For all those needing a history lesson about the Duraflex diving board, here is an interesting bit of information.

Up to, and including the Rome Olympics, divers had the option to bring their own diving board to the competition. The divers would practice on these boards at a practice facility and then two or three would be chosen for the competition. In 1960, Ingrid Kramer of Germany was the only diver who brought a Duraflex diving board. Prior to the Games of that year, Ray Rude had offered his new diving board to the Ohio State divers, but they refused!

After testing all the boards, the divers chose the Duraflex but there was a problem - there was only one! Rude received an urgent call to ship another board, but since FedEx and UPS did not have overnight delivery in 1960, there was really no way to get a board to Rome . . . but Rude remembered that he had shipped one to a military base in Rome and thus began the legend of the Duraflex diving board!

2009 is officially here, but did you make your New Year's resolutions? If you didn't, or even if you did, here are ten resolutions that will improve your diving program in 2009.

It has happened many times. You are building, refurbishing, or adding to you diving facility and you think you have all the details worked out. The facility manager and the architect have a great plan. But in the final analysis, you see that they decided to cut costs and put in a cheaper diving stand, or a shorter board. Or another scenario is that you trust the individual who is doing the installation to know what they are doing, and what really happens is that they don’t, costing your diving program time and money. The cement block for your short stand is six inches further back than it should be, or your Mondo or Rough-Tex platform surface gets installed upside down The list is endless!

Unfortunately, this happens all too often. Individuals in charge many times have no clue about the sport of diving and you end up with a big mess on your hands. That is why it is always important to pay attention to the details and make sure that you as the coach or program administrator pay attention to what is going on. Or better yet, use a consultant who has experience in diving equipment installation. It will pay off in the long run!

In a nutshell - it is two ways of doing the same dive. The dive is a single, double or (if you are He Chong from China) triple twisting 2 1/2. The difference between the two is that the diver in a full in will start the dive with the twist, adding the second somersault at the end of the dive. In a full out, the diver will begin the somersault first, adding the twist(s) during the midpoint. While most divers use a full out, both accomplish the same thing.

The difference is that a full out is easier to do because you can get more rotation when throwing for the somersault in the beginning of the dive. Also, during a full in, the diver may not have completed the twist when they need to finish the somersault, with the result that the somersault can spin a little sideways. And, truth be told, the full out looks better. Regardless, if you want to learn the dive practice your fundamentals, especially your twisters!