Despite being a lesser known sport on campus, the MSU swimming and diving teams have some of the best athletes in East Lansing. State News reporter Zach Smith takes a look at the MSU diving team’s training facility and makes an attempt at some of their moves.
Deep in the bowels of the IM Sports-West building lies a device that allows members of the MSU diving team to spin high above the ground and land safely.
The team’s indoor, dry driving board, along with the ropes and harness, is used as a training tool by diving head coach Eric Best and the Spartans.
Best said the greatest thing about having the dry board is that it allows the divers to get many repetitions in a short amount of time.
“(If) we were going to be in the pool and she was going to practice, she would have to jump off, she’d get wet, she’d have to climb out, go dry off, (and) get back up there again,” Best said.
Best said in about a minute and a half, a diver can do about six or seven front jumps on the dry board.
He said another positive about the contraption is that it allows athletes to increase confidence in themselves.
“A lot of times in (the pool), you’re scared to make changes, but if you’re in here, you don’t have to worry,” Best said. “If you land on your head, you don’t have to worry about it smacking. Sometimes when you’re in the ropes, it’s a lot easier for them to make corrections because there’s always a fear of making a correction (in the pool).”
One of the divers it has helped is sophomore Alison Menzies, who gets too close to the board on her reverse dives and said the isolation of MSU’s dry board also is a nice feature.
“It’s helped with my confidence so much,” Menzies said. “Most of the schools have their dry board area on the side of the pool, so you have your pool, and then off to the side, you have your dry board and your mats.”
Menzies, a native of Winston-Salem, N.C., said she didn’t work very much on her technique during the summer and that the dry board is a great way to help her get back in form.
“I lifeguard over the summer, so I worked 40 hours a week, and I trained a little bit, but not very much,” she said. “I kept my strength up. I think it was good because it got all of the bad technique out of my system, and that’s what really helped me.”
As a walk-on, freshman diver Charles Maurer said he feels more comfortable about a sport he hasn’t been doing for his entire life.
“Diving on dry land or in the board, it helps get to know where I am in the air and get the repetition and feeling over and over again so that I’m more comfortable on the actual board and in the water,” Maurer said. “I’m working on a lot of skills, as in, I’m continuously trying to get a better dive in.”
He said it’s fun because the divers can perform dives that are physically impossible on a normal diving board with no ropes.
“You get to do things that you don’t normally get to do or that gravity prevents you from doing,” he said.
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