How to dive into the water in a swim meet?
I swim pretty fast but i’ve never got the hang of diving in, which is required during compeditions. if i dive in i normally make a splash and my goggles falls off. I bend my knees 45degrees and keep my head down but still doesn’t work. Any advice?
Okay, I don’t know what people are talking about with the shallow diving, because that just sounds painful. What I do is before I dive in, I push my goggles over my eyes so it has that suction-y feeling. Then, when I jump in, I tuck my head and put my arms right by my goggles on my head. When tucking my head, I tuck it enough so that if the rush of water were to pull at my head, it would pull at my forehead instead of where my goggles are. So, in other words, if you were to do it out of water, you would put your arms by your ears, and then tuck your head down to where your chin is almost touching your chest. Stance doesn’t really matter mainly because when you do dive, you should look up and out. This will enable you for some reason to jump farther out instead of down, and give you a better start for your race since most of the time you lose is on your start and turns.
So when diving, just remember to look up when pushing off, tuck your head in, and keep your arms by your head. This always works for me
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Not sure what kind of goggle you’re wearing, but you should be in the Tyr or Speedo racing style goggles, which are very small, and fit under your eyebrows, into the bone cavity. Then you make sure they are tight enough (not so tight as to close off the circulation, but snug enough that they won’t leak when you put your head under the water).
Assuming you are going in off the diving blocks, you stand at the front of the blocks, with your toes curled over the edge. Bend over and grab the front of the block with your hands, then let your hands hang loosely beside your legs. DO NOT SWING THEM BACK FOR A WINDUP. A lot of swimmers do this, and they lose as much as half a second by doing so. Your head should be down and your knees slightly bent. When the starting gun goes off, fling your arms forward, and aim for the other end of the pool, at the same time pushing off with your legs, as though you were going to sink a jump shot. Keep your head down as you go through the air and cut into the water. A good dive should take you past the 5m mark, where the lane markers change colour to let you know you are in the turn zone.
The secret to the whole thing is to launch yourself at the end of the pool, not down. Think of yourself as an arrow in flight, heading straight for the far end of your lane.
Keep at it! It takes a while to get the knack, but it you persist, you’ll get there. Then we can work on your flip turns….
competitive swimmer and international finalist