Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 20, 2022: For the first time at the Olympic Council of Asia diving development camp, the three elements all came together at the National Aquatic Centre on Saturday afternoon – diving, coaching and judging.
Pool side resembled a busy international meet, as the judges took their seats, the divers lined up ready for action and the coaches waited anxiously in the wings.
The 17 judges were divided into two groups – of eight and nine – and they were placed at different areas and sides of the pool to follow the respective discipline of springboard or platform.
To start life on a relatively comfortable note for the judges, they were grading only one specific element of the five elements required to complete a whole dive, so their marks could vary only from 0 to 2. First there was the approach, and second the entry into the water.
Still, it was a great experience for the judges, and also for the divers as they learned the basic rules of competition such as the announcement of their name and the whistle to sound so they could now take their dive.
The conditions were not ideal for the young divers, as a tropical storm was brewing and the air was blowing quite cool under the roof of the open-sided pool complex, outside which the palm trees were swaying in the breeze. Shortly after the competition finished, Kuala Lumpur was hit by a thunderstorm.
This joint exercise will conclude, along with the week-long camp, on Sunday morning, as the judges will be able to score a whole dive using all five elements.
The second day of the judging seminar had started with a look at judging synchro, followed by a 20-question development test and 40-question official FINA judging certification test, although the result would not count towards certification.
The judges returned to the classroom at the Pearl Hotel after the afternoon pool visit, and FINA judging instructor Maths Lindberg of Sweden handed out the examination results.
“I can see you have knowledge,” he said. “I think I would recommend you to talk to your federation and ask them to send you to a FINA certification school.”
He explained that the FINA certification school would take three days, divided between theory and practice pool side as a shadow judge at a recognized diving competition, followed by the 40-question examination. He explained that certification schools were coming up in New Zealand and also in Malaysia this November 24-26, and possibly Doha although dates have not been fixed.
Regarding the judging session at the pool, the Swede said of the young divers: “I think they are developing their skills a lot since I saw them on the first day. I can also see they are having fun – and having fun is part of the social aspect of the camp.”
