Diving Lessons

Learning how to dive is an acquired skill that must be taught systematically through diving lessons to prevent injury. Often, swimmers will have stress related fears and unnecessary anxiety related to diving because they were never taught properly in their diving lessons.

Skills for Diving Lessons

Before diving can be taught to any swimmer through diving lessons, they must be comfortable with swimming in the deep end of the pool and have mastered submersion. If the swimmer is unable to swim without becoming over tired or anxious, he is not ready to learn how to dive or take diving lessons from anyone. Novice swimmers often psych themselves out when learning this new, but necessary swimming skill, because it requires the head to enter into the water before the rest of the body (yet another skill that good diving lessons teach). The key to success is the minimizing of fears and anxieties and a slow pace when the swimmer begins taking diving lessons.

At the first of many diving lessons, the swimmer should stand at the end of the pool and practice the right positioning. His arms should go over his head and be tight to the skull; it is frequently taught when giving diving lessons to children that their arms should be touching their ears. One hand should be place on top of the other with the palms facing down. The swimmer must learn to tuck his chin in until it is pressed against his chest to achieve proper form through his diving lessons.

Once the position has been occupied, the instructor of the diving lessons should get into the water and encourage the swimmer to make his body into a C position by drawing his core into his back. The diving lessons will encourage the slow practice of hitting the water until the fingers enter first. The diving lessons will require that the instructor guide the student many times.

Sitting and Kneeling Diving Lessons

If the swimmer is not able to handle starting from a standing position at first, this is ok as they will learn more with more diving lessons. It is possible to teach the skill of diving from either a kneeling or sitting position. The process is very similar to standing diving lessons, but in the sitting version, the swimmer's feet will already be in the water; the instructor will guide the swimmer from a seated position into the water with proper diving technique. The kneeling position, much like the sitting position, describes the starting position that the swimmer will assume in the diving lessons.

Once a standing dive is achieved and practiced, it should become second nature (as long as enough reinforcement through the diving lessons is realized). Now comes the fun part, the diving boards. It is imperative that proper technique and form is learned through earlier diving lessons before attacking the diving boards. Unfortunately, using wrong technique from the high board can cause paralysis or even death because of the misalignment of the body.

The technique for diving from the boards is much like the standing dive except the swimmer has more time before he hits the water. For more advanced diving lessons, a proper facility should be consulted; for example, in the state of Georgia, we have heard nothing but good about the diving lessons at Moss farms and their diving tigers. Make sure that you ask around your respective neighborhood before signing up for diving lessons. Remember, if they don't teach you proper form, you may be risking your life the next time you dive.

Have fun at your diving lessons.