The topic for today is diving.
...to plunge headfirst with arms outstretched.....
When I was young I was very uncomfortable in the water. To be specific, I was uncomfortable with water on my face. The one thing I did quite well however, was diving- (only off the edge of the pool of course). I guess this was because my face was only momentarily under the water; my swim teacher said I had a good, shallow, racing dive. In and out. That's the way to do it.
In my early teens I completely failed to jump off the jetty at Horseshoe Bay, even with a crowd of friends behind me egging me on, and threatening to push me in. Come to think of it, that's probably why I completely failed to jump in. I'm not sure whether it was the sheer height of the thing or the thought of the rushing, fizzing descent through the metal cold water to the pause as you change direction and begin to rise up, up with lungs bursting and aching and the sunlight surface sooooo far away.
I have never jumped off anything higher than a racing block.
So I'm diving in on the back of the amazing win by Matthew Mitcham in the 10m platform diving event the other night.
Now, we really breed some characters over here. There was Sally McLellan (OMG, did ya see me?) , overly emotional Tamsin Lewis and last night, we uncovered (oo-er) another.
In deference to headbang's post about stereotypes, I blush to admit that I pegged this guy immediately. Was it the way he emerged from the water and coyly covered his face with his hands as he saw his scores? Or was it the practised way he accepted his bouquet on the podium? Who knows, but this morning when I googled him I found this:
Matthew Mitcham Openly Gay
and this
Out, Proud and Ready for Gold
and even
this
I'm sure it won't be long before googling 'Matthew Mitcham naked' will take you to some interesting sites as well!!
To watch Matthew's stunning 'dive and diva' performance, go to the cumbersome site below and find his video, either down at the bottom left or on the right hand side if you just want the interview.
watch here
Oh, by the way, that's not him at the top, that's his competition but as I wanted to talk a little more about diving I thought a beautiful, generic shot may suffice.
I suppose because the Olympic diving has been on our screens, the Small Boy started to talk about the pool at his Mum's place. "We've got a really deep deep end'" he piped up.
"I know," Himself confirmed,"I designed it."
It seems that the pool is nestled in a sloping backyard with a steep rock wall behind it.
"We knew we couldn't stop the kids from jumping in off the rock wall, so we deliberately made it deep enough so that they wouldn't hurt themselves."
My Flaming Sword began to smoulder in the corner.
"Yes," Small Boy agreed,"Mum's made a new lower platform too so that anyone under twelve can dive from that."
So, let me get this straight. We can't possibly prevent the kids from jumping in so we'll make it deeper, but we CAN prevent the younger ones from jumping in until they're over 12....
Are we saying that anyone over the age of 12 has no commonsense and a death wish? Yea, probably. But let's face it....who would be more likely to survive a dive from a great height into a not so deep pool? The lightweight under twelve or the full sized over twelves? Regardless, the over twelves should be just as capable of following a safety rule as the under twelves, if not more so!! So my question is, should the pool have been built deeper??
Maybe it's a boy thing? I mean as far as I am concerned, you explain to the children the very real dangers of jumping into a too shallow pool from a great height and that is the end of it. They should NOT jump in! Methinks it was Dad who actually wanted to jump in and therefore built the pool deep enough. I dunno. Am I being too simplistic here? Is it too much to expect kids to do as they're told when it comes to health and safety?
Tell me what you think! Come on, dive right in!
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5 comments:
Definitely a boy thing, in both my experience as a boy and the parent of a boy. "No" followed by logical explanations just sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher. The lure of the death defying is far too attractive. It's that Y chromosome.
I think it makes sense. Not so much the way that they explained it, but if my kids wanted to dive in from a dangerous place, and I thought I could make it less dangerous, I'd think about it. Cause the point of having a pool is to have fun with it, and they'd enjoy diving in. If all it took was adding a little depth I'd probably do it. Not because I wouldn't want to enforce safety rules, but because I think a little extra work would be worth the extra added fun they could have.
Notice that whenever an athlete wins gold, the TV cameras pan to the stands where loved ones rejoice. Not so with Mitchem's partner Lachlan. Just sayin'.
Oh, and @ AFM. Charlie Brown's teacher! What a perfect use of the trombone! Charlie Brown was my introduction to modern jazz, too.
OK AFM and Katie, you have both convinced me. It is the weather. I have stepped too far over the boundary of wowserism this time. Enjoy the pool everybody.
With Himself, and myself, (Large Boys) - we penetrate much deeper...
And as any Aussie knows after watching The Japanese Story, in unknown waters you jump for a shallow splash rather than dive for head trauma...
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