Using a special rig, members of two high school diving teams practice their moves without a pool.
By JON WILSON
Published May 2, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - Surrounded by chain-link fence, the apparatus suggests acrobats are training in a secret corner of St. Petersburg Catholic High School.
That's the truth, in a way.
But the sport is high school diving.
The coach, Bill Walker, uses a professional-grade trampoline and a structure made of pulleys, ropes, harnesses and stout pipes to teach five aspiring divers their game's somersaults, twists and turns - quickly and without getting wet.
The equipment is worth $8,000, Walker estimates. Contributions financed it.
Though such gear is not unusual at higher-level practice venues, Walker believes the setup at St. Pete Catholic is unique to Florida high schools. He asked coaching colleagues at state championship meets last year. They had heard of no such thing in the Sunshine State.
The rig allows practice without a diving board.
Using the trampoline, the diver bounces high in the air and executes a maneuver just as he or she would do coming off a board into the water.
A benefit, says Walker, is that divers get more repetitions per practice than they would at a pool, where they dive into the water, come up, swim to the side and climb out, then perhaps wait in line while teammates take their turns.
"On a trampoline, a kid does an exercise every 15 seconds," said Walker, a veteran coach who was a 1960s scholarship diver for the University of Miami.
The quick turnaround means coaching feedback can be taken into account immediately. Moreover, said Walker, the spotting rig creates enhanced confidence and safety, especially for novice divers.
Walker is coaching five divers: Jordan Weber, 14; Lauren Gibson, 17; Damon Hilliard, 15; Samantha Dimas, 14; and Meredith Henry, 16. Dimas and Henry attend St. Pete Catholic; the others go to Northeast. Even though the rig is at St. Pete Catholic, he'll coach prospective divers from other schools.
At 59, Walker is a diving guru. He served two terms (1998 through 2002) as president of USA Diving, recognized by the United States' Olympic Committee as the sport's national governing body.
He is a certified official qualified to judge international events, such as the Olympic Games.
A lawyer, Walker becomes president of the St. Petersburg Bar Association in June and said he will encourage colleagues to take on public service projects. Lawyers, in fact, donated money to help buy the equipment at St. Pete Catholic, as did parents of former divers at the school.
Walker's kind of background could make some coaches distant to youngsters. But Walker enjoys an easy relationship with his charges. He peppers his running instruction about arm position and leg action with a loud "Awesome!" after a diver's well-timed move.
Gloveless, he hauls on a rope after each exercise, guiding and stabilizing the diver in the spotting rig.
"My hands are getting tough. I don't shake hands like a lawyer anymore. I shake hands like a bricklayer," Walker said.
The kids work hard for a couple of hours every day after school. Besides the spotting rig techniques, they have a conditioning regimen that includes 11/2 miles of running and a series of calisthenics with such names as monster squats, hollow body rockers and hand-stand pushups.
For the most part, they seem to like the spotting rig.
"It makes it easier to do the tricks," Dimas said. "You have to wait with the board. With this, you get to do it 15 times in a row."
Walker said he thinks the apparatus will make the youngsters better divers. Meanwhile, he hopes it will demonstrate the safety aspect of the equipment and show how useful it can be in teaching the sport, as well as such aerial activities as gymnastics and cheerleading.
His pupils expect to compete in various novice meets this summer. The coach expects all will develop the ability to become college divers.
