Strategic Planning

We are so lucky to have joined a country club when our children were young.  Our son learned his golf skills there and that took him to the Golf channel and Comcast for a career.  Our daughter was on the diving team there in the summer and during high school for a winter sport.  She began diving at 5 with Coach Dick Steadman in his summer program at Monmouth College (now University) when we stayed with my mom in New Jersey. (4th from left)

 (C top row, 4th) with her first coach.

 At our club she dove for Coach Anita for most of her career..
 (C middle row, right)

 

If you watch diving on the Olympics you will get a feel for the scoring.  It is very subjective but also very rule driven.  Individual points are based on approach, hurdle, arm swing, head and leg positions, the number of twists and somersaults, height off the board, position in the air, entry and more.  Dive can be straight, tuck or pike and varies in degree of difficulty (DD).  In our league, five judges award scores from 0-10.  The high and low are eliminated and the sum of the three is multiplied by the DD.  (There's a chart or computer to do this.)  The highest score wins.   The first three places get points for the team.  The team is made up of boys and girls divided by age group:  8U, 10U on up to 18U.

Anita is now coaching C's twins.

 

They've been diving since they were 5 and now have some pretty consistent dives.  In 10U they do three dives.
Front

 

Back

 Front 1 som.

Inward

 Back 1 som

The swim/dive teams are mostly swim in numbers at most clubs.  We are always the smallest group of divers on the list of diving clubs.  So we don't win many meets.   T had been the better diver for two years.

Now T and E are pretty even on any given day and place in the top three.  Last year E worked very hard and bested T at the end of the season in individual points and points won  for the team.

Anita's goal was to win a meet this year.  Our chance came at the BCC meet.  We have no 14U boys, many 10U and 12U boys. They had no 14UB. So thinking strategically, Anita dove E in his true age group of 10U (three dives), T and two 12U in 14U (five dives), and a 12U in 18U (seven dives).  E got 79 points, a first;

Of the three in 14U, all from our club,  T got first with 117 points and the 12 year olds got second and third; and we got second in 18U...they had Luke, one fabulous diver...wow can he dive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next meet E dove up and got 3rd with 118 points, T got 1st with 79 points.

In the last regular meet there were no 18U boys.  E dove as a 10U and got third.  T dove as an 18U with one true 18U from our club.   T got second, but his two team points were the winning difference.  Ok .  There's a 30 second video here, but I can't get blogger to patch it in.  Just click the link.  Then Jr Champs were held.  An all day very hot event.

Team spirit prevailed.

Assistant coaches.

 

 

 

E missed cuts by a point and was 10th, T was 6th.

Diving season is o.v.e.r.

My strategic plan:  We leave for France later today.  We're doing a house exchange and also staying at My French Country Home's beautiful cottage.  Can't wait to meet Sharon and our exchange family who are meeting us at the airport.  In return our good friend Jim is meeting them when they arrive in the states on Tuesday.  I'm off to pack.