By Matthew Barnard, Swimming World College Intern.
There is no doubt that divers love their sport, but every now and then we look down pool deck and wish we were a swimmer. Although swimming is no doubt a grueling and intense sport, there is plenty for swimmers to be thankful for.
Here are seven reasons why sometimes divers wish they were swimmers:
1. Food
Photo Courtesy: Steve Snodgrass
Walking into any college dinning hall a student-athlete is faced with so many choices that it is just impractical to try every dish. Unless you are a swimmer. Swimmers have the ability to eat mountains of food and not be full, a gift that divers can only dream of having. Due to the insane amount of calories swimmers burn in the pool they can out-eat divers time and time again.
2. Event Variety
In the NCAA there are only three diving events: 1 meter, 3 meter, and platform. Swimming has far more. With multiple distances in four different strokes as well as individual medleys swimmers are spoiled with choice, a luxury that divers just don’t have. Not only is there more variety in swimming events, but swimmers also have relays. Divers would love the chance to score double points in events, and contribute further to their team totals.
3. Taper
Towards the end of the season swimmers get out of the pool earlier and earlier, while divers spend just as much time perfecting their skills. The only thing worse than not getting out of practice early is hearing your teammates talking about how easy their workout was. Divers often back off on their lifting workouts but never reach the full taper that their swimming teammates do before championship meets. We would cherish the opportunity to say “I’ll take the elevator, I’m on taper”.
4. Divers Fear
Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports Images
Diving is no doubt one of the scariest Olympic sports. We must throw ourselves off platforms the height of three story buildings, complete multiple flips, and then land head first in the water. Many, if not all divers are afraid of getting lost in their dives, hitting the springboard or platform, or belly-flopping on the water. Swimmers don’t experience nearly as much of the fear that divers do in everyday practice.
5. Swimmer’s Body
Swimmers are renowned for having some of the best bodies in sports, and this is by no coincidence. With broad shoulders and staggering height, divers are often envious of swimming body types. Diving bodies are often short and strong, and are almost always dwarfed by their swimming teammates.
6. Judging
Photo Courtesy: Red Bull Cliff Diving
Unlike swimming, the winner of a diving event is determined by the individual who scores the most points. Points are given to a diver by judges who determine what the dive was worth, ultimately the job of a diver is to impress the judges. Swimmers don’t have this worry, they can just do their very best and not have a judge tell them it wasn’t good enough. Many divers would happily welcome the idea of competing and not being judged.
7. Event Length
Often large diving events will take upwards of three hours to complete. During a multiple day meet with prelims and finals, divers spend hours upon hours sitting on pool deck in competitions. Swimming events are often quick (with the exception of some distance events) leaving the swimmer time to relax and prepare for their next event. Divers can only hope for short events that swimmers have become custom to.
All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.
Erin Keaveny