# Being Taught How to Dive **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 17, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395 "2024-07-17T20:14:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/1 "2024-07-17T20:14:15Z")
Do you remember ever being taught how to dive? I saw a kid getting tips from his dad or whatever down in the pool - doing that whole hands over your head, bend the knees, lean forward, let your weight take you - and I don’t remember ever having gotten that lesson. I just ran toward the pool and dove in head first one day and that was it. How about you? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/2 "2024-07-17T20:28:39Z")
I was 52 when I first went off the diving board as the completion of my swim lessons, so yes I remember it like it was only a decade ago. Have not gone off the board since then. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/3 "2024-07-17T20:30:45Z")
I took park district swim lessons as a kid and then we had a mandatory swimming portion in high school. I was never good at it but we were given the fundamentals and made to “properly” use a diving board versus just jumping off or doing cannonballs. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/4 "2024-07-17T20:40:17Z")
Yep, took swimming lessons at Nova Southeastern University when I was little. I remember plenty of us littl’uns reaching our hands in the air, bending at the waist, and then jumping in feet first. 😄 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/5 "2024-07-17T20:54:16Z")
Yes. I had something like 8 years of swimming lessons, and at some point we learned how to dive just like you’re describing. I also remember they said to cover your ears with your arms (for good positioning). ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/6 "2024-07-17T21:59:56Z")
I was a pool rat growing up so I was diving as a wee tyke, I have no memory of many specifics. I became a competitive diver in HS, and I remember learning a 2 1/2, but not the initial diving. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/7 "2024-07-17T23:54:32Z")
I remember because it took days of me standing at the pool edge, poised, and unable to make myself go in head first. I could do the thing where you grab ahold of your ankles and just roll forward into the water, but I couldn’t do it with my arms overhead. After several weeks of this, I finally managed to make the plunge. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/8 "2024-07-18T13:24:23Z")
I misread the thread title as “Being Taught How To **Drive** ” and wondered how they ended up in a pool. I guess that would be lesson #1. 😛 Mom made all of us kids take swimming lessons at the Y, up to a certain level (dolphin or shark, I think). At some level the lessons included diving off of the low board, and later the high dive (where I spectacularly belly-flopped multiple times until I finally got it right). ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/9 "2024-07-18T15:13:16Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I misread the thread title as “Being Taught How To **Drive** ” and wondered how they ended up in a pool. Me too… I may have had swimming lessons, but most of it was hanging out at the pool almost every day (had season passes) and trying new things. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/10 "2024-07-18T16:29:34Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I misread the thread title as “Being Taught How To **Drive** ” and wondered how they ended up in a pool. Take driving lessons from Keith Moon? 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/11 "2024-07-18T16:40:15Z")
I never learned. I didn’t even learn how to swim until I was 25, and that was self taught. To this day I can’t use my feet properly. I’m a pretty fast arms-only swimmer, like I’m a really fast two fingered typist. ---
**Author:** ![Redcanoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b487fb/32.png) [@Redcanoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redcanoe)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/12 "2024-07-18T16:45:40Z")
Yes. City pool swimming lessons in the mid 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/13 "2024-07-18T16:51:48Z")
I remember it from taking swim lessons when I was around 8 years old or so. I learned how to dive off the side, from a low board and how to do a flip. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/14 "2024-07-18T20:29:01Z")
I remember being taught how to _drive,_ but not _dive._ I learned to _swim_ ca. age 5 in Lake Michigan. I’ve never seen a diving board here, although kids jump off of docks and boats. One teenager started a trend, jumping off a 20-ft cliff at Cave Point. In The Winter. Which eventually became an annual event for hundreds, then thousands, of people on New Year’s Day. I learned how to swim just by doing. I never got to be a good swimmer, but I never had a fear of water, either. Floating always seemed to be natural, something you do automatically if you don’t want to exert yourself, so it always seemed strange that some people had to consciously learn it. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/15 "2024-07-18T22:00:52Z")
I guess what made me think of it is that I’ve always seen jumping to the water - whether head first or feet first - as not such a rigid thing that it needs to be broken down into steps in order to pull it off. My introduction to diving had nothing to do with standing with my feet together and waiting for the perfect spot when I felt the momentum taking me … it was more like, Wwwyyyaaaaahhhhhhghghg!!! … SPLUNK! I mean, I could dive into my bed, how much more difficult is water? Then again, I never had official swimming lessons either. Like @Musicat, I pretty much learned by doing. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/16 "2024-07-18T22:06:34Z")
I misread the thread title, and thought “Well DUH. My father took me over to an empty school parking lot and we practiced there. I was 16, of course I remember!”. Then I saw there was no “r” in that subject line. Ohhhhh. D I V E - like, into water. For that, the answer is no. I’m sure I learned by watching other kids, and I’m sure we swapped hints (hands together or apart?). When I was (reluctantly) part of the swim team, I’m sure we also had guidance on how to improve diving for racing purposes. > [@Shoeless](#): > > I misread the thread title as “Being Taught How To **Drive** ” and wondered how they ended up in a pool. What? you’ve never heard of carpooling??? Reading more of the thread, lots of us have made the same mistake, LOL. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-taught-how-to-dive/1004395/17 "2024-07-18T22:38:49Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > What? you’ve never heard of carpooling??? > > Reading more of the thread, lots of us have made the same mistake, LOL. [![](https://carsmedia.ign.com/cars/image/article/635/635169/cannonball-run-feature-20050728115650290.jpg) ](https://carsmedia.ign.com/cars/image/article/635/635169/cannonball-run-feature-20050728115650290.jpg)