Can A Judge Give A Zero If The Referee Does Not Fail the Dive?

The answer is YES -- a diving judge can score a dive "ZERO" even if the referee has not declared the dive to be failed. This somewhat rare situation is most likely to happen in a high school competition and when it does occur, it is usually on a twisting dive -- especially when the judges are seated on both sides of the diving well (as they should be).

A few notes:

• Scores in diving range from a high of "10" (Excellent) to a low of "0" (failed).
• Whenever possible -- judges should be seated on BOTH sides of the diving well.
• Whenever possible (and at all "big" meets) there should be both a referee and an assistant referee who are seated on opposite sides of the pool.
• The ASSISTANT referee makes the call (failed dive) and the referee either confirms it or does not confirm it. In order for the dive to be declared failed -- BOTH the referee AND the assistant referee should be in agreement.
• If the referee declares the dive to be "failed" -- all scores are "0" -- even if one or more of the judges does NOT think it was failed.
• A judge who gives a "0" to a dive not declared failed by the referee should be able to defend that score with an explanation other than "it was my opinion."
• All diving judges should watch as much diving as they are able in order to keep their "diving eye" sharp.
• All diving judges should know and understand the rules of the sport.
• All diving judges should first and foremost be completely neutral; judge what they see fairly and accurately and always give the diver the benefit of the doubt.

NEVER Let Your Divers Use This!

One of the most important physical attributes for any successful diver is upper body strength. The ability to "throw" a dive and perhaps even more importantly, the ability to "hold an entry" (aka RIP a dive) especially when hitting the water at 35 miles per hour!!

One easy way to work on upper body strength with your divers on an almost daily basis is to have them CLIMB OUT OF THE POOL AFTER EACH DIVE. DO NOT LET THEM USE THE LADDER!! If your diver does 50 -75 dives per practice, this amounts to 50-75 "dips" or push-ups that they do at every practice and over time this does wonders for the biceps, wrists, tri-ceps, lats and shoulders.

It may be difficult at first -- but in the long run, it will make a big difference!

First Piano Recital / First Diving Meet

The other day, my wife, in-laws and I attended a piano recital in which our eight year old twins were first-time participants. There were about 15 students -- all were beginners or advanced beginners. For me, it was very interesting to observe the behaviors of the kids and the parents and I started thinking back to the old days of coaching. I started having flashbacks to my first diving meet as well as the first diving meets of my former divers.

It was like deja vu -- different arena; different participants; different activity -- SAME RESULT.

What do I mean? Well first, the parents (myself included) were more nervous than the kids. They wanted so badly for their child to do well and to have a positive experience. They all had video cameras to record the moment -- even at the expense of they themselves missing it "live" while they fumbled with their camcorders. As expected, most of the kids were nervous too as this would be the first time they performed in front of a crowd of people -- most of whom they had never met.

The order of performers was printed in a program -- much the same way a dive order is posted at a diving meet. I could tell my kids were getting more and more nervous (and excited) with each passing performance knowing that they would soon hear their name called and have to walk to the front, bow to the audience, and then take their seat on the freshly polished piano bench in front of the Baby Grand Piano to play their two 15 second songs.

A lump formed in my throat as I watched them sit motionless for a few seconds, then take a deep breath, and then play what they had practiced many times before. As with diving, when you practice your dives over and over again, all usually goes well and according to plan and this was their end result too!!

At the conclusion of their performances, they each closed their books, bowed to the crowd and with a huge smile on their face, excitedly walked back to where the family was sitting. We were all beaming with pride and joy. We gave them a hug and congratulated them on a job well done. Not surprisingly, each of them whispered in my ear -- "I was not nervous at all, Dad!" YEAH, RIGHT!

How Carving Pumpkins and Coaching Diving are Related

It is my favorite time of the year -- the leaves are changing colors, a chill is in the air, fires are crackling in the fireplace and my kid's most favorite "holiday" is just around the corner -- HALLOWEEN and the weeks leading up to it. They love decorating, costume shopping, apple cider, fall festivals, corn mazes, hay rides and of course selecting and carving the perfect pumpkin.

We carved our pumpkins the other day and I, the diving geek that I am, found some strange similarities between carving pumpkins and coaching diving. Here goes:

• Going to a pumpkin farm and searching for the perfect pumpkin is like a diving coach attending a summer league championship meet scouting new talent for your team. There are many that appear to be acceptable -- but to the trained eye, there are but a few who make the grade. You have an idea of what you want and it is your mission to sort through all of them to find the right one or two.
• There are many pumpkin carving kits available on the market today just as there are many different ways to coach diving. You choose the way you think will work the best with your personality, strengths and weaknesses and those of the divers you coach. Keep in mind that YOU may need to make changes or adapt depending on the pumpkin you are carving or the diver you are coaching.
• There are many tools in a pumpkin carving kit that can help you get the desired result. Diving coaches also have many tools from which to choose that can help them help their divers reach the desired result. It is up to you the coach (or carver) to make use of these tools and to choose the correct tools to help do the job.
• In pumpkin carving kits, there are different levels of carving difficulty -- the more difficult the pattern, the larger the potential payoff as far as contest success, accomplishment and pride. The same could be said for coaching (and learning) diving.
• When learning to carve a pumpkin, it is best to start with an easy pattern before moving up to more complicated, time-consuming and difficult patterns. Coaches need to make sure their divers are well-schooled in the fundamentals of diving before moving on the more challenging and difficult dives.
• And finally, take your time; use all the tools at your disposal; be patient and most importantly -- pay close attention to detail. If you cut corners while carving a pumpkin, the end result will be less than satisfactory -- ditto for coaching diving.

May all your pumpkins be perfectly carved and may all your divers learn from you how to jump high, spin fast, enter vertically and disappear under the water with nary a splash!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

My Apologies to Ben Hogan!!

"If You Didn't Bring It To The Pool; You're Not Going To Find It At The Pool!"

I paraphrased this quote from Golfing Legend Ben Hogan who once said about the game of golf -- "If you didn't bring it to the course, you're not going to find it at the course."

He refers to bringing your "game" to the golf course -- or in my example bringing your "game" to the pool. The point here is quite obvious -- if you do not do the necessary work and preparation leading up to the diving meet -- you certainly should not expect to all of a sudden "put it together" at the meet.

REMEMBER: You do in a meet what you do in practice -- this is the reason why you practice. You need to practice all of your dives (under meet conditions) -- not just the dives you like or the dives you are comfortable doing. In fact, it is probably a good idea to spend MORE time on the dives that are giving you the most problems or on the dives that you are less comfortable doing. This way, when you show up at the pool for your next meet -- you will be ready!

GET YOUR "GAME FACE" ON -- LET'S DIVE!

You Can't Get A Great Score Without......

I cannot stress this enough to divers and coaches. You CANNOT get a great score on a dive without a great entry!

I know what the rule book says. I know what they tell you in judging clinics -- BUT it is nearly impossible to get a great score on a dive that does not have a great entry. Cheating? No! Biased? Maybe. Incorrect? Perhaps. But if you watch enough diving at meets or on television you come to understand that a dive with a great entry is looked upon very favorably by the judges. A great entry actually seems to camouflage some deficiencies in the dive. Right or wrong it is reality so you as coaches must learn how to "play the game."

What Does This Mean?

It means that you as coaches should take the time necessary to teach your divers how to get into the water with little or no splash. Make sure they know how to grab a flathand, line up and lock out on every dive. It makes no sense to teach your diver more difficult dives if they cannot do their current dives vertically, with good form and a AT LEAST a good entry. A good dive with a good entry will get a good score but in most cases you will find that you cannot get a GREAT score without a GREAT ENTRY!

Now get back to the pool and have your divers do some more lineups (both forward and backward) to perfect this most important of skills!

Learn From The Judges?

One of the best young diving coaches in the United States is Loren "Buck" Smith -- the very accomplished coach at Eastern Michigan University. I had the honor and pleasure of judging the Olympic Diving Trials with Buck. Before and after each event at the Olympic Trials, the judges had a briefing and de-briefing -- where we discussed things we saw or wanted to review or discuss -- it was very informative for all and really seemed to help "fine tune" the judging.

During one of our de-briefings (which occurred after each event) Buck mentioned what I think is a GREAT IDEA -- that is, the JUDGES should write reports TO THE COACHES at the completion of certain big meets -- to tell them what they feel would improve their divers and ultimately improve their position in the standings. If the coaches could be handed a sheet at the end of the meet that told them WHY the judges scored certain dives in certain ways, as well as a list of things that the judges liked AND disliked about their divers and the dives they did -- Buck (and the rest of the Olympic Trials Judges -- including me) think this could be very beneficial to the continued improvement and progress of diving in the USA.

Only time will tell if the coaches will embrace such a cutting edge idea.

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.

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.

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!

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!!