the dive is NOT OVER UNTIL THE TOES DISAPPEAR UNDERNEATH THE WATER. The diver must be taught to maintain GOOD FORM (legs straight, feet together, toes pointed) for the entire duration of the dive and they must try to enter the water with as little splash as possible each and every time they do a dive.

These little things that separate "good" divers from "not-so-good" divers do not occur accidentally -- they must be practiced and perfected over time.

Check Your Depth!!

Certainly, the depth of the water underneath, in front of and to the sides of a diving board is an important safety consideration and hopefully you as a coach teach your divers to always check the depth of any water prior to diving in head first -- especially at new or unfamiliar pools.

With the start of the summer diving season upon us, take a moment to remind your divers again to do this. WHY? Because often times, the diving "well" or "hopper" at summer pools is not as big and not as deep as the pools where your divers train year round. There is a BIG difference between 12 feet of water and 10 feet of water. There is a BIG difference between 17 feet of water and 13 feet of water -- the bottom comes up quickly!!

If your diver is used to practicing in a pool that is 13 feet deep and then they go to their summer swim club where the pool is only 11 feet deep -- they need to be aware of that and they need to make adjustments when they enter the water. Similarly, if your divers go to a diving camp this summer where the water is 17 feet deep and then they come back to your regular practice pool where the water is a very safe 13 feet deep -- your divers must still be VERY CAREFUL until they re-adjust their bearings and get used to the different water depth.

Diving is a VERY SAFE SPORT under supervised conditions and by using a little common sense. Let' s make sure we all enjoy a SAFE summer of diving!!

Practice Under Meet Conditions!

Often times, I will see a diver during practice who will balk, break position or otherwise give-up on a dive because of a bad hurdle, takeoff or any number of other situations that always seem to crop up. The coach will remind the diver that if they do that in a meet, they will probably receive lower scores from the judges or in the case of a balk, have a scoring penalty imposed. The diver usually shrugs and says" I won't do that in a meet!"

I DISAGREE!!

It has been my experience that a diver does in a meet, what they do in practice. This is why you practice!! Teach your divers that they need to "practice under meet conditions." They need to be able to do all of their dives without balking or breaking position. They need to be able to do all of their dives with any hurdle or any takeoff and they need to be able to do all of their dives without regard to any other adverse conditions such as cold water or air temperature, early morning events, rain, wind, bright sunlight, bad equipment, etc.

discipline, Discipline, DISCIPLINE!!

This all goes back to teaching your divers HOW to dive and not just teaching them dives.

Cleaning Your Twisting Belt

Legendary diving coach and inventor of overhead spotting DICK KIMBALL, shares his tips for keeping your twisting belt spinning freely and easily.

1. Make sure the metal ring of your twisting belt is not bent, dented or otherwise damaged.


2. Place some cardboard or newspaper on the ground and set your twisting belt on top of it.


3. Spray some "brake parts cleaner" (available at all auto parts stores) into the ring and onto the ball bearings all the way around. (Be sure to use the thin "straw" to direct the spray into the ring).


4. Let it sit for a few minutes. The brake parts cleaner will cause all the gunk, junk, dirt and grime that is on your ball-bearings and inside your ring to drop through the bottom of the ring and onto the cardboard or newspaper.


5. Once it dries, put some graphite powder into the ring and onto the ball-bearings.


6. Hold the twisting belt with one hand and use your other hand to move the outside ring back and forth to work in the graphite.


7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 and then "free-spin" the belt a couple of times.


8. Kimball says he does this about once every two weeks and his twisting belt (which he claims is older than he is!!) will spin around about 20-25 times with one pull.

Do The Opposite!

It has been my experience as a diving coach that when a diver has a continued problem with a dive, one way to solve the issue is to try and get your diver to do the OPPOSITE of the problem they are having.

EXAMPLES:

1. A diver who dives too close to the board, you try to get them to do the dive too far out from the board. (Start with jumps that are too far away from the board first)!
2. A diver who keeps diving to the right side of the board -- you try to get them to do the dive to the left side of the board.
3. A diver who is over twisting -- you try to get them to square out too early on the twist.
4. A diver who keeps going short on a dive -- you try to get them to "go over" on the dive.
5. A diver who keeps missing the end of the board on a hurdle -- you try to get the hurdle slightly past the end of the board (toes over the edge).
6. Etc. etc.

No matter what, continue to coach good form (legs straight, feet together, toes pointed) as well as vertical entries with little or no splash. REPETITION IS KEY!

Don't Let Go of the Ropes!

During the 2008 FINA Grand Prix International Diving Meet at the Hall of Fame Aquatic Center, some coaches were "testing out" of overhead spotting proficiency on both trampoline and dryboard. Our proficiency test took place under the watchful eyes of legendary spotters Dick Kimball (University of Michigan -- retired) and Julian Krug (Univ. of Pittsburgh). My group included Ted Hautau (NC State University) and Kevin Sage (Sagebrush Diving -- CO).

While I was waiting my turn to "test" my skills, I recalled what my mentor Charlie Casuto told me when he taught me how to "spot" trampoline more than 20 years ago -- these words still hold true today:

1. NEVER, EVER let go of the spotting ropes when you have an athlete in the belt -- even when you are not actively "spotting" them.
2. Make sure the athlete in the spotting belt understands what skill you want them to do.
3. Never take your eyes off the person in the spotting belt when you are actively spotting them.
4. Make sure the athlete you are spotting knows and understands that they are NOT to "go" until you are looking at them AND you have given them the "go" command.
5. Avoid anything that could distract you or cause you to lose your focus when you are actively spotting an athlete.
6. Practice, Practice, Practice!

WORD OF CAUTION: All coaches should first learn how to spot over a trampoline. After getting proficient at trampoline spotting, then you can move on to spotting dryboard and finally, you can learn "over-the-water" spotting. The reason this is important is when spotting over the water, you must "let go" of the ropes after spotting the skill so the diver can drop into the pool. Without exception, you NEVER LET GO of the ropes when spotting above a trampoline or dryboard so you must learn this VERY IMPORTANT lesson first.

FUNdamentals, FUNdamentals, FUNdamentals

Now that the summer diving season is right around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to remind all coaches -- especially first-time coaches about the importance of teaching FUNDAMENTALS to your divers.

The biggest "coaching" mistake I see from young and inexperienced coaches, is trying to teach young divers "hard" dives when they cannot do the "easy" fundamentals of our sport. I am talking about "GOOD FORM" -- that is legs straight, feet together, toes pointed -- and VERTICAL entry with little or no splash. It makes no sense to teach a young diver difficult dives if they cannot keep their feet together on an easy dive. In the same way, it makes no sense to have a young diver do a front double somersault and land in the water like a bowling ball when that same diver could do a Front 1 1/2 S.S. and go straight in the water -- these are COACHING ERRORS that simply will not score well from the judges. Keep in mind that higher judges' scores almost always beats higher DD (Degree of Difficulty). It is almost always better to do an easier dive well than to do a hard dive poorly.

Make a habit of spending the first 10-15 minutes of your summer league practice (every day) teaching divers "Good Form" and teaching them how to enter the water as close to vertical as possible. Make a game or a competition out of it to keep the kids interested and to trick them into learning the "boring" stuff that will pay big dividends in the long run.

Please Stand!

A diving coach is, in reality, a teacher. The job of a teacher is to help, encourage and assist your students to learn the subject matter that you are presenting. In this case, your subject matter is the sport of diving. As a person who teaches diving, you need to find the best way possible to reach the students in your classroom (the pool).

There is, in my humble opinion, no right or wrong way to teach diving (safety excluded) -- every diving teacher is different and every diving teacher has his or her own methods to get the lesson across to the students (divers). Experience has shown me that a student is more apt to learn in an environment where the teacher is enthusiastic about the subject matter being presented and I feel strongly that a diving teacher who STANDS during practice has a much better chance of displaying that enthusiasm to his or her students (divers). A coach who stands can be more animated and can better demonstrate techniques; can walk over to the diver for some one on one discussion; can jump up and down to celebrate the learning of a new dive or to show dismay at a diver who repeats the same mistake again. In essence, a coach who stands can bring some energy to the classroom (pool) and this can really benefit the students (divers).

Think back to your school days and recall how boring it was to be in a class where the teacher just sat at their desk and read notes for you to copy in your notebook. Now recall those classes where the teacher was a bundle of energy and you could not wait to get in there and learn! NOW GET OUT OF YOUR CHAIR AND START COACHING!!

Watch The Bubbles!

When a divers enters the water with little or no splash, the result is usually a high score from the judges. In order to get that "RIP" sound when entering the water, the diver must have grabbed their "flathand," lined up the entry correctly and remain tight through the water -- especially their shoulders, elbows and wrists. The final piece of the "RIP" puzzle is the diver needs to split their hands as soon as they touch the water -- this in effect "RIPS" open a hole in the water through which the diver enters.

A coach can tell if the diver is splitting their hands simply by watching the bubbles where the diver entered the water. There should be THREE sets of bubbles: the middle bubble is where the diver entered the water and then the two sets of bubbles to either side of the middle bubbles that are generated by the diver splitting their hands upon entry. If a coach only sees one set of bubbles, this means the diver is not splitting their hands apart on entry. If the coach sees three sets of bubbles BUT the two sets of side bubbles take a few seconds to reach the surface, then the diver is splitting too late. Sometimes, new divers will split their hands BEFORE they hit the water and this will be very easy to see as the splash will be big and the diver will probably complain of a headache when they get out of the water!

FINAL NOTE: The three sets of bubbles should be nearly in a straight line or the two "outside" sets of bubbles should be slightly in front of the middle set of bubbles. If a coach notices one or both "outside" sets of bubbles breaking the surface BEHIND the middle set of bubbles -- WARNING -- this could lead to shoulder injuries -- especially for tower divers! If you see this situation, it MUST be corrected right away!!