The Techniques of Springboard Diving

Book excerpt: This is the first book on diving to progress beyond the beginner's stage. although open to the beginner, it will come into full use in the hands of the advanced performer and his coach. A careful balance is maintained between encouraging the instinctive response ("The truth of the matter is that good divers do the natural and correct thing -- despite coaching!") and encouraging the diver to act in accordance with basic physical principles that are instilled so deeply they become second nature to him.The author abjures the folklore of traditional diving instruction in favor of an approach solidly based on the science of mechanics. Such concepts as the moment of inertia and the conservation of angular momentum are simply and graphically explained. This is by no means empty scientific bravado -- in giving the diver a genuine knowledge of why certain motions produce certain results, the book will impart more confidence than a mere set of precepts telling him what to do.All the main groups of dives are covered in separate chapters. The "saving of dives," an essential development of modern diving, is treated, and there is a chapter on the judging of diving. The book is profusely illustrated with drawings and photographs, including for the first time stroboscopic movie action shots (each frame at 1/100,000 of a second) of current National and Olympic champions.