Paul's Ride Guide: Dive

I work out a the Repsol Centre in Calgary, a world class facility which has just about everything one could want for their fitness regime. And, as such, there are quite a few high end athletes that work out at the Centre and quite a few competitions too. This past weekend was no exception, as Diving Canada held their 2017 Winter National Diving Competition.

It's fascinating to watch and between dives there was a bit of time to check out some facts on my mobile device, which added to the admiration. did you know that all the energy created by a diver in order to perform the various spins, twists and tucks necessary to pull off a specific dive is generated on the platform or diving board. This is why they are so physically fit, requiring all that muscular strength to propel them into their dive, since once they leave the board or platform, they are free falling. Speaking of which, divers travel at approximately 10 metres per second and hit speeds up to 55 kmph, so hitting the water at that speed can be tricky to say the least. Again, a reason for divers to have strong shoulders, arms and triceps, not to mention some good technique to prevent arm and wrist injuries. Sometimes divers will tape their wrists to help but even still they can have their hands crash into their heads if not perfectly placed at entry.

Then there's the judging of the dives, which I had a hard time differentiating except for some obvious things, like the entry ( that nice clean rip into the water is easy to see!)

Here's the basics of scoring...

Execution Score:

Completely failed = 0 pts

Unsatisfactory+ .5 to 2 pts

Deficient = 2.5 - 4.5 pts

Satisfactory= 5 - 6 pts

Good = 6.5 - 8 pts

Very good = 8.5 - 10 pts

The aspects of the dive considered by the judge is the run-up, the take-off, the execution of maneuvers, grace, and the entry into the water.

For the Approach, the diver must be fully erect, relaxed and confident with arms straight forward, to the sides or over the head. In the Approach, they must be smooth, straight, forceful and leading into the hurdle, which is the springing action on the platform or board, gaining upward propulsion.

For Take-Off, divers need to show control and balance while being bold, and divers must clear the board or platform by an ample safety margin (sometimes I feared they would hit the board, they were that close!!) FYI: Spring board take offs can propel a diver up to 2.5 metres above the board!!

Elevation is just that...the amount of spring or lift from the take-off. More height equals more time for maneuvers and greater accuracy and smoothness.

For Execution, all the components must be performed crisply, with flair and control and held long enough in flight to clearly be identified i.e. tuck, straight, pike or free positions.

Entry may be fairly easy and quite significant too, since it's the last thing seen by a judge. As close to vertical as possible, body straight, feet together and pointed. Though diving still considers a feet first entry as a dive, I didn't see any and nor can I say I've ever seen any at an official diving event.