Help with diving for swim team
My 11 year old son has been on swim team for a few years. He really loves it and it’s been great for him. He really struggles with his dive and now that he is in the 11-12 age group he is the only kid starting on the deck instead of blocks and belly flopping into the water. I wouldn’t be worried except it’s bothering him and he is really worried he won’t get moved up to the next level on the team because of it. The coach gave us some form drills we can work on at home but it seems like it might be a good investment to get someone to come work with him a couple times. Maybe a Cal student who is on the swim team? We have a pool in our HOA …or we could do a public pool.
Is there any place to post that we are looking for a Cal student to help my son with his dive? Does cal have any online bulletin boards? Or are there any other ideas? I do see some dive schools around but none close to us and since he already does formal swim practice all week I’d like to keep this casual and limited tj a couple times
Parent Replies
Hi - I’m a swimmer, but terrible diver myself, ha.
Have you asked the coach if he/she/they would be open to do some private lessons? Or, they know someone who would be open to doing so?
It could even be one of the 15-18 year team members who is looking to getting some coaching experience & make some extra cash.
The lifeguards at the Cal pools are all students who are trying to make some extra money. Pop by Strawberry Canyon, Hearst etc and ask one of them.
It isn’t hard to learn to dive. I am sure you could find some YouTube videos for him. I taught my son at the local pool in one day. First get your son to squat down low on the side of the pool and put his hands out front (one hand over the other in a triangle and put his head between his arms). Then slowly, gently have him go into the water hands first and let the rest of his body follow. Practice that a few times. Then stand up but lean over low and do the same thing focusing on having the hands go into the water first. Then when he is good at that have him focus on diving shallow not deep, with hands going into the water first and head between his arms. Then he can stand normally and try to stretch and dive further out into the water while holding form. Finally he can try diving off the blocks in the same way.