Article 2 of 3: Excellent on Purpose

Article 2 of 3: Excellent on Purpose

Two Opposing Strengths

Shooting a basketball was one of my top summertime activities during my childhood. Many of those times involved my dad and I playing a game called, HORSE. Even if you do not know the game, know this, if my dad wanted to win, he shot close shots. If I wanted to win, I shot no closer than the three-point line. We both had our strengths, which when combined and enhanced (a lot), gives you Stephen Curry.

The Sharpshooting Stephen Curry

In February of 2022, Stephen Curry from the National Basketball Association (NBA) had a pre-game warm-up video go viral. The video clip shows him making fourteen consecutive baskets where the shots increased and decreased in distance from the basketball rim.

For anyone who knows Stephen Curry’s career, you know he is the most prolific three-point shooters of all time. He is an astounding shooter because his NBA record for most three-point shots made in the regular season comes with him ranked twelfth in accuracy and first for most attempts. These numbers are even greater when comparing the top ten NBA players in three-point shots attempted with their respective ranks in shots and percentage made.

Stephen Curry is the most frequently accurate regular season three-point shooter of all time. However, is this by accident? No.

Look again at the viral video clip; Stephen’s first and last shot did not start from the three-point line. They were 2-point shots where Stephen ranks highest among 3-point shooters in field goal percentage and first all-time in free throw percentage. In other words, Stephen Curry trained shots of all ranges in his warm-up, in part because the game rewards all of them, which is where the core of our conversation begins.

The Risk of Only Competing Optionals

Basketball three-pointers are to diving optionals as basketball field goals are to diving voluntaries. If you (1) agree with this analogy, (2) agree that diving fundamentals are fundamental to a diver’s success, and (3) agree that a reason Stephen Curry warms up his close range shots is the reward they bring in a game (points), then let us entertain the risks of not having voluntary dives at the highest levels of competition.

I can see at least three risks with further implications.

Athlete Focus, and Therefore Safety

Imagine you place diving competitions in two groups. The first group does voluntaries and optionals at competitions, as you find at club, high school, community college, masters, and Division II and III diving meets. The second group only does optionals, as you find at Division I, senior-level (for USA), and international (e.g., Olympic Games, World Aquatics, etc.) competitions.

Of the two groups, which one would have an easier time convincing athletes to value and train those boring voluntary dives? Which group could face more temptation to speed up the learning process to learn dives of higher degree of difficulty (DD), even when it results in more smacks, balks, and other issues? I understand the argument of athletes being responsible for their learning, but is the full absence of voluntary dives the best structure to promote athlete safety and a focus on mature skill development? Basketball, ice-skating, gymnastics, soccer, football, volleyball, and golf are some of the many sports whose competition structures involve easier plays or maneuvers while not diminishing the overall experience.

Gaps in Coaching Approaches

Coaching masters divers is an amazing experience. Their minds are sharp and they want to know the reasons behind your suggestions. They are also selective in who they accept as their coach because a coaching approach with safety, progression, or knowledge gaps can cost them their diving career. As a coach, masters divers bless you with the opportunity to grow in your coaching approach.

Are youth, collegiate, and international divers as selective? Do they ever jump into a new dive because of pressure felt by the coach? Are coaches of senior- and international-level athletes having their growth impeded because the graceful execution of a reverse dive is no longer required outside synchronized diving events?

Voluntary dives in senior-level competitions not only helps mature a diver, those basic dives also incentivize coaches to follow coaching approaches built on sound progression of skill and dives.

Hindered Competitiveness at Competitions

USA Diving has a minimum cumulative DD requirement rule for their senior competitions. A difficulty to the DD rule is it does not separate divers whose dives are deficient or at the beginning stages of satisfactory (and scoring 5 and below) from those who are showing mastery of the dives. The validity of this challenge is seen through the raw score averages of first and fifth place at national-level competitions. For example, if you take the semi-final and final round results of the last eleven senior-level competitions, you have the following table:

What does this table mean? Of the 68 events, 48.5% saw an average difference of raw score per judge per dive of .75 or higher. This means first place is receiving .75 more raw score points per judge per dive than fifth place nearly half the time! These numbers would not be as significant if first and fifth place averaged 9.25 and 8.5 respectively. However, only 2 out of the 132 athletes who finished first or fifth place averaged higher than an 8 per judge per dive. When looking at the 66 first place finishers, 57.6% averaged good dives and only one champion averaged very good dives (by scoring an 8.5 or higher).

Each diver put in the work to compete at these competitions. Nevertheless, do these raw score results highlight the need of voluntary dives in competitions? Can changing the competition structure help close the gap between first and fifth? Can rule change also help increase the number of champions who are averaging very good dives, thus raising the competitiveness at top competitions?

A Modern Voluntary Program

Why do I keep mentioning voluntaries when this article is about being excellent on purpose? Athletes who are excellent on purpose have mastery over the way their bodies move. They can switch from easy skills to complex maneuvers without losing any quality. The path to physical mastery is multi-faceted. For this article, the focus is on how competition structure influences athletes, coaches, and competition competitiveness. Considering there are many competitive sports that involve simpler plays, it is my view that a modern voluntary program can help increase athletic excellence and limit the three risks mentioned above.

My 2011 paper (A Look at Diving) proposed a voluntary dive program that was later refined in the 2021 follow-up paper (Another Look at Diving). The program consisted of divers choosing one set of three voluntary dives with each dive having a DD of 2.0. Divers would perform their voluntary dives during the preliminary and semi-final rounds of diving with their optionals, but not the final round.

The lack of voluntaries in the final round supported the final round being a testing ground for international competitions. Each voluntary dive having the DD set at 2.0 provides a point total advantage for those who do well.

Without the Rule, What Can be Done?

Since there is no voluntary program in individual competitions at the senior and world level, what can we do to incentivize maturity in skill development, to highlight coaches who focus on mastery in body movement, and to raise the level of excellence at competitions?

If you believe in having a voluntary diving program at senior-level competitions, then submit a proposal to your governing body. If you want to chat, contact me at SportingStandards@gmail.com.

For athletes and coaches, you can do the Self-Control Diving Test. This test mirrors Stephen Curry’s warm-up video by increasing and decreasing dive difficulty for each flipping category (twisters excluded for now). For example, if a diver does 105, 205, 305, and 405 on three-meter, then here are the twenty dives to do and score:

• 101, 103, 105, 103, 101

• 201, 203, 205, 203, 201

• 301, 303, 305, 303, 301

• 401, 403, 405, 403, 401

Categories can go in any order that the diver wants to execute. Two questions divers can ask themselves afterwards are ‘Where was the quality of the dive strong?’ and ‘What do my scores tell me about my self-control from dive to dive?’

A third option is to adjust the pace of learning new dives. Solidify the voluntary and lead-up dives before jumping into a new dive. This pace to higher DD dives may be slower, but imagine a world where divers score a five (if not six) or higher on their first fifty of a new dive. This is a world where smacks and balks are a rarity.

If you have a more suitable idea on how to have more athletes showing athletic excellence, go for it! We all want excellent athletes, solid coaching, and high levels of competitiveness at competitions. Adding a modified voluntary dive program is (in my opinion) a sensible step forward, but not the only step. The larger picture of creating a beneficial competitive sport experience for all athletes is what we will discuss in our final article of this three-part series.

Written and submitted by Michael McDowell (SportingStandards@gmail.com).