Public Diving – Time to take the plunge?

Low cost swimming initiatives for the very young and the over 60s are now commonplace, and incentives abound for getting families to participate in recreational swimming together – a factor that can only be good for the sport. Contrast this with a reported drop from 296 to 66 public diving facilities since 1977 – a reduction of 78%.

The opportunity for families to dive together is limited, and yet for confidence building, self-discipline and mutual respect diving is hard to beat. Having nervously hurled myself feet-first off a three metre board for the first time earlier this year I was filled with renewed respect for my seven year old, who performed an elegant pike fall head-first immediately before me. His minimal splash and resulting beam of delight at the public diving session in Harrogate turned to vigorous cheers and not a little mirth as my airborne impersonation of roadrunner, complete with cartoon sound-effects came careering down behind him.

“Two out of ten because you tried Mummy”, was his verdict, “But I think you need a bit more practice”.

How nice for children to be able to coach their parents for a change, to realise how much they have learnt, and what a difference all their practise has made. How therapeutically humbling for a parent to be hopeless at something, but for that not to matter, and for the fun of it to be far more important. And how sad that not everybody gets the chance to have a go.

Diving is a sport that lends itself to a structured club environment, yet there are only 55 diving clubs nationwide compared to 1600 ASA-supported swimming clubs across the country. Notable barren areas for diving include the East and West Midlands and East Anglia. The capital is also particularly poorly served with only 11 diving facilities in London, in 9 of the 33 boroughs.

However, the story on the closure of diving facilities is not black and white. Pools built in the 1960s and 1970s included diving pits which were overtaken by changes in FINA regulations and fell into disuse. Unbridled horror at the closure of these facilities perhaps misses the point - keeping open a poorly maintained or inappropriately specified facility is unlikely to help public enjoyment, or to foster the next generation of divers. The issue is not the closure – more what is there being built to replace it?

Nevertheless restricted facilities means fewer clubs and missed talent. As Rebecca Burrows, Diving Talent Officer (North) put it “There might be another Tom Daley sitting at home in Birmingham, and we’ll never know, because kids there have no opportunity to start diving.”

It also potentially means fewer young people attracted to leisure centres. Whilst the structure of a club is great for those who want to train, it is not for everyone, and a 25m pool on its own may not be enough of a draw to lure young people away from congregating in town centres at the weekend. The group most likely to increase participation if a public diving facility exists are youths aged 13-18 – surely exactly the people society should be encouraging into sport, and away from temptations of anti social behaviour?

Noel Winter, ASA Facilities Officer works with local authorities when new pools are being built and lobbies for the inclusion of diving as part of a mixed use facility. The familiar smaller teaching pools found in older centres are deserted after 7pm, but if a variable depth teaching pool is included it can be worked harder and for longer, and for a variety of disciplines including diving.

Yet once the facility is installed, there can still sometimes be reluctance to opening it to the public. Noel Winter comments “Diving is a highly disciplined sport. You see kids at diving clubs and they are focussed and understand safety. Compared to twenty years ago the public, both young and old seem to have a lesser regard for others and the consequences of their actions. Put this in a diving context and because of the combination of height and speed you can have accidents. Yet when it is run well, and everyone understands how to stay safe, the boards are full, and kids and adults are having a great time”

So is it a fear of Health and Safety implications and the threat of a compensation culture that is the limiting factor - and if so, is that fear necessarily unfounded? A study in Canada discovered that diving accidents increased during and immediately after the Beijing Olympics as the sport reached out televisually to millions who were inspired to have a poorly-executed go. Yet having got the specification right in building the pool, there is no inherent reason why the public cannot be schooled in safe diving practices in much the same way as they are marshalled in the safe use of slides at leisure pools. Signage, education and staff training are all part of the picture.

Rebecca Burrows’ view is a positive one. “We work with the local authorities and support the training of lifeguards at public diving sessions. Without adequate training and supervision facilities can get misused and management tend to close the boards, but if staff can educate the public how to use a board correctly the public enjoy it more, and the facility stays in better condition. There is a win-win out there.”

Certainly education is key. A large percentage of children learn how to swim, but then what? The ASA’s Flip ‘n’ Fun diving programme looks not only at giving swimmers another outlet but also teaches the fundamentals of diving safety basics, and is accessible from all pools, as it commences with basic poolside techniques. Katherine Hazleton, Diving Talent Officer (South) has a holistic approach. She is hopeful of making Flip ‘n’ Fun so systemic that diving safety training surreptitiously becomes as commonplace as road safety training for our young people. Combine that with diving training for lifeguards, and we start to enter a virtuous circle for public diving.

And so to the future? The current facilities, whilst not as numerous as one might wish are modern, well equipped and well used. A new pool is being built at Corby with diving facilities included. Crawley’s new 50m pool is packed with public divers on a Saturday morning, and new pools with diving facilities have been recently built in Leeds and Sunderland. Indeed Sunderland have just appointed a new head coach, part of whose remit will be to attend public diving sessions and spot new talent.

Of course we always want more, and rightly so. Let’s aim high – More diving clubs across the country… All new pools to include a diving facility…A High Performance Diving Centre in every region… British Diving to sweep the board at 2012… And of course everybody to have the opportunity to demonstrate their own safe version of slapstick comedy at the local public diving session, to the amusement of their children...