Dive team?

[Anonymous]

I know swim team is way more popular but my child hated it and we dropped our summer pool membership a couple years ago. We got on some wait lists and have been accepted at a new pool and in addition to a swim team they have a dive team. My child expressed interest but can really do your basic front dive. Is that good enough to get started? What are the meets like? Are they as long as swim meets?

[Anonymous]

My child switched from swim team to dive team last year and its been great. Dive team is smaller, so the kids get to know each other better and its less of a mob. Kids get more individual attention from the coaches. Meets are on weeknights, so we can sleep in on Saturdays. To qualify for an A meet, you have to know 3-6 dives depending on your age. The coaches will help them learn them to qualify (not all dives are triple somersaults like at the Olympics). Meets are pretty short - much shorter than swim team. At our pool, everyone who qualifies makes the A meet because the dive team isn't that big - 32 divers attend from each of the 2 teams but most pools don't have that many divers. And I'm happy to never have to time for 3+ hours at a B meet again!