Karen Carter
Press Release
Media Contact: 513-226-5542
A lot of people are scared the first time
they jump off a high dive. Most of these high dives are only 3-meter springboards.
Now imagine not only trying to jump off a 10-meter platform, let alone dive and
flip off one. I think most people would get to the top of the platform, look
down, and immediately turn around.
I know personally, I have only been given
the opportunity to jump off of a 10-meter once in my life. Most pools only open
these boards for diving teams or special occasions. The reason I was allowed to
attempt it was because I was lifeguard at a pool with platform boards and we
were allowed to try on our last day. I remember jumping off the 5-meter was a
piece of cake and was actually really fun. I thought that two meters more
wouldn’t be too difficult, so I climbed the stairs up to the 7-meter. I felt
sheer terror looking down at how far away the pool was from me. After debating
with myself for 5 minutes, I decided to just jump. It was a rush!!!!
Finally, I had worked my way up and it was
time to conquer the 10-meter. I climbed all those stairs to the top and walked
out onto the platform. I became increasingly aware of how close I was to the
ceiling. I slowly walked to edge and looked over down to the water. One look
over the edge and I was climbing back down the stairs, defeated. I’m not even
scared of heights but free falling from that height was terrifying to me.
I couldn’t even bring myself to THINK about
jumping off that height, yet divers are doing it every day with ease. I am
always impressed watching the Olympics and seeing divers get on the top of the
10-meter, do a handstand on the edge, and then push themselves off into a sequence
of flips.
This made me wonder what goes through a
diver’s head when they get up to that height. Are they scared? Or is it
something they get used to quickly?
I spoke to University of Florida diver,
Emma Whitner, to see what she had to say about the platform. While Emma mostly
competes on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards, she has still had her fair share of
10-meter dives. Whitner started diving off the 10-meter when she was 14 years
old after joining a new diving team in Orlando, FL.
“It was very scary at first. Even jumping
off the 10-meter feet first was intimidating, but you start with the basics and
build from there. Eventually, it gets easier and easier until it really isn’t
scary anymore,” says Emma.
The dive that Emma competes off of the
10-meter is a back 2 ½ with 1 ½ twists, meaning when she gets to the edge of
the platform, she has to stand backwards and flip off.
“Any fear that I had up on the 10-meter
went away after 2 or 3 dives. Sometimes I still get scared trying a new dive up
there but the fear isn’t as bad as my first time. You really do get used to it
and it’s not so bad,” she says.
While this is reassuring, I still can’t say
that given the opportunity, I would be able to jump off a 10-meter board. I think
I choose to continue watching people dive from the safety of the ground.
