NVSL Dive News & Information

• Chief Offical Observations

  Sat, 7-4-2026 | Jim Sweeder

  Here are a few observations I have made, as the NVSL Dive Chief Official, during the meets I attended in the first two weeks of competition:

  1. Judges really have a hard time with “STRAIGHT” dives. The tendency is to overscore these—especially 101A and 201A in the FG and FB. The straight position is very difficult to maintain during the entire dive; that’s why the DD is higher. Dives in pike or tuck need to be adjudicated fairly when compared to poorly done straight dives. But the real problem with judging straight dives is the lack of height! Younger divers do NOT get a lift off the board at takeoff; thus they lack a significant element of the dive.

  Here are a couple of examples, all of which should be scored low and even in the Unsatisfactory range (½–2):

  a. The diver bends their knees on a back takeoff, but never gets higher than his/her waist during the takeoff.
  b. The diver takes off horizontally, not vertically.
  c. The diver actually dives toward the water.

  The real issue here is that divers who can reasonably execute the pike or tuck positions should be rewarded for their demonstrated skill, while divers who attempt the straight position should not be rewarded merely for the attempt.

  2. 5111A and 5211A dives still are significantly overscored. These dives need to be taken off the board as forward or back dives and THEN twisted in the air and entered about 3 feet from the board. Again, the major flaw is NO upward movement on the dive. Height is important on this dive. Dives that go nearly horizontally should be given unsatisfactory scores. Of course, the referee should call manifest twisting on the board as a Max 2.

  3. Referee Calls

  a. A referee was going to allow a change of dive from a 201A to a 002 until the Meet Manager had a discussion with the referee. Correct decision—the dive was NOT allowed to be changed since it was a required dive.
  
  b. A dive was announced as a 102C and performed as a 103C. All of the judging panel threw scores, but one of the coaches asked that the dive be reannounced (correct procedure). When the referee heard the reannouncement, the dive was appropriately failed.
  
  c. Referees should call a Max 2 for failing to “attempt” to come out of a twist. Dives that “barely” attempt to come out of a twist should still get very low awards.
  
  d. Remind judges to NOT judge DD, only the quality of the dive.
  
  e. DO NOT allow judges to use cell phones during the meet. Judges shall not record any diver while acting as a judge. This is absolutely distracting a judge from the dive being performed.
  
  f. Suggest referees use a consulting judge for failed dives and Max 2 calls.

  Jim Sweeder
  Chief Dive Official

• Week 2 Scoreboard Link

  Tue, 6-30-2026 | Thomas Joyce

  Week 2 is here. Here is the link to this week's scoreboard file:
  
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1woHwoVHt4DfnIexJ_W7IFW8SmLN23rP-tCPtO1erkzo/edit?gid=182755240#gid=182755240
  
  Good luck to everyone!

• Season Starts Today!

  Tue, 6-23-2026 | Thomas Joyce

  Welcome everyone to a new season of NVSL Diving! Good luck to everyone!
  
  Results can be tracked at the link here:
  
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bF7u9xlQXWqeBGjaOaxm0cyqWCfvPfOVyVqUKepgskI/edit?gid=182755240#gid=182755240

• 2026 Coaches Clinic Online

  Sun, 6-14-2026 | Thomas Joyce

  If you missed it, here's the recording of the coaches clinic recoreded on June 7.
  
  

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