Would you cross a busy street with your eyes closed? 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. Many people dive with their eyes closed some or all of the time. Even most of those who do open their eyes don’t focus on anything during a dive.

It is amazing how valuable vision can be in diving. In my opinion there are many advantages to using your eyes for orientation in diving. Not all people necessarily see the same things, or try to see the same things. But, it is important to keep your eyes open throughout a dive, and to focus on certain things in some dives.

It is possible to take a great deal of the fear out of diving by using your eyes. A child is afraid of the dark because he can’t see. A diver puts himself in the same situation when he closes his eyes during a dive. With eyes closed, he will be afraid because he cannot see where he is going.

By using visual aid in diving, you not only take the fear out of diving, but you also make the learning of new dives easier, help your consistency, orient yourself in the air better, and make diving more enjoyable. It seems logical to me that the more senses you use to aid you with your diving, the better off you are.

It is true that most of the good competitive divers make use of their eyes to a certain degree in most dives, but even the best divers fail to take full advantage of their eyes on the back 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 somersaults, or the reverse 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 somersaults.

The eyes are tremendously useful in executing these dives which are referred to by many as “blind” dives. These dives are considered “blind” dives because you enter the water in a back-dive entry. Divers usually learn the back and reverse 1 1/2s by the trial and error method. They do a back somersault and hold on a little longer before trying to guess when to open up for the entry. In many cases the beginner might even close his eyes but if they are open, he probably isn’t focusing on anything in particular.

The more times a diver repeats a dive, the better he knows where he is. By repeating a dive many, many times, a diver builds a conditional reflex. After a certain length of time the dive becomes almost automatic. If a diver has to depend entirely upon the trial and error method in building a conditioned reflex, new dives are difficult to learn. This method can also be rather painful if you land on your back or stomach too many times. I am sure you understand what I mean if you were one of the unfortunate people who learned by the above method.

The 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 somersaults

The 1 1/2 somersault is much easier to execute if you learn to look at the board after turning over the back somersault. It is not difficult from a physical aspect, but psychologically it is hard to make yourself spot (look at) something in the middle of the dive, you help to orient yourself just before entering. The board is not the only thing you see during a back 1 1/2 somersault of course. You see between your hands on the reach for the sky or ceiling, and you see the water on the entry. Seeing the board in the middle of a dive is the one thing most divers do not do, yet it is so useful. Even though I said “look for the board”, this doesn’t mean you could not spot your feet or something else, but the point I am trying to make is that you should orient yourself in the middle of the dive.

The back 2 1/2 somersault is done similarly, but you see the board at a back double somersault instead of at a somersault.

In learning the reverse 1 1/2 somersault, you should also learn to spot something in the middle of the dive that will help orient you. It is a relatively simple matter to see the water at the reverse somersault on the way to a 1 1/2 and to see the water at a double reverse on the way to a reverse 2 1/2 somersault.

It is important to see things on all dives to help orient yourself during your flight through the air. It is not necessary for me to point out exactly what objects a person should see on each dive. It is more important for me to stress use of vision in diving so you will learn to see things for yourself.

The Twisters

One question that I feel should be answered is: what do you see on twisters? I can answer the above best by telling you what I see even though this might not be exactly what someone else sees. I see the water on the take-off, see things flashing by during the actual twisting, and then spot the water before entering. As I throw my arms outwards to stop my twist and pike the body downward for the entry, I see the water clearly.

Most coaches and divers usually agree that it is probably useful to spot the board on a back 1 1/2 if you can learn this technique. They don’t realize how much easier the dive can be until they actually force themselves to watch for the board. They will be amazed to see how the whole perspective of the dive changes after learning to spot the board.

A trampolinist makes greater use of vision in his tricky maneuvers than a diver does because he is landing on something solid, and he has to execute several tricks in succession. A trampolinist is accustomed to spotting the mat at the somersault because he usually takes off from his feet while the diver usually enters the water first. Therefore, a trampolinist finds it easier to look at the board on a back 1 1/2 than a diver does. This is one reason why the trampoline is such an asset to a diver.

When divers start to take full advantage of their eyes, a whole new field of dives could be added to the book. The front 1 1/2 twisting 1 1/2 somersault, the front 2 1/2 , twisting 1 1/2 somersault, the back 1 1/2 somersault with a double twist are all examples of dives that could be added. These dives could be done without learning how to spot in the middle of a dive, but I would not suggest doing them that way. The next time you are having trouble with a dive, try opening your eyes.