Too old and need practice!?

Question
Hi!
I came to UC Berkeley this year and love it. However, I used to dive in high school and honestly it was the one thing that I was extremely passionate about. I was wondering where I could enroll in classes near or at Berkeley. I read other questions from various people from Oakland and the bay area but I'm not sure if it would apply to me due to my age. I'm 18 years old and do not think I have the skill to be on the diving team for Berkeley. I learned the basic inward, reverse dive tuck, back twist, and a front 1 1/2. That's all. What should I do and where can I enroll in lessons? Thank you so much

Answer
Aliza -

In answer to your questions:

1. You are not too old to take your diving to the next level. In diving, you are still considered young. I do not know if you will achieve the level it takes to dive for the Cal Diving Team but you can still pursue the sport.Ask Tom Davidson,the head coach, if he knows of a way you can dive on campus with someone other than his team. They are in the middle of their season right now so find out when they have home meets, show up and offer to help at the score desk writing down scores. If you show an interest in the team and the divers you may find a way to dive at their pool.

2. The area where you live has two programs to contact.One is the Sherman Swim School of Lafayette run by a friend of mine, Steve Sherman. It is about a half hour east of Berkeley off Hiway 24. Go to www.shermanswim.com to contact him. They may be closed over the holidays but try him anyway.The second place to try is the Diablo Divers of Walnut Creek, just about 15 minutes farther than Lafayette.The head coach is Phil Tonne, another coaching friend of mine. He used to coach the Cal team is now the diving coach for U.C. Davis. Go to www.myspace.com and navigate your way to his home page under the team name.These coaches will take you into consideration for their team.. Mention my name and I am sure they will take a look at what you can do.

Those are the closest programs to your school. The other teams are west of you at Stanford and Santa Clara. There is one other team in the east bay called All Valley Divers run by Monte Young. Go to www.usadiving.org. Click on Clubs and then Find A Club. Enter CA and his team name will appear.I am not sure what pool he is using right now and if it is close enough to Cal I am sure he will take anyone who has any desire and ability level. He has coached many adults older than you.

Other websites about diving include:

www.aaudiving.org
www.usadiver.com
www.mastersdiving.org
www.diving.about.com
www.divemeets.com
www.laurawilkinson.com

Good luck with your pursuit of this great sport.