Jumps Jumps Jumps

 COACHES CORNER # 1 

Today I will start my first entry on THD.  This is the coaches corner.  Ideas, thoughts, news and just jotted down bits of information for fans of the site.  I will try (notice and emphasize the word “try”) to do this weekly.  BTW - my spellin, and grammer ain’t the best,  just so you no.

“Why does my diver do 20,000 jumps a practice?  It can’t be that hard, right?  I mean they are just jumps?  Boring, boring, boring.  Why am I paying for my child to do jumps?”

I am sure these questions have entered every parents head at one time or another.  The physical/scientific answer?  Children take longer to develop their motor skills.  Coordination comes in time and repition is the best way to install certian movements.  That’s true but to dumb it down a bit for fit my level.  Here it is:

Learn a basic skill correctly, then we will move on.  As boring as it is up there to watch it, quite frankly, saying the same thing over for 6 months really does not do much for me either.  Watching paint dry?  It’s about the same.  Lol.  

Actually I don’t mind teaching basics.  It keeps me grounded as a coach.  But, if a diver cannot master a back jump, they are not going to be able to learn a good take off for when they NEED to know how to do a back dive tuck.  If these skills are not taught properly now, it can become an almost impossible task t0 fix it later.  Short of a nightmare for a coach.  Anytime I have a college diver who cannot do something correctly, or have bad habits, it can take YEARS to fix it.  Jon Fox can attest to that.

Why do some divers progress quicker?  Simple.  They may be stronger, more flexible, have better lines, can jump higher, less afraid, eat better, can listen better, more coordinated, have a good support group of parents and friends, more athletic, smarter.   I guess it’s not so simple.

 That’s why your child will do 10,000 jumps today, and probably 9,999 tomorrow…..

 See you at the pool….