How to Nail Back and Reverse Entries (Knee Save Guide)

Mastering a knee save is one of the harder skills in diving. There are a lot of moving parts happening at the same time, and the timing window is tiny. This guide breaks it into three stages — above the water, underwater, and the knee save itself — so you can understand each piece before you try to put them all together.

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What You'll Learn

• Fix #1: The above-water setup — airtight around the head, wrists rotated back, stretch from toes to hands
• Fix #2: The underwater swim — locked elbows, lateral or slightly behind the body, immediate timing
• Fix #3: The knee save — how the chin starts it, hamstring engagement to keep legs vertical

Fix #1: Above the Water

For a voluntary (back dive or reverse dive), you're going to have less pull than on an optional. You're working on lengthening through the entry, not pulling into an archy position. That means you want to be as flat and strong as possible going in.

Common mistakes here: chin too far down (takes you out of alignment), and grabbing your hands too far out in front of your face (locks up the shoulders). You want the hands coming through close to the body — right in front of the nose and face — so they zip up above the head faster. That's a much more efficient movement.

For straight dives, your arms set — out to the side in a T position, then closing laterally above your head.

Regardless of the dive, here's the checklist: chin slightly up with eyes looking over your eyebrows. Arms cradling your head on both sides with an airtight pocket behind your ears. Wrists slightly rotated back so the hands are leading going into the water. Shrug your shoulders up as much as you can. Then pretend like you're being pulled from your toes and your hands at the same time — stretch everything as long as possible. The tighter and longer you are, the smaller the hole you make, the easier it is to rip.

Fix #2: The Underwater Swim

The moment your hands hit the water, separate and start the swim. Not a beat later — immediately. Your fingers flare out, your triceps squeeze fully locked out, and your arms go lateral and slightly behind your body. Three distinct bubbles should appear underwater when this is done right — one from the body and one from each arm pushing the air out to the side.

Why it matters: you're bringing air down with you when you enter, and that air stays concentrated unless you push it out. A concentrated air pocket caves in on itself fast and creates a bigger splash. The swim spreads those bubbles, removes the air from the central column, and the water closes in much more smoothly.

Elbows locked the whole time. If they bend, the air doesn't spread and you lose the benefit of the swim. This takes tricep strength and double-jointed elbows help — but if you don't have them, you just have to squeeze harder than you ever have before.

How fast? Your arms should be at about shoulder height by the time your body is halfway through the water. That's how quickly this has to happen.

Fix #3: The Knee Save

Here's how the knee save starts: as you swim your arms behind your body a little, your chin begins to tilt up. That upward chin movement naturally begins the J motion — going down and then scooping back up. Your back starts to arch as the chin leads. You do this for every back and reverse entry.

How much you J depends on where you are. The closer you are to vertical, the less you need to save. The further past vertical, the more you're going to save and the harder you're going to have to work.

The last step that people miss: engage your hamstrings to keep the legs from flopping over at the end. It's the last thing the judges see — how vertical your legs are going in. If you don't actively pull those feet back up with your hamstrings, they'll drift over and you'll lose a point or more right there. One cue that helped me: think swim and knee save at the exact same moment your hands hit the water. If you wait even a fraction of a second, your feet will kick over before you can catch them.

Build It One Step at a Time

There's so much happening simultaneously that trying to fix everything at once doesn't work. Here's the progression:

Step 1: Do a back lineup. Stand at the edge, arms already behind your ears, wrists turned back. Fall in. Focus only on reacting to the water: swim. Get your hands separating and arms staying straight. That's it. Just swim. Repeat until that reaction is automatic.

Step 2: Once the swim is instinctive, add the chin tilting up as you swim. Let that naturally progress into the J motion. Feel where it starts and how it flows.

Step 3: Add the hamstring engagement. Point the toes, activate the legs, keep them vertical as you finish the entry.

Take it one layer at a time. This isn't a quick fix — it's a skill that takes real time to build. But once it's there, it's there.