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.
Keep in mind many of us learned starts when starting blocks were typically placed at the shallow end, so we learned to start in four feet or less of water. I do agree, though, that going deeper only makes sense if you have really good underwaters. Focus on keeping your body as rigid as possible and try to enter your entire body through the same hole. This doesn't mean that you need a steep entry, though. Just enough of an angle so you aren't landing flat.
Keep in mind many of us learned starts when starting blocks were typically placed at the shallow end, so we learned to start in four feet or less of water. I do agree, though, that going deeper only makes sense if you have really good underwaters. Focus on keeping your body as rigid as possible and try to enter your entire body through the same hole. This doesn't mean that you need a steep entry, though. Just enough of an angle so you aren't landing flat.
