Diving in Chicago?

Question
I just graduated from Boston University and came home to Chicago.  At BU, I took diving lessons for about two years, and I would like to keep up with it.  I can't find anyone who will let me dive.  I live near downtown Chicago.  Do you know of any clubs or lessons or pools where they let people use the board?  Thanks.

Answer
Christy -

Since I do not know where you have tried to find a place to dive and have failed, some of my suggestions may be repetitive.

Go to www.usadiving.org and click on Clubs and then Find A Club. Enter IL and a list of teams will come up, some of which are in Chicago. The person I know best in your town is the coach at Northwestern, Alic Sarkesian. If you have tried him and cannot practice there it could be because he only takes age group divers and his college athletes.There is also Windy City Diving that may let you dive at their pool.

Also go to www.mastersdiving.org. Masters is a term used for adult recreational and competitive diving. Since you are out of college, this may be a good fit for you. At this page, on the left hand side, click on e-mail addresses. Scroll down the page and look on the right hand side for people and contact info of adults who dive in Chicago. I saw six names of divers so they must know a place to dive. There was one name from the University of Illinois/Chicago. Maybe there is a program there you can join. While at this site, also click on Message Board. I saw some postings about diving in Chicago that may help you.

You can also try www.aaudiving.org. This is an alternate governing body for diving. Click on Diving Sport Contacts and when the map comes up, click on district numbers closest to you. Contact that person and see if they can help.

Good luck in your search.