body height

Question
My son will be 17 years old in October 2011. He has been training for 8 years. He is now 6 feet and 2 inches tall. Will his body height prevent him from reaching top level diving.

Answer
Hi Otto -

In the many years that I have been attending junior, senior and collegiate national level meets, I have seen several males you son's height excel in springboard and platform competitions. The common element they all demonstrated was that their mechanics in executing difficult dives was very exacting and precise. This is because the taller you are, the more you must have the fundamental mechanical ability to do the dive right. The advantage of being of his height is that when he does dives mechanically correctly, they will be more appealing to the judges. If he has a long lean body type with stretched legs and pointed toes, his dives will look better than a very short diver that has a thicker body type and not as an attractive body line.The disadvantage to being this tall is that if he does things mechanically wrong, they are more apparent and show up more in meets than someone who is a little shorter and more mechanically correct.

So he can reach a top level of diving if he has sound fundamental skills, can rip entries and be able to do the higher degree of difficulty dives well. He also need to continue to develop his abdominal strength and his flexibility as he grows (which hopefully will end soon!). It also goes without saying that he needs to train on a regular year round basis, dive in junior olympic and senior level meets where he can be seen by college coaches.

Good luck to him this season. Hope all this helps.