AboutTom Trapp Expertise I can answer any questions pertaining to all levels of springboard and platform diving including : beginner lessons, intermediate, advanced, high school, Junior Olympic, AAU, Masters (Adult), Collegiate and Senior diving. Questions about training, technique, competitions, dryland training including trampoline and dry board.I can also answer questions about how to judge/referee diving events. I cannot answer questions about swimming (how to dive off a starting block) or SCUBA diving.
Experience 3 time U.S. Diving National Team Coach. Coached World, International and National Junior Olympic individual and team champions. Collegiate level experience (Junior College and Division I)Chairman, U. S. Diving Region 10 and Northern California Diving Associations. Professional diving referee, judge and meet director including U.S. Diving Junior and Senior Nationals, National Qualifying events and Division I collegiate events. Head Referee for the Big 12 and ACC Conference Diving Championships.
Organizations U.S. Diving. AAU Diving. Professional Diving Coaches Association
Education/Credentials B.S. in Recreation and California Teaching Credential in Physical Education/Aquatics. U.S. Diving Safety Certified Coach.
Awards and Honors U.S. Diving National Award of Excellence.
Northern California Diving Association Coach of the Year.
U.S. Diving Region 10 Coach of the Year
Question Is there any such equipment to protect a beginning diver's face from smacking the water when learning new dives? My daughter wants so bad to learn new dives but gets set back two steps when she smacks her face on the water.
Answer Hi Tricia -
I do not know of any piece of equipment that a diver can wear to prevent this wrong landing on the water. Some coaches have their divers wear a "smack suit" that is basically a vest made out of the same material a scuba diver would wear. It prevents the stomach or back from smacking the water.
I can venture a guess as to why your daughter is landing on her face. It is most likely due to her doing a new dive with her eyes closed. When you do this sport with your eyes closed, you usually will crash as you will lose your spatial awareness as to where you are in the air and where the water is. Ask her if she is diving with her eyes open or closed. If they are closed she needs to dive with them open. When she lands in the water, her eyes will automatically shut as that is a built in response for all people.
Another way divers prevent this wrong landing from happening is that they learn the new dive on a trampoline that has a safety rig over it (ropes, pulleys and a harness). The diver learns the new skill there first and then does it on a "dry board" which is a spring board that is not over water. It is over a pit that high jumper or pole vaulter lands in. It also has the safety rig over it. When the diver perfects the new dive on the dry board, they then do it over the water where the chances of them landing wrong are greatly reduced because of the dry land training. Some pools even have a safety rig over the water for new dives.
I hope she has more successful new dives with this advice.
