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Dive Meets 101

We compete in Dive Division 8, which consists of six teams (including ours).

Dual meets are every Tuesday night at 6pm for five Tuesdays in a row. At each meet, we compete against one of the other teams in our division. Some of the meets will be at Ilda and others will be at the other team’s pool. We generally request that you arrive an hour prior to the meet for warmups.

At the end of the season, there is the Divisionals Meet, which lasts all morning and most of the afternoon on a Sunday. All six teams in our division compete in the Divisionals Meet.

Top finishers from the Divisionals Meet go on to compete in the All-Stars Meet, which lasts all day on the Sunday after the Divisionals Meet. The top divers from across all of NVSL compete in the All-Starts Meet.

What Happens at a Dual Meet:

  • Prior to the meet (day before or morning of), the coach will let you know if your diver has a sufficient number of legal dives to compete in that week’s meet.
    • The coaches will help you diver fill out a meet sheet, which lists all the dives they will be performing.
    • Divers age 10 and under need 3 dives, with the simplest set being a front dive, back dive, and front or back jump. And it gets more complicated from there!
  • Warmups generally start at 5:00pm. Home team divers warm up first, followed by the visiting team divers.
  • Shortly before 6:00pm, we play the National Anthem.
  • At 6:00pm, the meet starts.
  • Divers dive by gender and by age group, in this order:
    • Freshman Girls (age 10 and under)
    • Freshman Boys
    • Junior Girls (age 11-12)
    • Junior Boys
    • Intermediate Girls (age 13-14)
    • Intermediate Boys
    • Senior Girls (age 15+)
    • Senior Boys
  • Sometimes we will combine age groups and/or genders if there are not many divers in particular groups.
  • There are short breaks between each group for brief warmups and to announce scores from the previous group.
  • Each age group must complete a different number and type of dives:
    • Freshman - 3 dives
      • Front Dive
      • Back Dive
      • Dive of your choice
  • Juniors - 4 dives
    • Front Dive
    • Back Dive
    • 2 dives of your choice (must be from different groups (i.e. front, back, inward, reverse, or twister))
  • Intermediates - 5 dives
    • Front Dive
    • Back Dive
    • 3 dives of your choice (must be from different groups)
  • Seniors - 6 dives
    • Front Dive
    • Back Dive
    • Inward Dive
    • 3 dives of your choice (must be from different groups)
  • There are five judges who score each dive after the dive is completed.
  • At the end of the meet, the winning team is announced. Each team receives points based on the places in which their divers finished within each age/gender group (5 for first place, 3 for second place, 1 for third place).
  • Meets typically last 1.5 to 2 hours.
  • We sometimes go for ice cream afterwards (Dairy Queen on Port Royal Rd is a fan-favorite).

    • Other Meets:

    • The Divisionals and All-Star Meets have the same age groups and number of dives as dual meets.
    • There is a 3-meter Wally Martin indoor meet. (The boards for the regular meets are 1-meter.)
    • There is also an outdoor synchronized dive meet, where two divers do the same dive simultaneously. Divers may pair up with divers of other ages and/or from different teams.

    Volunteering:

    We need lots of volunteers to run a meet, particularly for home meets (held at Ilda). We strongly encourage you to attend the trainings at the beginning of the season to learn more about these jobs.

    • Home meet:
      • Setup and cleanup: Help get the pool ready for the meet, then put everything back in place after the meet. This involves moving chairs, tables, umbrellas, etc.
      • Concessions: We sell dinner food (typically pizza or Chick-Fil-A) as well as snacks/drinks during the meets. We need volunteers to run the concession stand. (You can always take a break to watch your diver compete.)
      • Announcer: Announces the divers, dives, and scores. Also makes other announcements as needed, such as encouraging people to visit the concession stand. Generally keeps the meet moving along and the energy up.
      • Two table workers: Record and tabulate scores
        • Scorekeeper: Writes down scores as they are called by the announcer.
        • Calculator: Adds up the individual scores and multiplies by the degree of difficulty to determine the final score for the dive.
    • Meet Secretary: Helps tabulate the final scores and prepare the award ribbons.
    • Two Judges: Judge the dives.
    • Referee: Acts as the head judge and makes certain calls on the scoring of dives.
  • Away meet:
    • Table workers (2)
    • Judges (3)

    • Inclement Weather:

    • If swim team cancels for weather, the dive team will also cancel
      • Typically either thunderstorms or extreme cold
      • Email and/or SwimTopia alert
    • Dive meets also cancel for rain
      • Boards get dangerously slippery when wet
      • Notification by email
      • We will do our best to decide at least one hour prior to practice/meet
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