You Know You're a Diver When...

monicarima straps on the spandex and risks belly flops on a regular basis. She has to convince you she's tough? –Sparkitors

I’m a diver, and it always seems like diving as a sport doesn't get the credit it deserves. If you're one of the many people who thinks of diving as swimming minus the laps, or "just jumping into a pool a bunch of times," think again. To give you a taste of what we endure, here's how you know you're a diver:

-When you tell someone you’re on the dive team, they say, “Oh, cool, I didn’t know you were a swimmer!”

-You know what a shammy is, and use yours daily.

-You don’t understand how swimmers and runners don’t get tired of doing the same motion a million times in a row.

-You have (finally!) learned to love smacking the water.

-You take video of these smacks and watch them over and over, and even take pictures of the lovely red marks they leave on your skin—when you're lucky, in cool designs!

-You have seen someone hit the diving board on the way down, and you’re still not afraid to dive.

-You make weird faces and/or noises when you're concentrating on a dive, and you don’t even notice till someone else points this out.

-You proudly tell people that you have found the perfect athletic activity: a sport of the body and the mind. This is completely true: diving is 80% mental and 20% physical.

-You are just plain awesome. Enough said.

Does your sport get enough respect?

Related post: How to Swim

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