The meet this weekend came with mixed results. The diving event was sandwiched between a bunch of swim events and it was all done in a single afternoon. As such, there was only time to compete a single board. We could choose, which was nice, although it looks like they called it 1m, regardless of what we actually competed.
That said, I chose the 3m. It was great because almost everyone else was on 1m. So during warm ups I pretty much had the board to myself.
When the announcer called for the divers to warm up, I shed my shorts and t-shirt so I was just in my speedo. As I walked towards the boards, I overheard someone comment to the person next to them, "Is he a diver?"
I just kept walking and smirked inside my head. Oh, just you wait, I thought to myself. I ascended the ladder to the top of the 3m. I knew people were watching and I was actually horribly nervous. I set the fulcrum to the appropriate spot. Took my position towards the back of the board and did my approach. The first jump in my warm up is always just that--a jump. My hurdle was good, my height was good and I was ready for the second jump. This time, it's just a back jump. I executed that as I felt I should. I got out of the pool and climbed the ladder for my first real dive--a back dive straight. It's not very complex, but looks nice when done correctly. I could FEEL the eyes on me. The area got gradually more and more silent. I jumped up, looked back and dove it in. I felt like it was straight in. Silence. Just the sound of being underwater. As I broke back up through the surface, I could hear people clapping.
My dives got progressively more complex and I felt like the tone had shifted from, Why is that fat, old guy in a Speedo to having the entire area cheering for me.
Once the actual competition began, it was all eyes on the individual diving--even more so than warm ups. This was nerve-racking. I got nervous and blew a couple of dives that I'd worked on earlier in the week and had finally been able to take them up enough to stick them in properly. I scored low on those dives. I was hoping at this meet I'd get to the 200 point mark. My best had been 180 on the 3m.
I ended up scoring 166 which was disappointing. I did take first place, so that part of course was great, but I felt disappointed in myself for not turning in my best set of dives.
I have a meet this week again. This time it's at 8 am on Friday! Which means I have to leave the house by about 5:15 am. Ugh! But there's one thing I've always said, There are two things in life getting up early for...skiing and diving.
That said, I chose the 3m. It was great because almost everyone else was on 1m. So during warm ups I pretty much had the board to myself.
When the announcer called for the divers to warm up, I shed my shorts and t-shirt so I was just in my speedo. As I walked towards the boards, I overheard someone comment to the person next to them, "Is he a diver?"
I just kept walking and smirked inside my head. Oh, just you wait, I thought to myself. I ascended the ladder to the top of the 3m. I knew people were watching and I was actually horribly nervous. I set the fulcrum to the appropriate spot. Took my position towards the back of the board and did my approach. The first jump in my warm up is always just that--a jump. My hurdle was good, my height was good and I was ready for the second jump. This time, it's just a back jump. I executed that as I felt I should. I got out of the pool and climbed the ladder for my first real dive--a back dive straight. It's not very complex, but looks nice when done correctly. I could FEEL the eyes on me. The area got gradually more and more silent. I jumped up, looked back and dove it in. I felt like it was straight in. Silence. Just the sound of being underwater. As I broke back up through the surface, I could hear people clapping.
My dives got progressively more complex and I felt like the tone had shifted from, Why is that fat, old guy in a Speedo to having the entire area cheering for me.
Once the actual competition began, it was all eyes on the individual diving--even more so than warm ups. This was nerve-racking. I got nervous and blew a couple of dives that I'd worked on earlier in the week and had finally been able to take them up enough to stick them in properly. I scored low on those dives. I was hoping at this meet I'd get to the 200 point mark. My best had been 180 on the 3m.
I ended up scoring 166 which was disappointing. I did take first place, so that part of course was great, but I felt disappointed in myself for not turning in my best set of dives.
I have a meet this week again. This time it's at 8 am on Friday! Which means I have to leave the house by about 5:15 am. Ugh! But there's one thing I've always said, There are two things in life getting up early for...skiing and diving.