Some people are afraid of the dark...some are afraid to go outside....
I'm afraid of the starting blocks!
Yes, sad and pathetic but true - the blocks scare the beejeezus outa me. Why, I don't know. When I swam in high school I had no fear (and no cap and goggles either - we're talkin' WAY back in the day...)
Well...flash forward several years to my now Masters career and my coach talks me in to competing. So we have a start clinic. From then on (and it's gotten worse) I developed a really strange phobia of actually getting on the blocks and jumping off.
Part of it has to do with the fact that my starts are terrible. I have practiced and I cannot seem to get my brain to wrap around the information of what I'm suppose to do, and to get my body to follow.
Lately it just so happens that I've been competing in really long races (i.e., 1650, 1000, etc.) and I start from the wall. But when I compete in the shorter distances I know I cannot get away with that. And, I'd really like to get over the irrational fear of diving into the water...AND I'd really like to have a decent, competitive start.
Suggestions? Thoughts? Therapy of any kind...?
PS: we do have a diving pool where we work out, so I have no excuse!
:(
Parents
Former Member
Originally posted by mattson
When I was learning to dive (young age group), my initial problem was getting my head down. I wanted to see where I was going, didn't trust tucking my head. Gave myself a lot of nose-bleeds that way, before I got comfortable diving.
When I was trained in forward starts, they did it by demonstrating a forward start and then having me get up on the blocks and try it, with the idea that they could correct whatever I did wrong.
My first attempt looked so pathetic that the lifeguard burst out laughing (I think I went in sort of like an inverted V). They gradually got me straightened out, but I was aware of a stinging sensation around my eyes whenever I hit the water. They told me that I had my head too high, and that I should try to look down at my belly button.
That took care of the stinging sensation, but I later realized that it had already taken its toll: The impact of the water had given me black eyes!
Originally posted by mattson
When I was learning to dive (young age group), my initial problem was getting my head down. I wanted to see where I was going, didn't trust tucking my head. Gave myself a lot of nose-bleeds that way, before I got comfortable diving.
When I was trained in forward starts, they did it by demonstrating a forward start and then having me get up on the blocks and try it, with the idea that they could correct whatever I did wrong.
My first attempt looked so pathetic that the lifeguard burst out laughing (I think I went in sort of like an inverted V). They gradually got me straightened out, but I was aware of a stinging sensation around my eyes whenever I hit the water. They told me that I had my head too high, and that I should try to look down at my belly button.
That took care of the stinging sensation, but I later realized that it had already taken its toll: The impact of the water had given me black eyes!
