Welcome to Walden Glen Diving. The goals of the Walden Glen Dive Team are for our divers to have fun, learn to dive safely, improve diving skills, and strengthen self-confidence and self-image. We seek to reach those goals through safe and positive team practices, meets that offer challenging competitive experiences to divers with widely ranging skills, and social events.
The Walden Glen Air Wahoos competed in Division 5 during the 2010 season, along with Ilda, Orange Hunt, Overlee, Camelot and Dominion Hills. Our Team Rep is Paul Rabe. Contact Paul at (703) 912-4869 for more information about the dive team.
The Walden Glen Air Wahoos Dive Team is part of the Northern Virginia Swimming League (NVSL) summer program. 47 NVSL member clubs will field dive teams competing in 8 divisions. The league reseeds the divisions every season in an effort to provide an equitable competitive experience. Seeding is based on prior year results, on the projected competitive strength of each team and other factors, rather than on the basis of size, location, or swim team seeding.
Team Membership
The Walden Glen Dive Team is open to any child of a club member who can jump off the dive board and swim to the edge of the pool. Dive team members need not have previous diving experience nor do they need to participate in the swim program.
Team Practices
Practices are conducted weekdays starting the Tuesday following Memorial Day through the end of July for approximately 1 hour. Afternoon practices are held until school is out, then morning practices are held for the remainder of the season.
For those that Swim and Dive, the dive practice is opposite the swim practice schedule.
Diving Age Groups
For competition, divers are generally grouped by gender into four age categories: Freshman (10 and under); Juniors (11-12), Intermediates (13-14) and Seniors (16-18). NVSL diving age group eligibility is determined by the diver's age on June 1st; the age group does not change even if he or she has a summer birthday. This means that a competitor's NVSL diving "age" may be different from their NVSL swimming "age."
In dual meets, coaches may ask divers to "dive up" one age group; in individual meets like Divisionals, they may dive only in their age groups. The Crackerjack Meet and, as appropriate, 'B' meets, divide the freshmen category into separate age groups for 6 and under, 7, 8, 9 and 10 year olds.
Each age group has a different number of dives, which are required during a meet:
| Freshmen: | Front dive, back dive, 1 optional (3 dives) * |
| Juniors: | Front dive, back dive, 2 optionals (4 dives) |
| Intermediates: | Front dive, back dive, 3 optionals (5 dives) |
| Seniors: | Front dive, back dive, 4 optionals (6 dives) |
* There are special rules for freshmen divers—forward and backward jumps may be used as dives, and a "back entry" (a back fall-off with a headfirst entry) may be used as a back dive.
The groups from which optional dives are chosen are front dives, back dives, reverse, inward and twist dives.
COMPETITION EVENTS
'A' Meets (Dual Meets)
Dual Meets are held on five consecutive Tuesday evenings. We can enter up to 32 competitors in each dual meet, allocated in any way the team chooses among the age groups. Dual meets are scored by team with 5 points being given to the first place finisher, 3 points to second place, and 1 point to third place. The total of all points awarded to each team in each age group will determine the winner of the meet.
Dual meets are generally scheduled to start at 6pm. Divers must have a complete list of required dives for their age group to qualify as an official diver and participate in dual meets.
'B' Meets (Developmental Meets)
Developmental or 'B' Meets are designed for our less experienced divers. They provide a positive meet experience, particularly for divers who do not yet have a complete list of required dives for their age group. 'B' meets are organized less formally than their swimming counterparts and depend to a large extent on team size. If the team size can support a schedule of 'B' meets, they would normally be scheduled for Thursday evenings.
Parental Participation
Walden Glen cannot provide a positive diving program for our children without significant support from the parents of our divers. We need help in at least three different ways: Meet workers, fundraising and team administration. The League holds clinics before the start of the season to acquaint volunteers with all aspects of a dive meet, including announcing, table workers and judging—if you are interested in attending one of the clinics, see the Team Rep for dates and times.
|
