This is something I wrote for the SkySports website and when I have asked anyone what they would be interested in, i do get the same answer . . . how do you make it look so effortless?
I can imagine that being a spectator at a diving competition the dives look pretty effortless. The audience are possibly in awe of the amount of somersaults that are done in such a small space of time and that we love being up on 10m doing them. All athletes are different but I know a lot of platform divers are naturally scared of doing their dives from such a height, 10m being two double decker buses plus half a family car high. I know this because I'm surrounded by it daily, I do not know enough about what goes on down below on springboard but I am sure that a big plank of thick bendy metal coming up past your face is just as terrifying. Fear is not often shown at a diving competition, by then the diver should be fairly comfortable with the surroundings, with their dives and relaxed enough to execute them well. Divers in competition are often seen as fearless but it is in training where you see people suffer and I know a lot of GB divers who have or do get too scared to take off.
Sometimes a diver can be that scared about a dive that they physically cannot leave the board. I have had countless conversations with myself on 10m, is it that I cannot or is it that I do not want to leave that board? Is it my mind that I need to set differently or do I just chuck it off and hope for the best. I never do the latter. There have been occasions where I haven't done a dive and I think its because I didn't want to but the reason why I didn't want to is because I didn't trust my body enough to enter the water without getting lost and ending up being badly hurt. So is that fear? And how does that fear come about when I have been training that dive for 10 years? It baffles me. Tom Daley and I go through that sometimes daily, mostly on twisting dives and for me on my handstand dive ... They are my best dives!!! It can escalate on to others depending on the consistency of the problem. If I really think into it, it probably starts from a situation outside of the pool, tiredness, pressure, decisions. And there is the problem, THINKING ... There are divers that think too much and there are others just get on with it. For example Tonia Couch, my synchro partner, has never had a problem, yes she has been scared but never enough not for her mind to stop her.
How do we deal with it ... I remember Leon Taylor telling me when I was younger that it was head f*** and that is exactly what it is. He had it. Andy, my coach, has always said to me there are gremlins in my mind controlling what I am thinking, get rid of them. Again exactly right. As I have got older, I have learnt to get rid of them easier, if I feel this 'thing' coming on then I know I need to change my mind set in a way that will put everything to the back of my brain and my body will be able to take care of the dive. It has taken years to work out how to do that but even then it sometimes doesn't work. If that doesn't happen then there is another session, another day. It is particularly frustrating for the diver and sometimes embarrassing to have to walk down all of those 10m steps instead of diving off into the water where we should have. Repetition, doing those dives every session enables a diver to become more confident on take off therefore hopefully executing them well on entry ... If your brain wants you to take off that is.
I wouldn't say ''I love diving off 10m ", but I do like it. It is more about the thrill of being able to do something well with the feeling of contentment and achievement when I have done well at a competition. A lot of hard work goes behind a medal with our coaches and a lot of hard work goes into being able to compete well. Diving is about confidence, it's a show. I pretend to be confident all of the time in competition, even if I feel a bit unsure, pretending shows that you are confident. Next time you watch a competition maybe think about how much thought process goes into each individual dive from each individual person. Would you be confident to jump off a piece of concrete two double decker buses and half a family car high ... And land safely?
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