In the mid to late1970's, I began playing with the idea of learning platform approaches from the deck of the pool since I did not have a tower in the facility where practices were held. The box idea explained earlier was used for both standing and running takeoffs at an outdoor pool. However, the indoor pool for which the ramp (below) was designed, had a deck surface that when wet, became too slippery for any running.

The pictures below show the type of gutter system that was utilized and also the small tiles that covered the entire deck.

All areas of the deck slanted toward several drains for water runoff, which was taken into account on the ramp design.

This diagram shows the ramp design. It was made in 3 sections that were 5 feet long. Each section was connected to the other by a hinge with a removable pin. That made it easier to set up and store rather than having one large section. What I needed to do next was construct it so that it was level from front to back. By using 2 x 2's and 2 x 3's attached to the bottom of each section, I was able to plane off enough wood excess to compensate for the lowered areas leading to the drains. Once satisfied with its levelness and position on the deck, I used some left over indoor/outdoor rug to cover the entire surface. That seemed to satisfy the non-skid requirement.

The design of the front section was the most important because it had to be stabilized in such a way that it would not move forward or back while running or jumping into the pool. There were 2 wooden pieces to accomplish that. In essence they were used as clamps around the 2-inch rise at the water edge. The one at the very front was there to insure that the whole thing didn't slide backward. It also placed the jumping edge directly over water so that the diver could not hit the extended gutter below. The second was placed behind the raised deck surface so that the ramp would not move forward when the diver jammed for a running jump at the end of the ramp.

The 3 sections were convenient because there were times that we only worked on back or standing takeoffs. We didn't need to bring the other 2 sections out for that. I regret that digital cameras weren't invented back then otherwise I would have been able to put a picture of it for demonstration purposes.