Q&A for How to Do a Dive

A surface dive is wen you are in the water and trying to get to the bottom of the pool. In a top-first surface dive, you swim front crawl—when you reach a point where you want to dive to the bottom, you do a 180-degree turn and put your head down at the bottom. Then, you let your body fall to the bottom with your feet up to the surface. In a feet-first surface dive, you are waiting at the top of the water ready to go down. Then, you push your hands from the surface of the water down to your thighs; once your body falls under the water, you let your body fall naturally. From there, clap your hands up towards the surface to push yourself all the way to the bottom.

Stand on the side of the pool and bend your back forward until your hands are parallel to the water. Then, lean towards the water and slowly fall in. Do this until you are comfortable with it. Now, have someone hold a broomstick in front of you at your thigh. Aim your hands above the broomstick and jump over it. Doing this really helps with getting your butt in the air. (My team calls this the booty pop.) Once you do this enough times to be comfortable, try it without the stick.

When you dive, it only hurts in you enter the water incorrectly. Try to land in an upright position, or if you are diving head first, angle yourself so you do not belly flop

Start with jumping from the side of a pool until you are comfortable. Then, make slight adjustments until you are diving in the pool.

When you dive, try blowing out through your nose like you are blowing into a tissue. If that doesn't work, you should purchase a nose plug.

You have to cut through the water when you dive. Get into a streamline position, with your arms in front of your head, and your hands clasped tightly.

Try to dive in at and angle and keep your legs and arms together. When you dive in and angle, there is less of a chance to do a belly flop. Lean forward a bit when getting ready to dive. Keep your arms in a streamlined position above your head and squeeze your legs together.

While belly flops do hurt, you will never be able to get better if you only focus on what could happen. Just try to focus on a perfect water entry.

For a racing dive it can be more than 1 meter, but 2.74 meters are required for most dives.

You should be extra careful when jumping off a rock. Most likely you'll be jumping into a natural body of water so you won't know what underneath the surface. You might want to consider not jumping, so that you do not hurt yourself.

It should only hurt if you belly flop. Or unless you dive incorrectly. Have an adult with you to give you pointers.

This all depends on your start! Make sure to grip your hands to the edge of the block and use all your power in pushing off. Keep a streamline position, and duck your head so you're looking at the water. This will give momentum and your goggles will be less likely to come off during your dive.

Don't panic underwater. Just swim to the surface and blow it out. Getting water in your nose is not a big deal, and if you keep diving, you'll learn to blow through your nose during your dive so that you don't end up with water in there.

Your butt should be in the air, body pulled back, ready to spring from the block.

Do dolphin kicks (when you bring your feet together and then move your hips up and down without bending your knees too much). This should get you to the surface quickly.

If you are diving for competitive swimming races, you need to dive like this. Put one leg in front and the other on the back. Bend your knees so the leg on the front is curved and the back is a little curved. Put your hands on the tip of the board or wall and jump while pushing yourself forward into the water finger first. While you are in the air, tuck your hands into a streamline.

Tighten both your goggles and your shorts. The goggles should have an adjustable strap, and your shorts probably have a drawstring you can pull and tie. If you tie your shorts and they're still falling down/off, you need a better fitting suit.

Keep your chin tucked to your chest so that the top of your head is hitting the water instead of your face; this should prevent the water from hurting your nose. Also, make sure that you are blowing bubbles out of your nose when you dive so that water does not go up your nose and hurt it. (Alternatively, wear nose plugs.)

You just need to go more vertical with your dive. If you're getting water up your nose, it means that you aren't dipping your head down.

You can do a running start or just push off harder with both legs.

If you dive properly, you'll break the water surface and allow your body to slide in with ease, and it won't hurt. On the other hand, if you go in the wrong way, or example, you could accidentally do a bellyflop or smack your face on the water, then it can hurt quite a lot. That's why it's so important to know how to dive properly.

Try to focus on not bending your legs and try to just keep them straight. Do not arch your back.

Avoid the bottom of the pool. Dive at a non-steep angle to avoid crashing and do not dive in pools less than 8 feet.

You should not dive in pools less than 8 feet deep to avoid injury. If you do dive in a pool with less depth, you should dive at a non-steep, skimming angle to avoid hitting the bottom of the pool.

Point your feet and legs, but the goal of a dive is not to splash. You should enter the water in a clean line with minimum splashing.

Lots of practice. If you don't have the dive down, then work on that first. Then the flip. Then put it all together. It can take a lot of time, though, so don't expect to get it on the first try, or even the first several tries.

If you can't bend your waist, then try to do a dive while sitting. If that doesn't help, then try to get height and slowly rotate yourself.

The biggest danger for daredevils comes when they leap from high ledges without knowing how deep the water is below. Hitting the bottom of the pool, lake or river headfirst could cause a spinal injury, which could lead to paralysis or death.

Try to point your toes when you dive, this will automatically straighten your legs. Do this the whole time until you're fully submerged in the water.