Teach High School Diving Lessons

To teach high school diving lessons, you need to have the ability and drive to work closely with the students and help them reach their full potential as divers. Teaching high school is different than other levels because the students may still need a lot of work on their form. This means that you need to pay close attention to their skills and progress.

1. Get to know other diving teachers. Other local high schools likely have diving teams. Diving classes might also be taught at your local health center. Connect with other teachers and ask them for any advice about teaching high school diving lessons. This is an important part of your beginning strategy when teaching high school diving lessons.
2. Start the diving lesson with proper posture. Without proper posture, your students will not be able to execute a dive. Diving posture involves keeping your back straight. This means the diver does not have an arch in the lower back. Because this is a natural way to stand, it might feel awkward for divers to remove that arch. Have your students practice on the ground and then get up on the platform for some practice dives.
3. Teach your students to take-off. The take-off is a crucial element of diving. There are several variations of a take-off that divers can use. For example, they can jump straight from the board or they can take a little running start. They can also lift off from the board facing either forward or backward.
4. Go through the various dive positions. During each high school diving lesson, you should go through the dive positions with your students. These are basically affected during the flight part of the dive, which is when the diver is actually in the air. Some variations include a straight dive, the tuck dive position and a pike position, which involves bending over at the waist. During the diving lesson, focus on specific types of dives with students who are specializing for competitions or meets.
5. Emphasize entry during the high school diving lessons. Like the take-off and position of the dive, the entry is also judged during high school competitions and meets. The key to a good entry into the water is for the diver to have the least amount of water splashed as possible. This is mainly accomplished by divers who keep their arms stretched out perfectly straight in front of their heads as they hit the water. This is the technique to work on with your divers. The other key element to a perfect entry is lots of practice, which the lesson should focus on, as well.
6. Give individual feedback. As you watch your students dive, take time after each one to give them personal feedback at least once during each practice. This will let them know that you’re available to them and care about their progress. It’s also an important part of helping them improve. For example, if you have a diver who focuses on straight dives, watch her form carefully during the dive and give feedback based on her individual dive position.