I have been arguing for the grass roots section for a long time now and I just don't know how I missed this one for so long.

US Diving has been handicapping the entire age group system ever since it was decided that certain skills be attached to the age groups. This includes the dive choices these kids have. I have been advocating that those requirements be dropped and that the dive table be opened to allow the kids and their coaches to choose what dives they will perform in meets without any limits.

If US Diving (BOD and its Technical Director) was so bent on copying the "Chinese Way", then they couldn't even do that right. Let me give a couple of examples to demonstrate what I mean. While all of our 13 and unders were trying to master skills and jumps, an 11-year-old Chinese girl was winning the 10 meter platform event in the Good Will Games. A 14-year-old Chinese girl won the event at the World Games. In the current Olympics there are 15 & 16-year-old girls competing for China on platform. How could this happen if we were copying what they were doing?

The question of "Where does the present Board of Directors think future Olympians come from?" was asked a number of times. Kids don't just transform into these beautiful divers overnight. The Chinese divers are doing all of the dives from their start in the sport. From my position it appears that US Diving doesn't want our Olympians coming from the age groups. By dropping the requirements, some grass roots divers may be able to compete at that level but we will never know as long as that handicap is in place. We may have a Technical Director but he is technically out of his element where the grass roots are concerned.

In my mind this is the underlying reason we are having trouble in competition, finding divers who can compete, keeping coaches and increasing the number of divers. The grass roots have been reduced to teaching a form of Dive-aerobics. Kids don't want that. They gauge their success by the kinds of dives they have learned and by the improvement they see in those dives. If this is leadership then we had better find someone who can do a better job. If we aren't a low value sport already, we will be soon if we continue to follow the Technical Director's prescription. If he were a M.D., I would get a second opinion.

The underlying principle in leadership skills is to make sure the ladder is placed against the correct wall. Our leadership has stated that the LRP is one of inclusivity. How can people be included when there are numerous obstacles placed in their way? Examples: costly membership fees, restrictive age group requirements, unwarranted certifications, mandatory coach education which included a proposed 10 rung coaching ladder and unrealistic expectations for training sites. It appears that their ladder is on the wall of exclusivity.

After watching the Olympic women's platform prelims, semi-finals and finals a couple of things jumped out at me. Someone who is more knowledgeable in the area of diving should replace our diving color commentator. She made a reference to the fact that the Canadian divers all work out together. To me it sounded like one of the reasons why we might not medal in that event. It is also one part of the proposed LRP and Training sites. It appears that they still haven't given up on that idea. The second thing that came to mind was the committee US Diving wanted to set up for selecting the International teams regardless of how the competitors do in qualifying meets. In case anybody didn't notice, that idea didn't work for the US Girls Gymnastics team and even more pertinent to us, it didn't work for the Chinese divers in women's platform.

Since our Olympic Divers and Coaches decided not to follow the Technical Directors training program, we instantly won a Gold medal. It was the best performance I saw our diver do and what a time to do it. Since that break from the status quo, we have had more success in a few short months than we have had in years. I guess we do have other coaches who know how to be successful at the International level. The present leadership was probably hoping for a different outcome that could justify their actions in the LRP. This may be difficult now since we won Gold doing it our way and not theirs. Way to go Olympic Team!!

We are a sport but inside this sport we are divided as to what should be done. We lose potential great athletes to other sports because of the present grass roots set up. The ones that stay and grow up may turn out to be our cream of the crop but they may not be the cream of the crop athletically. Kids in our country have many more options at their disposal than kids in other lands. These are the distractions to our programs. What we haven't done is figure out how to work within our country's framework to gain the kind of success we want. What the Chinese do will not work in our society.

Whoever leads US Diving in the future should consider a wide open door policy. If there is someone with an interest in any aspect of diving, they should be greeted with open arms and no strings attached. We should all be made to feel that we are important to the program whether we are the elite or the lowest of grass roots coaches. We are all part of that puzzle that makes up our sport. Without all of us, there is no diving program.

In closing I would like to state the difference between a leader and a tyrant. A leader points the way and by his/her actions, inspires others to follow. A tyrant can't get people to follow unless mandates are put in place and enforced; an abuse of authority. As we get closer to the convention, those of you that attend may wish to seriously consider which one of them you would like to see steer US Diving into the future.