Back To Current TopicsInward Rotation
As in the Back series, the back press must be mastered to some degree prior to attempting this series.
To make this section easier to understand one should realize that the same basic techniques that are used to initiate Forward rotation are used for Inward rotation. Many divers are timid when first learning the Inward somersault. They are fearful of hitting the board. As in any dive, if you lean toward the board upon take-off, you will end up too close or hit the board. If you lean away from the board, it becomes more difficult to establish rotation for the Inward series. In an attempt to get the diver to understand what takes the dive away from the board, the following has been presented.
Upon finishing the back press to the reach (Figure A), the diver should lead into the somersault with the arms slightly ahead of the bend at the waist (Figure B). Because the arms and bend at the waist are headed forward and down, the feet are pushing into the board in an equal and opposite direction. As the board recoils, it will push the diver in an equal and opposite direction as the feet were pushing, carrying the dive up and away from the board. It can be viewed on film that a diver appears at the start to be too close but as the dive continues, it begins to move away from the board. This is caused by the action reaction affect during the initiation of rotation.
The arms moving downward slightly ahead of the rest of the body is to utilize the body's lever system as a rotational advantage. A somersault utilizes two levers upon initiation. The first lever is the arms at the shoulder joint. This lever activates the second at the hips allowing (assisting) them to rise up on initial rotation. Once the board unloads its stored energy, the diver continues chasing the legs and gets into as compact a position as possible (Figure C).
IMPORTANT POINTS
Special Notes:
Beginning divers have a tendency to rush the back press in order to start the rotation. By doing this, timing is disrupted so much that they are actually trying to start the rotation before the board is ready to unload its energy. Not only is rotation lacking but so is any height for the dive. Since many divers have a nice inward dive prior to deciding to attempt the somersault, a coach may want to use the following idea. If the diver completes the board work and starts the somersault in the same fashion as the Inward dive pike, the diver will make the somersault with ease.
It can be noticed that every diver that leads into Inward rotation by dropping the head first, the hips will lead in a backward not upward direction. If the hips go back, that leaves the feet in front of the hips at take-off making it very difficult to establish rotation. It has a similar affect as leaning away from the board during the back press. In essence the diver must rotate more that one somersault in order to complete a somersault. This is not very efficient or technically correct to say the least. It is comparable to drawing the knees up instead of chasing them in rotation. The rotation can be very slow to non-existent. Practice and patience are the keys to learning successful Inward rotation.