diving in college

Question
I'm 13 years old and I have been diving for a month. I want to dive in college. I'm very flexible because I used to do ballet. I live in Brevard County, FL and the club I am at doesn't have dry-land training facilities. It has two 1 meter springboards and a video replay system. Can I become a college diver? Can I practice anything at my house to become a better at diving?

Answer
Courteney -

If you continue diving on a year round basis until you graduate from high school (and have good grades)I am sure you can become a college diver. If you only know how to dive on one meter and have no dry land training experience then you will probably only be able to dive for a NCAA Division III team. In the NCAA, there are 3 levels of competition: Division I which is the highest and most difficult, Division II which is not easy but not as difficult as Division I and then Division III which is found mostly at small colleges that focus more on academics than sports.This level is just a little harder than high school diving.

If you want to dive for a big school in your state like Florida, Miami or Florida State (which are all Division I), then you need to train with a team that has 3 meters and platforms. Division I diving teams do not take divers who have only 1 meter meet experience. The closest team to you that develops high level age group divers is found in Orlando at the Central Florida YMCA.Find them by going to www.usadiving.org, click on Join USA Diving and then Find A Club. Enter FL and a list of teams will come up.Ask about any upcoming camps they will be having as that would be the best way to start diving 3 meter.

As far as doing things at home to help your diving, I would suggest maintaining your flexibility that you developed in ballet. You also need to have strong stomach muscles for diving so doing various sit-ups will help. Go to www.diving.about.com and in the Search Box,
enter 'Create the perfect body for diving' and read that article. There are also many other articles there to read about to help you understand diving.

Good luck with your diving.