"If a diver forms a straight body line from hands to toes upon entry into the water and makes no change in this position or the direction he/she is traveling, he/she will contact the bottom forcefully, no matter how deep the water is". At this point in time it doesn't appear that we can build facilities deep enough for divers to rely solely on water resistance to slow them down enough to risk contact with the bottom of a pool. This is a secondary justification for the use of underwater steering maneuvers that has been presented in an article titled How Deep is Deep Enough?

Because entries have already been discussed on this site, the focus of this article will be saving dives. It should be understood that a save puts the finishing touches on a dive. The by-product of a save causes the diver to steer away from the bottom or decelerate rapidly and/or rotate underwater.

Divers should first be taught to enter the water with flat feet and fisted or flat hands. This action allows for a larger opening in the water that the rest of the body can easily pass through. This doesn't slow the diver down appreciably but it does allow for better control as the diver penetrates through the water.

Saves will generally occur underwater. A save is the continuation of the already established rotation of a dive. That means that if the dive was a forward dive then a forward somersault would be completed underwater. The same holds true for a back dive. The continuation underwater would be to a back somersault. The main objective of a save is to create the illusion of a vertical entry.

The following description of underwater steering techniques is not something new. It has been around for years. Since the advent of deep pools, the use of these saves has lost some emphasis. The divers still do them but some do them deeper because they have deeper pools.

The Somersault Save:

Upon completing a forward dive, once the diver's waist passes through the surface, the diver performs a forward somersault pike (Figure A & B). This action begins the steering process. The head begins to rotate toward the surface. Once the feet have passes through the surface the diver can change the position to tuck (Figure C). Between these two positions, deceleration or drag force increases dramatically so that the diver appears to stop moving toward the pool bottom and rotates in one spot. At the end of this rotation, the divers feet are usually in a position to allow them to push off the pool bottom to get back to the surface. This save is usually performed with the forward and inward groups as well as dives that finish in a similar manner.

Knee Save:

For this save, the diver must wait (Figure A) until the knees pass through the surface when he/she draws the knees toward the chest (Figure B). There will be some forward movement of the upper body but the main focus is drawing in the knees. This action causes the legs to disappear rather quickly and some say that the splash is being sucked underwater. In any case this action slows the downward path considerably because of the drag created by bringing the knees into a tuck. Rotation can be observed which places the diver's feet in a position to push off the bottom. This save is generally used for the reverse and back dive series.

Scoop Save:

As the body passes through the water surface to about knee level (Figure A), the diver lifts the head slightly upward and arches the back somewhat (Figure B). As the knees pass through the surface of the water, they bend creating the illusion of the vertical entry (Figure B). At this moment, the diver is traveling almost parallel to the bottom (Figure C). In the drawings, the hands appear to be pointing to the pool bottom. This could also be construed as a swimming motion. Again this save would be used for the back and reverse entries.

Combo Scoop Knee Save:

The above description of the Scoop Save will apply here and the diver would add a knee tuck once they have passed beneath the surface (Figure D). Again allowing the diver to be in a position to place the feet on the bottom of the pool to push off and re-surface. If either of these two saves are performed too early or with a lot of arch, the diver can experience lower back pain because of the forces involved in this directional change. Timing and practice are the key to learning all saves.

The Rip entry has undergone a series of changes since it was first introduced. It had 2 classification, which were the Seething and Non-seething rips. One went deeper than the other did, which may have inspired pool designs to become deeper. There are two cautions that should be noted here. Swimming through the entry leaves the head and neck unsupported and unprotected. This would be extremely dangerous in shallow water. The second caution is injury to the shoulder joint. When swimming the entry for this save, divers may injure a shoulder because of the swim motion. Originally it was supposed to be lateral. Since that time it has been suggested that the swim motion have a slight forward pull so that the arm doesn't get pulled behind the body by the forces at entry. The injury usually occurs while the arms are still above shoulder level.

In any case it would be suggested that the simple saves described in this article, would be more than adequate for most divers.

Special note: I must apologize for the stick figure drawings. As one can see, my mousing skills are not very well developed, however it should not distract from the ideas being presented here.

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