Diving instruction in SF

Question
Tom, my 16 year old daughter is a gymnast (10 years) but want to learn competive diving.  We live in San Francisco but see no diving progams here other than an open board at Koret Aquatics on the weekends.  Is there an instructor who could teach her on weekends at Koret or is Stanford and Ryan Wallace our best bet?  Is 16 years old too old to take this up and make a college team?  Thanks.  John

Answer
John -

I am originally from the Bay Area so I am familiar with that facility at USF. I used to rent it from time to time and put on meets there about 15 years ago because it is the only indoor pool with 4 springboards. The problem with diving in SF is that it is a non aquatic city. There is not much high school swimming/diving & no college diving so that is why you cannot find an instructor.

You best bet is dive for Ryan at Stanford. I used to coach him when he was a student at De Anza J.C. in Cupertino. He is a great guy and a good coach. He has one of the best female high school age divers in the state.

16 is not too old to start diving but she would have to do it on a regular basis year round to make a college team, especially if it is a Division I school.The NCAA has 3 divisions and I is the hardest while II is easier and III is very easy.She needs to be able to compete on both the 1 & 3 meter boards. The platform is not something she has to do. Some kids like it and others (like Ryan's diver) choose not to learn it.Stanford has what is considered the best outdoor facility in the US and it is also one of the largest in the world.

You may want to consider going to Stanford this weekend for the season ending Far Western Championships. She could get an idea of what girls her age (16-18)are competing. For more info go to:

www.divemeets.com. Click on Upcoming Meets and some info will come up to click on. You can also go to www.mastersdiving.org and scroll down the page looking on the right hand side for another source of meet information.

Other wesbites about diving include:

www.usadiving.org
www.flipnrip.com
www.diving.about.com
www.aaudiving.org

Good luck with your pursuit of this great sport.