Is Diving Dangerous?
The short answer is yes, but it is much more controlled than most people think.
Diving is a sport that gets overuse injuries, along with impact-related injuries and a potential for much more if done incorrectly.
The risks people worry about most
Hitting the board and smacking!
There's no way around it. If you're a diver, you will 100% smack at some point in your career. And there's probably a good chance you'll hit the board too.
When it comes to smacking, it is one of those things that you just have to get over and practice being afraid but doing it anyway. It hurts and stings a lot when it first happens, but it usually subsides pretty quickly.
Of course there are always extreme cases where a smack from a high board can do some serious damage, but that is pretty rare.
Hitting the board is usually more serious. It could be as simple as a scraped hand or foot. But people also break arms, hit their head, or slip on older boards that have lost their grip which can scrape their entire body!
I hit the board a few times in my own diving career and even in my final year of diving!
More on this in why don't divers hit the board.
The risk that's most common
The real thing divers should think about is not just smacking or hitting the board. It's the wear and tear of overuse injuries that are very common in the sport.
A diver takes a lot of entries in a practice, several days a week, for years, and every one sends force through their body in a similar way. Add takeoffs loading the legs and back and you get the standard list of complaints: shoulders, wrists, lower back, knees.
That's the general injury profile of the sport. I cover this in more detail in does diving hurt.
Bad entries
A smack from any height can really hurt, but it tends to get worse with board height.
Unfortunately, it is part of the game and a diver has to accept that it is going to happen from time to time.
A good coach will minimize the potential for bad smacks by having the diver do proper drills, lead-ups and even throw in extra precautions like a belt for the first attempts or the use of a bubble machine to soften the landing.
What I'd tell a parent
The single biggest safety variable is not the height of the board. It's the coach.
A qualified coach who builds dives in order, uses the equipment available, and doesn't push a diver into something they aren't ready for makes this a safer sport.
A coach who skips steps to get results faster makes it much less safe at any height, and it neglects the foundation of what creates a great diver, which like in any sport, is mastery of fundamentals.
There's more on choosing a program in my guide for diving parents.
Other things you're probably wondering
- Does diving hurt?
- Why don't divers hit the board?
- How deep is a diving pool?
- The complete guide for diving parents
If you want to learn more about diving, I have covered every possible question in my Diving Explained category page!
- DG