Have you ever backed down from a high board in the swimning pool?

oh I believe I may have done that once or twice….as old as 13.

I haven’t done that, but you are definitely not the first.

The first time I jumped it hurt. I landed badly and smacked the water. Don’t feel badly about backing down the ladder. No shame in it.

I think I was 10ish. I was at a basketball camp, at a well known college. At the end of the day, we got to swim in the Olympic pool. It had several diving boards, of varying heights. I climbed to the top one, looked down, and just couldn’t jump. The other kids were understanding, and didn’t heckle me. NOT! The admonishment would continue for days… Kids are cruel…

The only diving board I ever went on was at a lake. It was not terribly high, but I felt it was not necessary for me to ever fall further to hit water.
I honestly just never felt desire to fall far and land in water.

I applaud you for knowing your own limitations, and not feeling pressured by others to take a risk you didn’t feel ready for.

No. And man, I’ve been off some HIGH boards! There was an amusement park in Wichita called Joyland. They had a pool and man, did they have a high dive. You climb up there you could see the whole city. The pool looked so little, like a postage stamp. No diving off of that sucker for me! I’m doing some research to find out how high that diving board was. I can’t believe it’s so hard to find.

Word is the Joyland high dive was 40 feet. It seemed a lot higher than that! It closed in the mid 60s….I would have been 10 in 68. So I don’t know how old I was when I jumped from that sucker.

FINALLY found a picture of the high dive from hell. The boards were really short, like I remember them, and there was yet another board, a third board, above those first two. They were stacked like that. By comparison you can see a regular high dive in the center.

It wasn’t just the height that scared me. The higher you jump from, the further underwater you will be, and have to swim back to the surface. I got bolder as an older kid, and actually jumped from some pretty high boards. Once, I just barely had enough breath to make it up…

Well, I had an advantage in that I practiced becoming a Weekie Watchee Mermaid from about the age of 4. Part of that required being able to hold your breath for 30 minutes at a time. Dad took us to see them when we lived in Florida. It wasn’t until I was much older and saw a video that I realized they had access to air hoses and they weren’t hold their breath for 30 minutes at a time!
As a kid, though, I could swim the length of an Olympic sized pool on one breath. I was was totally at home in the water. I’d release my breath until I was standing on the floor of the deep end, then I’d to gymnastics, back flips and stuff.
The only time I got worried was at a lake. I dove off the high board determined to make it to the bottom of the lake, having NO CLUE how far down it was. I made it, but it was a little freaking getting back up, running out of air with no idea how far from the top I was. Scary.

^^It does look really high. I wonder how high it actually was.

No. Pool management will not allow it.

40 foot @JLeslie.

I never had to back down because I was always too smart to climb up!!!
I have a terrible fear of heights
I won’t even use a step ladder to change a light bulb!!!