Dive Team
OKM sponsors an exciting summer league dive team that competes in the Northern Virginia Swim League. NVSL diving, especially at OKM, is a terrific introduction to competitive diving for beginners and provides fun competitive opportunities for veteran divers.
The team is open to all 18 & under children from OKM member-families and children from surrounding NVSL pools with no dive team. No prior diving experience is required - our team is happy to introduce you to the sport of diving! To ensure athlete safety, participants must be able to pass the OKM swim test (swim 25 meters in any fashion and tread water for 1 minute), and must be old enough to follow group instruction.
If your child loves gymnastics, tumbling or trampolines, diving is an exciting way to use those skills in the aquatic environment!
NVSL Dive Competitions
NVSL competitions focus on 1-meter springboard diving, and OKM has two 1-meter boards to help maximize practice time. The team competes in five Tuesday-evening dual meets (“A” meets) starting in late June against other NVSL teams in our division.
There are several special/optional league-wide meets during the season:
- Wally Martin 3-meter - divers have the opportunity to compete on the higher 3-meter springboards
- Wally Martin Synchro - divers can try synchronized diving with another OKM dive team member or a diver from another NVSL team
- Cracker Jack - a large developmental meet that is split up into smaller age groups (6 & under, 7 year olds, 8 year olds, etc). There is more flexibility with dive requirements and coach assistance is allowed, so this meet is great for beginner divers who may not be ready for or competitive in “A” meets. The Cracker Jack meet is intended to provide a skill-appropriate championship for beginning divers who have not exceeded a cut-off score at an “A” meet during the season. Divers cannot compete in both Cracker Jack and Divisionals.
The season concludes with the Division Championship meet in late July and NVSL All-Stars in early August for qualifying divers.
The NVSL has four age groups of competition:
- Freshman (10-Under)
- Junior (11-12)
- Intermediate (13-14)
- Senior (15-18)
NVSL diving age group eligibility is determined by the diver’s age on June 1st; the age group does not change even if he or she has a summer birthday.
In Tuesday night “A” meets, coaches may ask divers to “dive up” one age group. At Divisionals and All Stars, they dive only in their age group. The Cracker Jack Meet and possible “B” meets divide the freshman category into smaller sub-groups.
Dive Requirements at Meets
Each age group has a different number of dives, which are required during a meet:
Freshman: front dive (front fall allowed), back dive (back fall allowed), 1 optional (jumps allowed) (3 dives total)
Juniors: front dive, back dive, 2 optional from different groups (4 dives total)
Intermediates: front dive, back dive, 3 optional from different groups (5 dives total)
Seniors: front dive, back dive, inward dive, 3 optional from different groups (6 dives total)
