“A Search for Answers That Demonstrates A Need to Re-categorize the Types of Diving Accidents in Swimming Pools.”

“Care Must Be Taken When Interpreting Diving Accident Information”

         There were two reasons for re-researching the Safety of Diving. These reasons were:

1) Diving boards are disappearing from swimming pools across the country, which would have a direct bearing on those of us who coach the sport at the grass root level.

2) The belief that US Diving appears to be way out of line with its Certifications and was placing unwarranted requirements on its grass roots coaches.

The above two reasons seem to be procreating the disappearance of the grass root coaches.

         The approach of the investigation was focused on the recreational side of diving because these are the pools where many grass root coaches operate their programs. These would be park district pools in my area or municipal pools in various other areas of the country. US Diving has its own statistics and because access to them was not available, no comments were made for the competitive aspect.

         The summation is very simple and straightforward. I could not find any concrete evidence to support the notion that recreational or even competitive diving was causing diving boards to disappear in swimming pools around the country. Statistical evidence was very scarce to say the least. Later studies still used the statistics from almost 20 years ago. We have come a long way since then with no recognition of that fact.

         In the second article, I discovered that the reporting of statistics was flawed. NSPI is an organization that regulates residential pools where many diving board accidents have occurred. When NSPI puts its statistics in with others through the Consumer Products Safety Commission (NEISS), Diving really doesn’t look too bad. Take away the NSPI diving accidents and diving looks even better than US Diving’s own Position Paper shows.

         As a coaching body, it is our duty to get this information out. Safety should be a concern to all of us. Even the US Diving Safety Committee was caught up in the misinformation. Diving is safer for the participants then sitting in the bleachers is for the fans.