I tried to find this topic unsuccessfully, forgive me if it has already been discussed. I recently finally started working on my dive starts, literally from a standpoint of never having done them before. I learned a lot watching my kids' coaches and videos, though. I have been diving into about 6 feet of water and find myself ending up about 5 inches from the bottom before dolphin kicking my way forward and up. When I watch videos of starts in the olympics, etc. these guys are diving into 13 feet of water or more, and seem to dive at least 5 feet (see this link of Phelps, around 45 second mark: YouTube - Michael Phelps freestyle multi angle camera ).
In summer league, though, I see the older kids are diving into 5 feet with no problems. Do you guys start different ways depending on the water depth? Are your Masters meets in deep water usually? Am I going too deep when I dive, not so much from a safety standpoint but from a speed aspect? Last question, I remember my son's coach once telling the team to make the under water phase of their relay dives very brief. I couldn't tell if he was making a general statement on starts, or was that specific to relays. Any comments greatly appreciated.
Parents
Former Member
Taruky, I'm no expert but have coached a few years in my past and am back into swimming for the first time in twenty years and loving it.
Until you can capatilize on a deeper dive (which comes later in your ability level), you need to focus on diving "out" and not "down". My start is the same in 4 ft or 5 ft or 10 ft. Exactly. You are going too deep from a safety and a speed standpoint. Your goal is to get from one wall to the other as fast as possible (think straight line). If you are going down close to six feet, you got to spend time coming up six feet, That's way off the straight line. I'm not sure what your son's coach was trying to teach, but I would only tell a swimmer to keep their underwater phase brief, if they were spending too much time under...
I hope no one here flames me, I could be way wrong...
Taruky, I'm no expert but have coached a few years in my past and am back into swimming for the first time in twenty years and loving it.
Until you can capatilize on a deeper dive (which comes later in your ability level), you need to focus on diving "out" and not "down". My start is the same in 4 ft or 5 ft or 10 ft. Exactly. You are going too deep from a safety and a speed standpoint. Your goal is to get from one wall to the other as fast as possible (think straight line). If you are going down close to six feet, you got to spend time coming up six feet, That's way off the straight line. I'm not sure what your son's coach was trying to teach, but I would only tell a swimmer to keep their underwater phase brief, if they were spending too much time under...
I hope no one here flames me, I could be way wrong...
