Diving locations

Question
I am 15 years old and a level 8 gymnast. I recently chose to drop the sport after a complicated ankle injury, and a concussion. I am a varsity high school gymnast as well.

I've looked all over and tried to find diving locations in New Jersey, preferribly in the Monmouth-Ocean area. Can anyone help me find a diving school. I would really like to learn. Do you think I'll be good?

Answer
Nicole -

Here are some suggestions to find a diving coach/team:

Go to www.usadiving.org. Click on 'Clubs' and then 'Find a Club'. Enter your state and a list of teams will come up. Click on the link for Blue Dolphins Diving and contact Candace Gottleib. She is the head coach at College of New Jersey. She also coaches with Fred Woodruff of Rutgers. I do not know if these pools are close to you or not. You may be living in an area that is far from their diving programs.Ask Candace and Fred if they know of a coach near you. While at this site, click on 'high school results' then click on the link that will take you to New Jersey High School Swimming. In high school and college, diving is a swimming event. Look up high schools near you with divers and contact them to see if they know of a coach in your area. Also, enter New York at 'Find A Club'. There may be a team in that state that is closer to you than ones in New Jersey.

You can also try going to www.aaudiving.org. Click on 'Diving Sport Contacts'. When the map comes up, click on the district numbers closest to you. When the names come up, contact that person and ask about AAU diving teams in New Jersey.

Diving programs are found at colleges, high schools, city and county pools. Unlike gymnastics, no diving coach owns their own training facility.

As far as if you will be good, I can tell you that most of this sport is comprised of female divers between the ages of 13 and 21 and most of them are ex-gymnasts. A person with your background learns quicker than girls with no acrobatic ability. You just have to learn how to go head first. I suggest taping up your ankle and wearing a brace if you start diving.When you do a dive with your back facing the water, you need to have half your feet off the board which puts a lot of stress on your ankles. Also check with a doctor about the concussion before you try it out.

Good luck with your search.