DivingTube

Smethurst (1996) describes traditional coaching as a layered approach where the coach will follow a set of performance components (technical, tactical, physical and mental) when teaching a skill. An ecological approach focuses more on the interaction between these components an how it affects the athlete’s movement (spacial), timing (temporal) and purpose (function) of a skill. Smethurst compares this approach to the Chaos theory where even the smallest of changes in the elements of something can have enormous effects on the bigger picture.

The problem with the traditional approach in diving is that it focuses simply on reaching an adequate level of proficiency of this particular dive before moving on to a more difficult dive. In addition, the consistency of that dive is relying on the interaction between these components which is quite limited as only the components are being focused on rather than the interaction.

Coaches who want to focus on an ecological approach to coaching diving need to break down a dive into a number of steps: Decide on a goal - in this case we will choose a forward one and a half in the tuck position.
Identify the performance steps to this particular dive - take off, flight, line up, entry and overall aesthetics. Each of these steps have even smaller steps within them:
take off - armswing and jump
flight - forward somersault (forwards rotation), awareness, spotting
line up - forward tuck roll line up, come out sequence
entry - body line through water, hand grab, break of hands on water, pike save under water
aesthetics - posture, pointed fingers, neatness of flight, pointed toes
Create a profile of the diver’s ability to perform each of the performance steps listed in step 2 - here is when you rate the technical, tactical, physical and mental abilities of the diver to perform each step. It will be clear which step is weak and it will also be easy to determine which performance component needs to be worked on in that step.
Work on the step - the coach has now isolated which step needs work and an appropriate coaching feedback is given to facilitate the changes necessary to improve it. Once the change has been implemented adjust the performance profile and put that step back in to the overall skill.
Reassessment - has the change that the coach introduced improved the overall performance? If the answer is no then you and the athlete must address another step to work on in the performance profile.

My philosophy on coaching diving is that I like to believe I create a diver rather than someone who can do dives. The difference I believe is  the approach taken to teaching the diver. A person who can do dives is someone who has been taught using the traditional/layered method of coaching. Thorpe (1997), who uses the ecological approach to coaching, explains that any improvement or progression in a skill must be able to remain after the coach moves away. Divers who are taught using the traditional approach to coaching tend to not be able to revert back to their basic skills before they were progressed upon. Pongetti (2001) emphasises the importance of basic skills and drills in gymnastics as this is important especially when learning new skills or having trouble with a usual skill as the athlete can revert back to their basic skills in their performance profile.

I use an ecological approach to creating divers. At the start of the season our goal is to consolidate each performance step within an ultimate goal or dive. Many weeks are spent working on these basic skills so that, as Thorpe (1997) mentions, skills are performed without any conscious effort. It is also important to communicate with the diver the reasons behind performing these basics skills so often and how they relate to the bigger picture. As the season progresses and new dives are learnt by putting together their basic skills from their performance steps divers are starting to move into competition season. This particular list training or competition preparation phase consists of many different “Designer Games” (Charlesworth, 1994) in order to develop competitive toughness and to help with the transition from training to competition. These designer games can be as simple as running through their list of dives as if they were in a competition to more complex variations. One of my favourites is to take the rules of another sport and the divers have to dive to those rules.


References
Charlesworth, R. (1994). Designer games. Sports Coach, 17, 30-33.
Thorpe, R. (1997). We love the games, but when do we teach technique? Sports Coach, 20, 4-5.
Smethurst, C. (1996). Athletic performance: A break with tradition. In Proceedings of the National Coaching and Officiating Conference (pp. 101-103). Brisbane, Australia.
Pongetti, Gina M. (2001). “But, Coach, I Can’t Vault With Their Board…”: Motor Learning For Coaching Gymnastics. www.occusport.com/PDF/publication6.pdf.