Many of you know that I have written many articles about judging. This is not about judging but how to view diving as a judge. This writing was developed in an attempt to assist the officials and coaches learn how to view diving from a judge's perspective. I hope that this is helpful to both groups. Before sitting on a panel, make sure to review the rules for penalty deductions that may have to be made. Understand who assesses the penalty and what the penalties are. Other judging assessments can be found on this site under, "Most Common Errors Seen in Dives".

When viewing a dive, it is not wise to focus your line of sight on any particular part of the diver's body. If you are looking for a particular deduction such as a crow hop, you may miss something else. As an example, one official told me that he always watches for the crow hop on back take-offs. His statement was that "if it's in the rules, then it should be enforced". A diver did a back 1 1/2 somersault straight. The official saw a crow hop and was correct in deducting 1/2 to 2 points from the score. Unfortunately, he was the high score on that particular dive. By focusing his attention to the crow hop, he missed a knee bend that occurred at the beginning of the dive. The partial break was a maximum score of 4 and then you could reduce your score from there by 1/2 to 2 points for the crow hop.

A similar experience happened to me. During one dive I became curious to know where the diver's arms were going for the reach on a particular twisting dive. Because my focus was zeroed in on the reach and what the diver was doing with his arms to initiate the twist that I missed a form break at the beginning of the dive. Basically I was looking for a coaching point and not judging the entire dive that was being presented. Coaches must make sure that you know what mode you're in… Are you a coach or a judge? Make sure that you understand that there is a difference.

In order to view a dive more effectively, it would be most beneficial for a judge to sight a point somewhere around the waist of the diver. Don't mark a spot to look at, view the area at that point. It's like those pictures that you look at in a certain way and then all of a sudden you begin to see the images take shape. Your focal point will be the waist area but make sure that you are aware of the rest of the body in that picture. Keep judging until the diver is completely submerged. Some judging assessments may have a deduction at the end of the dive.

By exposure to this visual experience, you will find that mistakes divers make will jump out at you. All you have to do at this point is remember what the penalty is, who assesses it and then apply it to your score.