Windows of Opportunity, Optimal Trainability Scientific research has concluded that it takes eight-to-twelve years of training for a talented player/athlete to reach elite levels. This is called the ten-year or 10,000 hour rule, which translates to slightly more than three hours of practice daily for ten years Unfortunately, parents and coaches in many sports still approach training with an attitude best characterized as "peaking by Friday," where a short-term approach is taken to training and performance with an over-emphasis on immediate results. more

Using Some Imagination To Teach Concepts.

There are certain areas of diving that are best left to the imagination of the coach and diver as mentioned in the article "Teaching diving in the water". Again basically this will apply to those of us that "can't" or "don't feel very uncomfortable" using any of the spotting equipment available at the higher levels of diving. I will try to describe a couple of ideas that have been used to help the diver understand what to expect when attempting a new dive.--By Wayne Oras-- more

"when we compare the last two Olympics of the 20th century - Atlanta and Sydney - we can see, for example, that the women's average results in the finals had increased by 56 points! The average degree of difficulty of the semi-finalists - in 2000 was higher than the degree of difficulty of the finalists - in 1996 in all of the diving events" more
By Mykhaylo (Misha) Ugryumov
Technical Director for Diving of the Royal Spanish Swimming Federation

All of the unhappy divers I have seen felt unhappy/frustrated because they missed their dive(s) unintentionally. They actually intended to nail the dives for perfect scores to please the coach, their parents or themselves but it just didn't happen. What did it happen? more

Diving Coaches Traveler's Advisory

Gymnasts must remain on the lean side of lean to be effective competitors at the highest level (Nelson et al., 1983; Sands et al., 1992, 1995). Not surprisingly, concern about excess body weight is common in gymnastics (Anorexia/Bulimia Association, 1994; American College of Sports Medicine, 1997; Leglise, 1998; Nattiv & Lynch, 1994). Female gymnasts and their coaches in the US are therefore reluctant to use weight training, in spite of abundant evidence of the benefits of weight training for sports requiring strength. Their concern is that the gymnast will develop excessive body and muscle mass ("bulk up") and thus become too heavy to perform effectively. more

TiVo

The Best Innovation for Diving Since the Cheeseboard

A TiVo is a “personal TV recorder”, sold at most TV/small appliance stores, that provides an automatic video playback.  Once you use this machine you won't remember what you did without it. While designed to record TV shows, when set up properly, the machine allows divers to watch themselves on TV just seconds after doing a dive, without taking up the coach’s time out of coaching to rewind and playback video.  Every coach or team should get one – its worth every dollar.  It may even pay for itself by creating one more “station on deck” allowing room for one more diver at practice. more

Cross a busy street with your eyes closed?

Would you Would you drive your car with your eyes closed? Do you close your eyes when you carry a ball? I hope the answer to these questions is no. Now, ask yourself this question. Are you a blind diver? Do you dive with your eyes closed? Unfortunately, far too many people have to answer yes to this last question. more

Why Eastern Bloc Countries Dominated the Gymnastics Field in Sydney

Despite the economic collapse of the Eastern Bloc countries, Russia and Romania dominated the gymnastics field in Sydney. Some of the most striking contrasts between their athletes and those representing the international field was their classical ballet based precision alignment and integration into technical movement. It was clear that the Eastern Bloc emphasis on classical ballet based choreography training contributed to the success of their teams at the Olympics. more

PHYSICS OF ANGULAR MOVEMENT

There are two types of twisting mechanisms. The first is the torque twist which is the most effective. This mechanism is achieved by applying large torque relative to the longitudinal axis during take off. The gymnast or diver will then have a considerable twisting AM in the air and then if the arms have been held wide (large "I"), "w" can be increased quite significantly simply by pulling the arms into the body (small "I"). The non torque twist can occur two ways. In the first the gymnast or diver can begin with total body AM equal to zero about all axes. more
PHYSICS OF ANGULAR MOVEMENT I The Twist I The Tilt Twist

DIVER SAFETY

A younger Oras

The intention of this article is to bring an awareness to the diver regarding potential situations that they may face when using different facilities for practices and/or meets. The safety of the Sport speaks for itself. It is up to the diver and/or the coach to keep that record unblemished in the future.The intention of this article is to bring an awareness to the diver regarding potential situations that they may face when using different facilities for practices and/or meets. The safety of the Sportspeaks for itself. It is up to the diver and/or the coachto keep that record unblemished in the future.more

# 6--- Think about every possible scenario that could happen to distract or upset you, both in and out of competition and the pool.  Play it out and determine what the correct response would be to each situation.  Program it in your memory and be prepared to react that way in the event these things happen.  Review this process frequently. more

Derek Travis presents the principles of mechanics applicable to diving as described in " Diving Complete", in a condensed form for easy reference.

Simple Laws and Terms of Biomechanics by Derek Travis (GBDF)

DEFINITIONS :
MASS, WEIGHT, GRAVITY, CENTRE OF GRAVITY, FIRST LAW, LINE, ROTATING, SECOND LAW, THIRD LAW, THE CENTRE OF GRAVITY OF A DIVER, and more

Herb Flewelling
Inventor of the Bubbler in 1971

The Part That Character Plays in Success
By Herb Flewwelling of ESP Diving, EdmontonCAN.

It is possible to score about 900 points for a male 3 meter diver and about 750 points for a female 3 meter diver.
The ability to achieve such a score requires:
1. The inherited strength and athletic ability. 
2. An excellent training program
3. The four mental strength requirements for success: Honesty, unselfishness, self-discipline and ambition  and  as well
4. A persons self-esteem level is essential. 
A mathematical expression of the score for an individual might be:more

WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO WIN MORE THAN TWO BRONZE MEDALS IN 2000?