Diving·Water Sports

NCAA

🏛️Official — NCAA

NCAA Swimming and Diving Rules of the Game· 2025-26 NCAA Diving Rules Book (1m + 3m springboard, 10m platform, 11-dive list, NCAA Championship qualifying)Open source

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Section 1: Introduction

NCAA Diving is the collegiate variant of competitive diving for NCAA Division I, II, and III institutions across both men's and women's brackets. Contested alongside NCAA Swimming at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship in March each year. NCAA Diving uses the World Aquatics technical baseline with NCAA-specific modifications around required dive lists, championship qualifying via Zone meets, and scoring/judging procedures. The current edition is the 2025-26 NCAA Swimming and Diving Rules Book. For the international diving framework see the sibling World Aquatics Diving Rules; for collegiate swimming see NCAA Swimming under Individual Sports/Swimming.

Section 2: Equipment

Swimsuit: NCAA-approved per Equipment Standards; specific diving suit cut allowed
Diving boards: aluminum with non-slip surface; 1m and 3m heights NCAA-spec
Diving platforms: concrete or steel-frame with non-slip surface; 10m height NCAA championship
Dive sheet (printed or electronic) listing each dive in order, with degree of difficulty (DD) values
Sparge / bubble system: typically not required for NCAA but used at some venues for athlete safety on platform

Section 3: Playing Area

1-meter springboard: 16 ft × 20 inch board, mounted at 1 m above water
3-meter springboard: same board profile, mounted at 3 m above water
10-meter platform: 6.5 m × 3 m platform, 10 m above water
Pool depth: minimum 4 m for 1m and 3m springboard; minimum 5 m for 10m platform (NCAA championship requires deeper)
Pool surface area must accommodate the dive trajectory plus safety zone
Lane lines removed from the diving area during diving competition

Section 4: Players & Officials

Each diver competes individually; multiple divers compete in a flight
Officials: meet referee, diving referee, panel of 5 or 7 judges (NCAA championship typically 7), announcer, recorder/calculator
Coaches in the team area; on-deck coaching during the dive is allowed before the dive begins

NCAA Championship Qualifying

NCAA Diving Championship qualification is via NCAA Zone Diving Meets — five regional Zone meets contested in the weeks before the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, with a specified number of qualifiers from each zone advancing per gender per event.

Section 5: Rules of Play

NCAA Championship Events

1-meter springboard: 11-dive list (5 voluntary + 6 optional, women) or 11-dive list (6 voluntary + 5 optional, men) — exact split per published rule book
3-meter springboard: same 11-dive list framework as 1-meter
10-meter platform (M's championship event; W's contested at some D1 conferences and championships): 11 dives

Dive Categories

Group 1 — Forward: front-facing takeoff, forward rotation
Group 2 — Back: back-facing takeoff, backward rotation
Group 3 — Reverse: forward-facing takeoff, backward rotation
Group 4 — Inward: back-facing takeoff, forward rotation
Group 5 — Twisting: any group with twist
Group 6 — Armstand (platform only): handstand on the edge of the platform, body falls into the dive

Dive Position

Straight (A): body fully extended
Pike (B): body bent at the hips, legs straight
Tuck (C): body bent at hips and knees, hands holding shins
Free (D): combination position (twisting dives)

Approach and Takeoff

Springboard: approach must consist of at least 3 steps + a hurdle (one-foot takeoff into a two-foot landing)
Platform: approach must consist of at least 4 steps OR a standing/armstand takeoff
Re-do allowed once per competition for falsely-called dive (per NCAA rule)

Dive Execution

Each dive is judged on approach, takeoff, elevation/distance, execution, and entry. The diver must hit the announced dive position; failure to do so results in degraded scores or a "failed dive" (zero score) per the rule book.

Section 6: Scoring

Each judge scores the dive from 0 to 10 in 0.5-point increments (0, 0.5, 1.0, ..., 10.0)
Failed dive: 0 (judge declares "failed dive")
Unsatisfactory dive: 0.5-2.0
Deficient dive: 2.5-4.5
Satisfactory dive: 5.0-6.0
Good dive: 6.5-8.0
Very good dive: 8.5-10

Dive Score Calculation

Drop the highest and lowest judge scores (with 5 judges, drop highest + lowest leaving 3; with 7 judges, drop highest + lowest pair leaving 3 middle)
Sum the remaining 3 scores
Multiply by the dive's Degree of Difficulty (DD)
Result is the dive's score

Total Score

Sum the dive scores across all dives in the event (typically 11 dives for NCAA championship). Highest total wins the event.

Tiebreakers

If two divers tie on total, the diver with more individual judge scores in the higher range wins
If still tied, the divers are declared co-champions for the event

Section 7: Violations & Penalties

Failed dive (zero): dive not performed as announced, dive position not held, dive landing not in standard entry, repeated incomplete dives
Balk: diver starts the approach but does not complete the dive — re-do allowed once per competition; second balk on same dive = failed dive
Wrong dive: diver performs a dive different from the announced dive — failed dive
Wrong position: diver attempts the announced dive in a different position — failed dive
Equipment / coaching violation: improper coaching during the dive, equipment used to gain advantage — DQ at the meet referee's discretion
Unsporting conduct: NCAA Sportsmanship Code; ejection + disciplinary review

Section 8: Safety Considerations

Diving is a high-impact sport with significant injury risk from board-strike, water-entry impact, and platform fall. NCAA-mandated minimum pool depth is critical (insufficient depth = forbidden dive). Sparge/bubble system at the entry point reduces water-entry impact at platform venues that have it. Diver safety protocols: warm-up access to each board pre-event; repeat-dive rule for unsafe boards; medical observers at every NCAA-sanctioned meet. Concussion protocol: removal + graduated return-to-play assessment after head/neck-impact incidents. Spinal-injury emergency action plan required (board strikes are the highest-risk diving incident). AED access + EMT/ambulance + team physician at championship-level meets.

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