Maximum safe stature for male divers

Question
My teen son dove competitively for about 3 years. He really enjoyed it but kept getting injured. He took the past year off to heal and has started talking about diving again this Fall. During this past year he has grown to about 6'2" and he is only 16 years old. His father is 6'3" and he has a 6'9" grandfather, both of which had growth spurts into their college years. If my son continues to grow will he be safe competeting springboard and platform?

Answer
Jenelle -

Your son can be safe in competitive as he continues to grow if he follows the program of someone who is a safety certified coach. You mention that he had to stop diving because he kept getting injured. I do not know the nature of these injuries but it could be that he was learning dives he was not ready for.

The other factor about diving safely for someone his size is that he has to remember that the taller you are in diving, the more mechanically correct you must be. He needs to develop proper fundamental skills so that when he does the harder 'optional' dives, he does them right.
Diving is easier for shorter people for sure but it does not mean a taller person can excel. It just may take him longer and he will have to be willing to put in a lot of work. He should also right now be working on his flexibility and abdominal strength. When he returns to diving, if he has no flexibility or strong stomach muscles, he may just start getting injured again.

So in conclusion, the combination of an experienced safety certified coach who knows that he will need extra work on fundamental skills, knows when he is ready to try harder dives and his own regimen of dry land exercises will be the keys to a successful return to diving.

You might also consider enrolling him in a summer diving camp at a major university #like University of Texas in Austin#before he returns to diving in the fall.

Best of luck in his return to a great sport.