- Now you're quite right that you might be wondering
what we're all doing stood here at the side of a pool
looking cool, resplendent in some cutting edge swimwear.
- Yeah, because swimming trunks is not something
you'd normally associate with us
here at the Global Cycling Network.
- Hold on a minute now.
You're forgetting what not to wear,
Richie Porte's training secret,
and the GCN Presenter Challenge.
- Well, apart from that it's not something
you'd associate with us at GCN.
- No, but there is a real reason that we are poolside
at University of Bath in the UK.
Diving.
- Diving?
I thought we were here for some serious poolside action,
bit of petting, some diving perhaps.
- No, no, no, this is serious business.
Basically, our producers said
that we looked so stupid any time we get anywhere near
a swimming pool.
(soft piano music)
That we needed some lessons, so we've asked our friends
at our new sister channel, the Global Triathlon Network,
to show us how it's done.
(upbeat music)
- Please welcome along Heather and Mark.
- Hey guys. - Hello you guys, alright.
- So I gather there's a little room for improvement
on those diving skills?
- A little, not much.
- I think we've got a few pointers for you at least.
- Yes, and after a little research
into some of your previous swimming videos,
we're quietly confident we can help you
to do something vaguely like a dive.
- Well, to be perfectly honest with you guys,
it's really good of you to come along,
but I think we got this dialled, to be honest.
- How about you let us be the judge of that.
I think it's time we see what we're dealing with.
- Yeah, let's see what you've got
and we'll take it from there.
- Oh, what's this?
- All right, swimming helmets.
(upbeat music)
(waters splashing)
(record scratching)
(water splashing)
- Ooh!
(water splashing)
(upbeat music)
(water splashing)
- [Onlookers] Aw, yes!
(water splashing)
- [Onlookers] Ooooh!
- Right, we had some great dives there,
so let's get the scores on the doors.
- Well, let's start off by announcing
the effort style execution for Dan
gives him a midway score.
Overall, five out of ten!
- [Man] That's not bad, Dan, that's a great score.
- [Dan] I've done well.
- All right good, we were really impressed
at Tom's dive, very elegant.
We gave it an overall score of seven out of ten.
- [Man] Whoa, nice one mate.
- But, talking about elegance and being pretty
off the block, well, that has to go to Simon, 7.5!
- [Man] Good job mate.
- [Simon] Thanks guys.
- [Man] Nice skills.
- [Simon] I've already subscribed.
- Hold on a second, you might not have won though, Si.
- Ooooh yeah. - Just hold your horses guys.
- Certainly last but not least, we have Matt's dive
which was interesting.
We gave it a four out of ten.
- [Matt] A four.
- Well that's alright, mate.
Solid effort.
- I'd be pleased with that, to be honest.
- Yeah, it's not bad.
There's room for improvement.
I mean, there is room for improvement for all of us,
so how can you help us?
Give us some fundamentally important tips
to improve, collectively, our diving.
(upbeat music)
- Understandably, when you're stood on the edge of a block
about to launch yourself into the water,
the last thing you're thinking about is your technique,
but as we've seen, a technique certainly makes a difference
to the quality of a dive so let's work through this
step by step.
Firstly, how you position your feet
can really affect your stability and the power of the dive.
Now the more traditional and probably the safest option
is the grab start, simply grip your toes over the edge
around shoulder width apart.
You want to feel comfortable and stable in this position
so just shift your feet around until you've got it right.
Once you've got your foot position,
then start bringing your hands down towards your feet
prior to the dive.
I would suggest gripping on to the block with your hands
and keeping your head down, almost tucked between your arms
and then keep your hips up so that you've just
got a slight bend in your knees.
(upbeat music)
When you're going for the dive,
start leaning your body weight forwards,
then push with your legs and use your arms
to drive some momentum into the dive itself
by swinging them forwards.
Now, keep your hands on top of each other
with your arms in a straight and streamlined position.
To really nail the dive, keep your head tucked in
so that you're looking down at the water below.
Imagining a hoop in the water is a really good trick
for perfecting your dive.
The aim is to get everything from your hands to your feet
through that hoop.
Now, try and stay in that streamlined position
as long as you can so that once you are through that hoop,
you continue to glide through the water.
- Okay, some pretty solid tips there.
Let's see if we can collectively make some improvements
for round two.
- Well, good luck guys.
(upbeat music)
(water splashing)
(onlookers cheer)
(water splashing)
- Right guys, well thank you very much for your time
and for your tips as well.
Before we go through the scores, though,
from what I've seen of you guys
and looking at myself on camera, I think we're pretty much
dialled in the diving territory now.
- We're all in Tokyo 2020 now.
- Yeah, just go--
- Well, let's not get carried away,
but there was certainly some improvements there.
- Well I think it's time we look at the comparison
of before and after.
So, let's start with Dan.
Now, remember it was a five out of ten
the first time around.
- I think the quote was "middle of the road."
- Well, yeah.
You'll be pleased to know you were above the middle, 6.5)
- [Man] Oh, nice work, mate.
Good skills, yeah.
- And Tom, certainly some improvement.
Some more effort there as well.
So we gave it a 7.5.
- Solid mate. - Nice going mate.
- And Si, it was pretty the first time.
It was still pretty and you got a little bit further, 8.5.
- Oh my word, Si. - That's near perfect!
- Thank you very much!
- And finally, probably the biggest improvement of the day,
Matt.
I think it was very impressive.
I think we can all say.
We came in at 6.
- A six, wow. - Improvement of two.
- That's an improvement of two.
- 50%.
- In normal money, that's quite the improvement mate.
- Yeah. - In normal money.
- Well seriously guys, thank you very much.
These are actually great tips today.
I know we're all going to be subscribing to GTN.
You definitely should subscribe as well.
In fact, you might as well do it now.
If you click on the GTN logo on screen,
then you'll do it straight away.
Why not?
- Yeah, if you want to learn some more
about triathlon, how about clicking just down here.
- Yeah, or for some swimming tips, click just down there.
- Do we have something we could teach triathletes?