For about a year now there have been several articles written, reminiscing about the fun of going to the local pool and diving from the boards and doing cannonballs. The writers have wondered why boards were disappearing because generations that come after them (their own kids) wouldn’t be able to experience the joy of jumping off a diving board, flying through the air and landing in the water on a hot summer day.

That same reference was brought up in the Aquatics International Magazine, March 2004, issue by the editor. In that issue a staff reporter uncovered information in support of Diving Safety. The title of the article was "Taking a Dive" by AmyJo Brown. She found the same inconsistencies in reporting injuries as I did back in 1999. There was confusion as to the severity of injuries, types of pools and even the location in those pools where injuries occurred.

She even states that diving, including competitive diving, has received a black eye that it doesn’t deserve. She makes us aware that NSPI deliberately clouded the safety issue in order to avoid lawsuits. CBS news had a piece devoted to diving injuries that occurred in NSPI residential pools. In my article, "A Search for Answers" I stated that once NSPI’s statistics were removed, Diving would be proven even safer than US Diving has proclaimed. That was because US Diving didn’t question the statistics and therefore was a part of the problem based on some faulty assumptions. I sent my study to NSPI and they agreed with everything except the statement that Diving into NSPI residential pools was not safe. Soon after that, I was invited to take part in their NSPI-ANSI standards review process.

Since that staff writer has taken the time and made the effort to uncover this information, we can’t rely solely on the affects it will have on diving. As a group of diving enthusiasts, we must get this info out to the local facilities where many of us run programs and to the general public. If we wait for US Diving to do something, diving will never get rid of that undeserved black eye.

As of the 19th of June, I still seem to be the only person in the Sport trying to get this information out to as many people as I can. There will at least be two articles coming out. One will be in a Public Risk Management Magazine due out this July 2004. The other will be in International Aquatics Magazine due out in June or July 2004. When will someone else get up and do something?

woras.geo@yahoo.com
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