riding the board

Question
I am having difficulties in teaching my divers on waiting and riding the board. Any comments or drills would be appreciated.

Answer
Hi Rich -

The problem that you and your divers are going through is common to all involved in diving. It is a universal difficulty that every diver goes through at some point in their career. There is no exact answer I can give you since I have not seen your divers practice or compete but I can give you some hints on how to overcome their problem of riding the board:

1. Fulcrum setting: if it is too tight it will be hard to stay with the board for very long. Try and get them to move it back even if it one inch at a time.

2. In order to ride the board, they have to "catch it" first. This means when two feet land on the tip, the board is on its' way down or is relatively still. If they land on the tip while the board is on the way up, they will not catch it and therefore not be able to ride it.

3. They could be landing on the tip very flat footed or heel first.
Divers need to land on the tip on the balls of their feet and then the middle of the foot and finally the heel. Landing flat footed will cause a "pounding" sound that will not allow them to ride the board. This pounding can also occur from the diver trying to press the board down before they land on it causing them to make this pounding problem even worse.Remind them that the weight of their body will bend the board. The higher they push off one foot into the hurdle, the farther down the board will go when they land on it.Then when the armswing/press occurs, the board will go down farther as the arms swing up.

4. Another thing to think about is listening to the board bounce against the fulcrum while the diver is dropping to the tip out of the hurdle. If done right, the board will bounce twice against the fulcrum before two feet land on the tip. If it is less than two bounces against the fulcrum, they will not be in time with the board.

5. Look to see where their arms are when two feet land on the tip. They should be only a 1/4 of the way through the arm circle. If they are father than that, (say 3/4) they are ahead of the press and it will then cause them to be out of time with the board. Also look to see where their arms are when the board is all the way down. Their arms should be all the way over their head and then the "ride" you are looking for should occur. At this point, they should wait for the board to throw them.

Go to www.usadiving.org, click on Store and then Educational Materials. There are lots of books, DVD's and CD roms available that can really help you with this age old problem.

Good luck. Hope all this helps.