Ch. 07 – Inspired Swimming and Diving
The Diving:
Sullivan had three dives in the finals scheduled for early afternoon. He and the other finalists warmed up as the distance swimmers finished their events.
The team competition was not going very well. Sullivan's team was in a disappointing third place. It looked like the two high school swimmers were going to place in the distance swim, which would mean points they had not counted on. However Sullivan was in eighth place in the 3-meter diving event, which would put the team well below any chance of improving to second place.
Even if the team competition had been close Sullivan would not have been very motivated to compete that day. He was miserable about the way he had acted with Sarah the night before. Sullivan considered himself to be a good person, but last night he had been with a beautiful adoring high class girl and he had blown it. He had been paranoid at the bar, and incredibly pushy and selfish when they were intimate. His normal disciplined personality had failed him when he got emotional.
It didn't help that the other divers were ignoring him as if he were not there. Sullivan's old enemy and the diver in first place, Harvey, wore his characteristic smirking expression but he didn't even gloat. It was as if Sullivan was beneath Harvey's dignity as he socialized with the other divers who he considered worthy. Even Harvey's body language revealed his cocky personality, with an up-tilted chin and a tight bouncy step.
Sullivan kept to himself as the diving competition began. His first dive was an inward 2 ½ tuck. It was usually a good dive for Sullivan, but the dive was always a little scary for him. One year ago he had hit his head on the board doing this dive, and woke up in an ambulance.
Harvey went just before Sullivan, and coincidentally he was also doing an inward 2 ½. Harvey entered the water well past vertical and only deserved to get scores around four, but he got sixes. The favorable scores were probably because Harvey had built up a halo effect with the judges based on his performance in the prelims the day before.
As Sullivan approached the diving standard he noticed the crowd was a lot larger than normal for this kind of event, which was a little embarrassing. Even the balcony was lined with people two-deep. He began his normal speedy run up the ladder when the sight of a young woman on the side of the pool caused him to pause.
It was Sarah. She was walking the length of the poolside approaching the diving well bleachers. She was dressed nicely in baggy jeans with big cuffs, platform shoes, and a nylon blouse. Her style did not particularly comply with current fashion, but it did show a flair for dressing well. She had a slight smile as her eyes were directed at Sullivan and no place else.
A shot of adrenaline jolted through Sullivan at the sight of her. As he rounded the top of the ladder to stand at the base of the ten foot high diving board he waived slightly to Sarah. Of course the entire crowd noticed and automatically turned to look at Sarah as she approached. Without embarrassment she broke into a wide smile and waived back, then sat on the lowest bleacher seat.
As Sullivan approached the end of the board he experienced a jumble of emotions and internal thoughts. 'She's here just to watch me.' 'She seems happy to see me.' 'I'd better pay attention to this dive!' 'I'd like to do a good dive for her!'
Sullivan turned his back to the water in preparation to flip inward. His thoughts were almost dreamy as he rocked the board and jumped into the dive. As he flipped he knew he had a good take-off and he was turning rapidly, so he kicked into a pike position after the rotations. He could see that he was high above the water and had plenty of time to adjust for his entry. He stretched for the water with hands spread to break the surface tension. A rush of water and bubbles enveloped him in a way that he knew he had done a very good dive.
When Sullivan's head got above the water the loud noise of the applauding crowd surprised him. They had barely clapped for any of the previous divers. And they continued clapping until he got his scores, sixes, the same scores given to Harvey. The crowd abruptly fell silent.
Instead of going to his predetermined solitary location, Sullivan walked to the bleachers and sat next to Sarah. The crowd noticed his actions with some curiosity.
Sarah's beaming smile was infectious, causing Sullivan to beam back at her.
"That was a great dive!" said Sarah, "It's like watching fireworks!"
"Thank you." Sullivan nervously paused and with a slight sheepish smile continued, "About last night, I've been thinking about it and decided I was not very nice."
"Oh Sullivan, we both had fun with teaching me that back dive. You were very nice." She softened her voice. "And I've learned that I have nothing to be scared of." She smiled as she gazed into Sullivan's eyes. "Shouldn't you be worrying about diving?"
Sullivan felt like he was on top of the world. "Yeah, I guess so. I'll be back later." And he left to go concentrate for his next dive.
A reverse 2 ½ tuck was the most difficult dive for Sullivan to do well. It required a very good take-off but at the same time it was important to get away from the board.
The thing that was Sullivan's weakness was knowing precisely when to kick open from the tight spinning tuck. When flipping in this direction, he could not rely on "feel" but totally on his eyes spotting a target. When he saw the water for the second time, he would kick open and look for the entry. He didn't always get it right, and he only rarely did the dive particularly well.
As before, Harvey was doing the same dive as Sullivan. Harvey did a good job in the air but did not stretch very well for the entry. It caused him to catch a lot of water on his shoulders and make a big splash, even though he was straight up and down. Harvey got the scores he deserved: 6 ½'s and 7's.
Sullivan liked to emphasize one or two things in his mind before each dive. This time it was 'swing arms in front, stand straight'. He was still aware of Sarah's presence, but he was more focused this time. Sullivan did his approach and landed perfectly on the end of the board. He flew into the air and his tense mind registered 'water, water-KICK'.
Then Sullivan got lucky. He reached back blindly for the water and he happened to place his hands at the perfect spot for his rotation. His hands popped a hole in the water's surface and his body followed through before the water could close back in. Sullivan had accomplished a rare entry called a "rip", which makes a popping sound with absolutely no splash. It was especially rare for a larger diver like Sullivan.
He knew he had done well, but didn't know about the rip entry until he heard the crowd. They don't go crazy like that unless you smoke the entry.
Sullivan's scores were still too low: 7's. The crowd groaned their disapproval and a couple of people actually booed. The judges squirmed in their chairs embarrassed and red-faced.
Sullivan walked over to Sarah again. Sarah smiled but had a look of confusion. "You did a much better dive than Harvey, and the judges gave almost the same score."
