Diving Information

cropped-pexels-photo-92070.jpegWhat you need to know about diving

In springboard diving there are 5 groups

  1. Forward Diver facing forward and rotating forward
  2. Back Diver facing back to water, rotating backwards
  3. Reverse Diver facing forward and rotating backwards towards the board
  4. Inward Diver facing back to water and rotating towards the board
  5. Twist Dive from any of the above group involving a lateral twist

There is a 6th group added for dives from platforms

  1. Armstand Diver balances on hands either with back to the water, rotating forwards or reverse, or facing the water rotating backwards.

Most dives in group 1 to 4 and 6 can be performed in any one of 3 positions

  1. Straight Body and legs straight with no bending at the hips
  2. Piked Body bent at the hips, legs straight with no bending at the knees
  3. Tuck Body bunched up close to knees, elbows in with hands clasping shins

Dive Tariffs

Each dive is given a degree of difficulty or tariff. This means that the diver who can competently perform a higher tariff dive will score higher than a diver performing less difficult dives.

The Contest

A diving competition is conducted by a referee, 3, 5 or 7 judges depending on the level of the competition, two recorders and an announcer. For club competitions we will usually have 3 judges. For synchronised events there are usually 7.

At the start of the competition each diver must check and sign their dive sheet to ensure they have been entered for the right dives.

Generally divers will parade with their club members and be introduced to the spectators.

Before each diver performs a dive the announcer will announce the dive.  After each dive the referee signals the judges to put up their awards. The points scored can range from 0 to 10. The judges will consider the approach/starting position, take off, flight and entry of the dive and will then display the award on a scorecard or, increasingly often as technology advances, an electronic J pad. Judges do not take the difficulty of the dive into consideration. The announcer calls out the judges’ marks or with the electronic system the scores are displayed on a screen.

The recorders copy down the judges scores and work out the dive total. When there are three judges, the recorders will add the scores together and multiply them by the tariff. When there are more than 3 the highest and lowest marks are disregarded.

The role of the referee is to make decisions if the rules are not met in terms of the performance of the dives or conditions of the contest. The referee can override the judges’ decisions, can fail a dive, instruct judges to deduct points or set a maximum score.

Increasingly a ‘skills’ approach is used at competitions with more than 1 station being used at a time. At these competitions marshals tell the divers which skill to perform and scores are not announced. Scoring is generally done electronically using J pads.

Awards

The judges will award marks for a dive as follows: –

0                      =          Completely Failed

0.5 – 2.0          =          Unsatisfactory

2.5 – 4.5          =          Deficient

5.0 – 6.5           =          Satisfactory

7.0 – 8.0          =          Good

8.5 – 9.5          =          Very good

10                    =          Excellent

 

Medals

Medals will normally be awarded to divers achieving 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each event. At some competitions awards are made to 6th place.

Dive sheets

After the competition each diver will get a copy of their dive sheet showing scores and their placing; it is useful to keep dive sheets so divers can see improvement and progress in their performances.

Useful References

www.britishswimming.org