Beginner springboard diving lessons

Question
Hi Tom -

My daughter just turned 12 and has been a competetive gymnast for the past 3 years.  We live in the Everett areas and she is interested in trying springboard diving. Can you tell us where we can find lessons and/or a competetive team?  

Answer
Barbara -

I live in Everett (Silver Lake area)so I will give you all the info about diving where we live.

Unfortunately, it is limited to high school diving during the school year and summer league diving that just ended. The summer league teams are found in Lynnwood, Edmonds and Shoreline. I have tried in the past to do lessons at the Forest Park pool in Everett but found that the amount of time available and they way I want to do it was just not going to work out. I also did a lesson program at the Hal Moe pool in Snohomish but it has since closed.

The only real diving program in the whole Seattle/Puget Sound area is found at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way. The team there, Pacific Northwest Diving, is run by my good friends, Jim & Patti Southerland.It is quite a distance to go but they do have a good lesson program at one of the best indoor pools in the US. You can reach them at [email protected].

The problem where we live is a lack of pools with deep water. The ones that do have deep water are dominated by high school teams from now until mid February and then after that, they are taken over by club swim teams.

I wish I had better news about something close to you but it just does not exist.