Old Dog Learns a New Trick

When I was in high school I had a friend, and every time we went to his house we ended up watching the hilarious classic, What About Bob. A sub-plot line is that the son of the very prestigious therapist is terrified of diving, but his father has said he would teach him for the past several years. Of course it is Bob, using the doctors baby steps theory, who finally gets him to do it. So in the end he does a successful dive off the dock.

I took my almost fourteen year old niece swimming yesterday. She wanted to dive from the diving board, but she got nervous so she had to practice off of the side first. I then confessed to her that I had never learned to dive. I always had wanted to learn, but at this point in time I feel embarrassed learning at a public pool and I feel a lot more anxiety about belly flopping then I did about performing in front of a large audience. It would have been much easier if I had been nine with less fears and panic built up over the years.

This day I decided that I would overcome my belly flopping fears and I would do it with a thirteen year old mentor. So after a few kneeling dives off of the side of the pool, I progressed to standing from the side of the pool. Then I just didn't think about it, and I walked to the diving board. I took the kneeling stance that I had learned, with my toes over the edge and my knee lined up. My head was tucked and my hands were out and I pushed off. Then I flinched and screamed. I ended up with sort of a sideways twisting body splash, but I did not belly flop. So after enduring the lifeguard's laughter, I marched back to the diving board. Again, I took the position and then I clenched my jaw, so as not to scream again and I aimed down. It was not graceful. I would not have even scored in a competition, but I dove. I went from the diving board into the pool head first with my hands out stretched.

A few more successful kneeling dives gave me the confidence to try standing. There were no running bounces. Just a nice bent stance to precede my sloppy dive into the pool, but again, no belly flop.

I continued climbing the diving board steps and make several very successful dives in a row. The I decided to concentrate on keeping my feet together with legs straight. That was a mistake. I wasn't ready yet. I still needed to think about the other stuff too much. So when I got there to the edge, it was a tragedy waiting to happen. I thought about pointing my toes and kicking off instead of head down and knees slightly bend. Then I pushed off. I panicked, and you guessed it. Splashed! A belly flop! My pain exceeded my embarrassment and we decided to take a break from diving to try out the water slides.

Just before the pool closed, we did return to the diving area. I really wanted to do it again, but I had that traumatic image burned into my soul and it was a lot harder. I did some successful dives from the side of the pool, and then I moved to the board. I started with a kneel and it was good. Then I returned to the standing position at the edge of the diving board. I wanted it ... but no. It was just too soon.

So I have successfully made some dives, kneeling and standing from the diving board. By successful I mean not belly flops, but I have also made a very unsuccessful dive. Still, all in all it was a good evening spent at the community pool. And my mentor did a great job in teaching this old dog a new trick. Maybe next time I'll be ready to try standing again.