MCDL Training and Clinics
MCDL Clinics for COACHES!
In 2006, the Montgomery County Diving League (MCDL) sponsored a course to help
coaches learn safe techniques for coaching all skill levels of divers. We offered
a Basic Certification, which required a coach to attend the Friday and Saturday
sessions. In addition, we offered an Advanced Certification which required the
coach to attend the two Basic sessions and the Sunday session. We now host two
separate sessions at Olney Swim Center with the following format:
(A) Friday evening for 2 hours in the classroom
(B) Saturday for 6 hours in the classroom, then 1 hour in the diving well.
(C Advanced) Sunday for 5 hours in the classroom, then 1 hour in the well.
Clinic #1 May 30, 31, and June 1
(1A) Fri 7-9pm Classroom
(1B) Sat 10-4pm Classroom, 4-5pm Well
(1C Advanced) Sun 12:30-5pm Classroom, 2-3pm Well
Clinic #2 June 6, 7, 8
(2A) Fri 7-9pm Classroom
(2B) Sat 10-4pm Classroom, 4-5pm Well
(2C Advanced) Sun 12:30-5pm Classroom, 2-3pm Well
Click here to register for one of the sessions listed above.
This season, we are proud to sponsor our annual MCDL Coaching Clinics to help
coaches learn safe techniques for coaching all skill levels. We are hosting two
sessions at Olney Swim Center on Georgia Avenue in Olney, MD. These customized clinics
are taught by SEMYON (Sam) SLOBOUNOV who is a professor of kinetics at Penn State.
As a result, we need divers who will volunteer to be coached during the clinics.
The divers are needed on Saturdays from 11 to 5 so bring a lunch.
On Sundays, divers should arrive by 1 and stay until 5.
Why do you need Demo Divers?
These are "coaching" clinics for our league's coaches. They are learning
"dry land" techniques for warming up, stretching, and teaching the fundamentals
of springboard diving.
What is dry land?
Dry land is the term used for both swimmers and divers for working on fundamental
skills not on the diving board. This is vital to teaching diving safely. Imagine
trying to teach a dive on an 18" wide moving surface that is wet! It is much
easier to engage in repetitious muscle memory training safely on the ground.
These coaching clinics help your coaches learn these basic techniques.
But it is so long...
It goes by very fast. The divers get a chance to see their coaches learning. They
then have the opportunity to try new stuff they have never done before with the
coaches spotting them and working with them in a very personable and friendly way.
They are there with lots of kids and make new friends and they get several breaks.
How come they only spend an hour in the well?
Again, learning the fundamentals in diving should not be taught on a moving,
slippery, 18" surface. Once they get done with the dry land portion of the clinic,
they move to the well to learn how to now transition what they have learned to
the springboard. The coaches learn how to help your divers make the transition
from dry land to the board, and make the necessary corrections. They learn how and
when to pull the diver back off the board onto the ground and rework those
fundamentals and then take it to the board again.
What's in it for the diver?
Aside from meeting a former Russian Olympic Diving Coach, they will absolutely get
a jump on their season. They will leave the clinic with newly understood skills
that they have probably never had the chance to work on with such detailed coaching.
If you would like to volunteer some divers, please put Diver in the subject line and send
an email to
clinic @ mcdiving.org
Any questions about the clinics, please contact us at support@mcdiving.org
Click here to read what some of the coaches wrote
after attending this clinic.
These clinics, customized for MCDL, were designed by Semyon (Sam) Slobounov,
a former Olympic Diving Coach and a professor of kinetics at Penn State University.
Sam is in the picture below, between Lori and Karl.
Convinced? Click here to go to the Registration page.