The Art of Diving

It’s an early Saturday morning. The smell of chlorine fills the air, and swimmers fill the Blodgett Pool. Then, an athlete majestically soars into the air, performs a corkscrew flip, and splashes into the water below. All eyes turn towards the rippling surface of the water in awe.

What has just been witnessed is the diving portion of the Harvard swimming and diving team. Although the two activities are vastly different, they still compete under the same umbrella at the collegiate level. At the national and international level, including the Olympic Games, the sports are split.

Having the two sports together on the same team at younger ages can actually help increase diving participation by exposing aspiring swimmers to diving. This was the case for Crimson swimming and diving co-captain Cassie Corneau.

“I started out doing a summer club swim team, and I had a friend who decided to try diving,” Corneau said. “At first I was terrible, but I kept going. I think the thing that has kept me in it is that it’s always been challenging for me.”

At the NCAA level, there are two main types of diving events: three-meter and one-meter springboard. The names refer to how far above the water the board is positioned.

Diving as a sport is based more on technique than the speed aspect that dominates swimming. Consequently, for Harvard divers, the focus in practice is far different from their swimming counterparts.

“In terms of physical skillset, swimming is an incredibly grueling endurance sport; diving is much more immediate explosiveness,” said Crimson senior diver George Doran. “Mentally, swimming is a long race while diving is a series of two or three-second moves that involve a lot more visualization.”

At Harvard, the swimmers and divers practice together, hang out together, and cheer each other on at competitions, both showing an appreciation for the other contingent’s skill set. The coaches work in conjunction with one another, helping the team build chemistry to flourish at meets.

“They have different disciplines and they train separately, but being able to train at the same time makes them really close,” diving coach Keith Miller said. “The swimmers yell across the pool at the divers; they go across the river and get meals together. They really build a great bond.”

In diving, the goal is to amass as high a point total as possible based on the judges’ scores. Scores are given from a range of one to ten. These totals are then multiplied by the dive’s degree of difficulty, a number corresponding to how challenging a particular dive is to execute.

“There are two parts of diving that really matter: the difficulty of the dive being performed and how the diver executes,” Doran said. “It’s very difficult for casual observers to determine the difficulty of the dive, so it is read aloud. The magnitude of the splash, height of the dive, and distance from the board are all things fans can pick up on.”

Typically for divers, there is a lot of repetition involved trying to perfect their dives and get as prepared as possible for competition.

“We’ll get to the pool, get warmed up, and do some practice on the dry board and trampoline,” Corneau said. “Then we’ll get into the water, work on individual needs, and practice optionals, which are the dives we actually perform at meets.”

Coaches on the swimming and diving team tend to focus on their specific event, but do everything possible to work in tandem with each other to help integrate the squad and foster unity.

“Years ago, there weren’t specialized diving coaches; typically, the swimming coach was also the diving coach,” Miller said. “Keeping on that tradition, swimming coaches and diving coaches still work closely together and are very coordinated.”

One point that is heavily focused on in practice and preparation is the mental aspect of the sport of diving. Being mentally comfortable can make all the difference when it comes to success versus failure.

“Being able to turn your mind off is pretty big,” Corneau said. “A lot of times you could scare yourself, so being able to be trapped in your body and trapped in yourself can help with some of the tougher dives. Mental toughness is extremely important.”

At the end of each meet, the diving results and swimming results are tallied together to jointly determine the team’s standing and crown a champion. On paper, swimming and diving are two sides of the same coin. But, as someone familiar with the sports would tell you, their executions are nowhere near the same plane.

“In diving, it’s still competition and you’re competing against other people,” Miller said. “But in a way you’re also competing against yourself because you’re out there trying to perform the best dive that you can.”

Relay races, freestyles, and breaststrokes aren’t the only requirements to field a solid swimming and diving squad. What happens on the boards is just as important in determining who comes out on top.

—Staff writer Jed Rothstein can be reached at jrothstein@college.harvard.edu.