Three Olympic medals in 12 years.How did we get here?
I'm old enough not only to remember but compete and coach during the years
of our Diving dominance. I also witnessed the downfall and would like to shed
some light on our plight. Actually it was 2 Bronze in '96 (Lenzi &
Clark), 1 Gold (Wilkinson) courtesy of blown dives by 3 divers in the same round
and then none this time (2008).
The old adage of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" fits the
situation. There was a system that kept us as a dominant power for years. Then
US Diving's Technical Director made a push to emulate the "Chinese
Way". There was a lot of disagreement, which had coaches asking why we
needed to change since we have been so successful? The answer came back in theform of another question... Why not?... which had no overwhelming response and actually caught most coaches off guard. There was a lot of hesitancy but many were convinced to give it a try. Unfortunately, no one understood the Chinese Way wouldn't work in our country.
A "Plan" was conceived and many coaches began to question the motives
behind it. The "Plan" was an idea that almost guaranteed getting us
back to winning medals. It entailed setting up a coaching ladder and training
sites. In essence the sites would be the official training centers in our quest
for medals. Because there were so few sites, divers were expected to move from
their homes and the coach who brought them to this point in their careers. One
of the training centers was responsible for the disappearance of many smaller
local diving programs in its area. Another center in Texas is closing because the facility is too old and expensive to operate. Many coaches felt the "Plan" was a way for a few coaches and programs to take command of Diving in our country. So far that hasn'tproduced medals either.
During this time the organization began setting up what I refer to as the
College of US diving. It included the Basic Safety Certification and expanded to
include skills progressions, life-guarding, back boarding and spotting
certification from the poolside, the board and trampoline. It didn't make
any difference if you didn't have or want to use that equipment, it was all
part of the classes and became cumbersome and expensive. Many found that the certifications were not recognized by their pool owner/operator employers. Legally pool owner/operators were being held responsible for what happens in
their facilities and our certifications didn't seem to matter.
While all of this was occurring, diving boards began disappearing from pools
for basically two reasons; the potential for injury and the fear of lawsuits. US
Diving did practically nothing to address these issues even though it would be
in their best interests to do something. It seemed they were too busy chasing
medals to get involved and only answered safety questions if asked. They should
have been getting safety information out to as many people, organizations and
media outlets as possible but that never happened.
While the National Governing Board focused on the National and International
level athletes its members faced skyrocketing fees to support those athletes.
Many had problems finding a facility to run a program and others were limited as
to what they could do in that program. Trampolines and spotting rigs were not
allowed anywhere on the grounds even with insurance coverage. Together all of
these things created a loss of programs and coaches, which in turn reduced the
number and quality of divers.
To answer the title question, US Diving underestimated the affect the
disappearing diving boards, programs, divers and coaches would have on the
sport. They were more interested in quality and not the quantity of divers. It
seemed the more the focus was on medals the further away from them our divers
finished. US Diving got what it wanted, which was change. But the change it created did
not produce the results that were expected. The biggest problem now is that they still
continue to stubbornly try to force this failed system to work.
woras.geo@yahoo.com