By Dr. Chelsea Ale
President, U.S. Professional Diving Coaches Association
If you have ever walked into a natatorium halfway through a college meet and wondered whether diving already happened, you are not alone.
If you have driven across town with athletes or families only to discover that the event you wanted to watch is already over, or buried deep inside a long swim meet with no clear schedule, you are also not alone.
And if you care deeply about swimming and diving but still find it difficult to consistently attend collegiate meets, that is not a failure of interest. It is a failure of access and experience.
Recently, the U.S. Professional Diving Coaches Association (PDCA) surveyed coaches, athletes, parents, alumni, and fans across the swimming and diving community and followed that work with a national town hall discussion. While diving was a central focus, the message was clear: because swimming and diving are almost always presented together, the challenges and solutions apply to both.
Even the Most Invested People Struggle to Attend
One of the most telling findings was who responded. These were not casual fans unfamiliar with the sport. They were people deeply embedded in swimming and diving: club, high school, and college coaches, current and former collegiate athletes, parents, alumni, and long-time supporters.
Nearly everyone had attended college meets before. Many had spent years on deck or in the stands. And yet, the same frustrations appeared again and again.
- People did not know exactly when diving would happen within a meet.
- They arrived late or left early because schedules were unclear.
- They struggled to find parking, entry rules, or livestream links.
- They felt parts of the meet, especially diving, were treated as an afterthought.
When even the most engaged members of the community struggle to show up, the issue is not apathy. It is structure.
Fans Aren’t Asking for More Explanation. They’re Asking for Clarity.
A common assumption is that swimming and diving are hard to follow for casual fans. While that may be true at times, the feedback suggests something more basic.
Fans are not asking for deeper technical breakdowns of scoring systems or dive lists. They are asking for:
- Clear schedules that tell them when events start and end
- A meet atmosphere that feels energetic and welcoming
- Live scoring that is visible and easy to follow
- Announcers who help the audience understand what is happening
- Opportunities to connect with athletes before or after the meet
In other words, fans want to feel like they are attending an event, not trying to decode one.
Because the Meets Are Combined, the Experience Is Shared
One important theme that emerged is that swimming and diving are inseparable when it comes to fan experience. When a meet is confusing, long, or poorly communicated, it affects everyone in the building.
- If diving is difficult to find within a meet, fans disengage.
- If swim sessions drag on without clear pacing, families leave early.
- If the energy in the venue drops, neither sport benefits.
Improving the structure and presentation of meets lifts both swimming and diving together. This is not about choosing one over the other. It is about designing a better experience for everyone involved.
Youth and Club Engagement Is the Missing Link
One of the strongest and most consistent messages from both the survey and the town hall was the importance of youth and club engagement.
Programs that actively involve local clubs through clinics, joint practices, youth programming, and meet-day interaction see stronger attendance and deeper community connection. For young swimmers and divers, seeing college athletes up close makes the pathway feel real.
- For parents, it builds trust and excitement.
- For athletes, it creates role models.
- For programs, it creates fans who want to return.
This approach benefits swimming and diving equally and helps transform meets from isolated competitions into community events.
Timing and Format Matter More Than We Admit
Another difficult but honest conversation centered on meet structure.
Long weekday meets, unpredictable timelines, and formats that bury diving inside hours of swimming make attendance challenging for families, students, and casual fans. Many respondents expressed interest in:
- Shorter, more focused meets
- Evening competitions that fit real-life schedules
- Clear event order and transitions
- Intentional moments that highlight diving within combined meets
These are not radical ideas. They are adjustments that acknowledge how people actually engage with sports.
This Isn’t About Making the Sport Something It Isn’t
Improving access and experience does not mean sacrificing competitive integrity or tradition. It means recognizing that presentation matters.
Swimming and diving are visually compelling, emotional, and powerful sports. The athleticism speaks for itself. What has been missing is not quality, but intentionality.
When meets are easier to understand, easier to attend, and more welcoming, people show up.
The Opportunity in Front of Us
Swimming and diving do not lack passion, talent, or history. What they often lack is a system that invites people in consistently.
The feedback from the community is not a list of complaints. It is a roadmap.
- Clear communication.
- Better scheduling.
- More energy in the venue.
- Stronger connection between college programs and local clubs.
These changes help diving. They help swimming. And because the meets are shared, they help the sport as a whole.
The audience is there. The interest exists. The challenge now is whether we are willing to design meets that people can actually experience.
TownHall:
ABOUT DR. CHELSEA ALE
ABOUT DR. CHELSEA ALEDr. Chelsea Ale is the President of the U.S. Professional Diving Coaches Association and a professor of Sport Management at the University of Alabama. A former Division I diving coach and athlete, she advocates for the preservation of Olympic and non-revenue sports through strategic leadership, athlete-centered policy, and sustainable funding models.
I disagree. These are secondary issues. Diving has a format, presentation, and entertainment problem. All these other issues would be solve themselves if the competitions presented to the public were shorter, more exiting, with more fan engagement and more entertainment.
I run a swim and dive program for a prep school and the only thing similar between the two is the pool. I enjoy both at the high school level though. The diving program is actually a big draw at home meets because everyone knows our diver really well so they all come to watch.
We started doing all of the diving in the beginning of the meet to bring in the crowd and then the swim meet follows with the medley relay to start which gets the crowd excited. It all dies down by the 500 free event, but for a good 75 minutes our home meets are packed.
Massive respect for the tremendous athletes that pick diving as their sport. I enjoy watching these athletes.
A lot more difficult to find a venue to practice, competent coaching, and a large enough community to drive anything more than specialized interest, at least in the US.
I believe, however, that this time to split it off from swimming. Perhaps the idea someone else mentioned; combine w artistic swimming. In a time where there are so many options for eyeballs/$$, I would prefer dominance in the dozens of medals available rather than the 6-10. I hate to write it like this; I know it sounds crass.
Theres also a lack of diversity. We tried diving and lots of uppity type, bullying, christian white folks. I like to attend and participate in diverse events which matches the diversity in our community as a whole.
Kevin Ring addressed this in the podcast I did with him. Worth a listen if you’re interested in it. He went to the Diversity in Aquatics meet in Atlanta as one of his first stops, so that’s a strong signal that he’s invested in diversifying the sport.
https://swimswam.com/usa-swimming-ceo-kevin-ring-talks-about-the-state-of-swimming-and-answers-the-hard-questions/
I know ZERO about diving or artistic swim but they seem like better partners than a swimming.
IMO the diving competition should lead off every meet, if possible. In this way fans know that if a meet starts at, say, 2:00, that’s when the diving competition starts, followed by swimming. I don’t dislike diving and in fact have huge respect for divers—very talented and hard-working competitors, but, that said, I think most casual fans find diving a bit boring–even as they acknowledge that they could never dive competently themselves! Diving competitions are individual skills contests, not races with multiple competitors that can be exciting. And most casual fans can’t differentiate between a good dive and a mediocre or weak dive (unless there is a big splash–ha). To have diving midway through a swim/dive meet would be to… Read more »
The lead off with diving idea is intriguing!
YES to all of that. Hard to find diving specific athletes on college roosters without seeing all swim and dive. Hard to find meets with diving. Hard to find posted competitions times. Hard to follow once your there – difficult to hear and difficult to see scores if you don’t know a thing or two. Attended a UT Swim meet with diving “show” at the beginning. The meet video started after the diving “show” … Swim athletes had screen coverage of their name – event – splash about them. Divers – nothing. It really got my diver excited about “Swim” & dive. There is little coverage of junior and college diving….
You could also add gambling and alcohol like dog and horse tracks do, and that would create more interest in the event.