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Recently I received a copy of Aquatics International Magazine. Upon paging through, a photo of a swimming pool caught my attention. It was an overhead shot of a water park (Leisure Pool). As I looked at it, I started to play "Where's Waldo", looking for the diving boards. I couldn't find one in the photograph. This was a huge pool spread over a few acres of land.
In light of all of the articles I wrote here was another example of a swimming pool industry phasing out Diving. The thought of kids learning to dive filled my mind. How can they learn to dive without diving boards and/or deep water? Then this thought came to mind. I am a pool owner and am looking for the biggest bang for my buck in re-doing my pool. I have a 40 by 40-foot square diving area that is 12 feet deep. I can turn this 1600 square foot pool into a 6400 or more square foot pool by making it 3 feet deep or less. I can accommodate more people that way. To entice these people to come and use my pool, I can add slides, lazy river rafting, swinging devices and sprinklers for the tots. I might even save money in the process because with construction they don't have to dig as deep so structural techniques won't be as costly or demanding. Could this thinking be the result of the industry's move toward leisure pools? Where will the grass roots and junior programs be? A couple of years ago, I wrote an article called "Diving Into The Next Millenium". It looks like it should have been titled "Jumping Into The Next Millenium".
As I closed the magazine I noticed the front-page picture. It had parents and kids on the cover. The ages of the children seemed to be 12 and under. I could not see one teenager in that picture. When talking to some of the teenagers in my area, they told me that pools like that were fun for the first time or two. After that they were bored. Maybe that's why I couldn't find any teenagers in that photo. They'd been there already and left. In any case the ages depicted in the photo are the kids that the grass roots coaches want to recruit. How can diving be taught without the facility to do that? This was the basis for the question to college coaches in my last article.
As I flipped the magazine on the table, the back page opened and my curiosity was raised again. I was looking at a ski ramp on this page headed toward a pool. I couldn't guess how long the ramp was but it looked big. The picture showed the end of the ramp curving upward substantially before ending. There was also a photo of someone high in the air over the pool. The article that accompanied the photos indicated the water was 10 feet deep. The person depicted in the photo seemed much higher than a diver could possibly go even from a high board. Needless to say, I was dumbfounded. If diving is so dangerous, how can one think that this skier is much safer than a diver is? It looks like extreme sports are getting more positive responses than we are. Maybe we would stand a better chance of survival if we classified ourselves as an extreme sport.
I received an e-mail from a college coach who had great difficulty setting up a USD meet. The administration at the college informed him that he would have to have an ambulance and paramedics on duty for the entire time it took to run his meet even though there was a hospital only minutes away. He was also required to hire two lifeguards for the entire contest. He was a bit disgruntled by all of this because he felt that he had all the necessary credentials he needed through US Diving. That along with the credentials of the other coaches that were present on deck didn't change the course of events. The contest did not turn a profit for the host because of the unanticipated expenditures forced upon him.
What is the National Governing Board doing to make a coach's life easier? In all 3 of the above cases, the answer is nothing. Actually the reverse is the case. A coach's life under US Diving has become much more difficult and complicated because in the end the coach is still alone defending his program. Almost 4 years ago I wrote that the coaching requirements were unnecessary especially if you have lifeguards on deck. When I wrote that, I apparently was the only person who had lifeguards on deck for all practices and meets. Look where it has gone since that time. That dilemma is now at the collegiate level and who knows where it's going next? That coach flashed all of the US Diving Certifications and he still needed not only lifeguards but also a paramedic team on site. What was the point of being certified by US Diving if he needed to hire all of these others? It's beginning to look like more coaches are feeling the pinch and becoming disenfranchised with the organization's lack of involvement and meaningless requirements.
US Diving apparently still hasn't made an effort to clear the mis-interpretation that Diving is Unsafe. No information has come out of them yet and it's been a couple of years since I gave them my findings. How can they sit back and watch diving programs disappear and/or the activity be replaced with ski ramps and not even say a word? There is an erosion occurring and the organization has done nothing to curtail it. It sure doesn't look like the answers US Diving has match the questions more and more coaches are beginning to ask. I wonder where this place called Utopia is?
Since I began writing the above, another college may have swimming/diving on the chopping block. It happens to be my alma mater, Iowa State University. I will get involved just as other alumni are doing but this is still another example of diving going down the drain. US Diving's Mission Statement has been to be inclusive and to do every thing in its power to continue the growth of the sport with participation by the divers, coaches and spectators. Am I the only one that notices that they aren't fulfilling their mission? The above scenario is not new. It's been happening for years. It has affected the grass roots, high schools and is now entering the collegiate level. What has US Diving done for the last 4 years to change the dilemma facing the sport? Your guess would be as good as mine. All I see them doing is take your money, add requirements that are not being accepted by the administrators coaches have to deal with and then stay silent on issues that affect an ever growing number of its coaches. It has become a "do nothing" program where you are allowed to pay the fees, waist time with certifications and then get nothing in return.
No one in the hierarchy of the National Governing Body seems to notice that each level of diving is dependent upon the one below. High school diving depends on the age group divers. Colleges depend on the High schools and so on. If there is a break in this chain, the next level will feel it. Each prepares the diver for the next level of competition if the diver opts to continue in the activity. None of these levels can afford to lose the level below it and continue to survive by themselves. From my perspective the National Governing body has left all of these non-USD programs to fend for themselves. Unless they get more involved, there may not be a need in the future for any National Governing Board.
The answer to the question in the title of this article is "NOTHING".