Annika's First Diving Class

As I've mentioned before, our kids are basically fish. They absolutely LOVE the water, as do their parents. The kids have been taking swimming lessons practically since birth and continue to grow as swimmers. One of Annika's favorite things to do is jump off of the diving board, which is a treat usually reserved for the last day of a swim lesson session ... basically every 5-6 weeks. Not nearly enough for our girl!

A couple of weeks ago, we discovered that the swimming pool where Annika and Conor take their swim lessons also has a weekly drop-in dive class. Once Annika heard that, she was raring to go! We had a scheduling conflict last weekend, so she couldn't go until yesterday and it is safe to say, that the girl is sold on diving!

The class is taught by a volunteer diving coach and he gives each participant one-on-one instruction. He tells them what to do when they're at the end of the diving board ready to jump in and then gives additional instruction after they've completed their task.

For Annika's first turn, the instructor had her simply jump in feet first, nothing fancy. No problem!

Feet first .... or is she surrendering??

The instructor then had Annika start going in head first and taught her how to bend at the waist, keep her arms straight, and have her hands together above her head.  He also taught her how to move her arms to gain as much momentum as possible before diving into the pool. Again, she was all in!

When the kids had their third go, the instructor stood on the diving board with them and gave more detailed instruction on how to position themselves before and as they enter the water.

Being coached on the diving board

In she goes!

He then went back to the side of the pool to watch how the students were implementing his instruction and then gave further feedback after each child entered the water. What really impressed me is how much Annika paid attention and hung on his every word. She was hungry to eat up all wisdom and suggestions he shared with her.

Ready....

Diving....

Splash!!

For her last dive of the day (it was time for her regular swim class to begin), the coach had Annika try a backward dive. Again, she had no qualms about giving it a try and happily backed her way into the pool. When she got out, the instructor was gushing about how great she did and said the only thing she didn't do that he told her to do was jump before diving... instead, she sort of fell backward from the diving board. Annika told him next time, she'll remember to jump!

First backward dive
(She's actually diving from the diving board, not the starting blocks)

Success!

The coach gave Annika a fist bump and lots of praise for her efforts during the class. She deserved them... she listened, tried hard, and willingly attempted new feats. We are so proud of our girl and look forward to her next diving class! As for Annika, she is practically counting the minutes until next week's class. If things keep going this well, we might register her for the registration-only diving class that takes place just before the drop-in class once the next session of classes begins. Our little fish is a happy girl ... and Conor can hardly wait to be big enough to join his sister in the diving classes!