How deep should your pool be for safe diving?

[Spoisal]

How deep should your pool be for safe diving? Not using a diving board, but diving in from the edge of the pool..... can you dive in at 6 feet? We are having a pool built & I didn't want it to be any deeper cause it will take away from our shallow end.........

 

[ducklite]

The father of a friend of mine broke his neck belly flopping into a six foot deep end. He never hit the bottom, his neck actually snapped on impact with the water. Accidents like this can happen regardless of the depth of the pool.

Anne

 

[drgnfly30]

I believe it's 9 feet.
Christine

 

[bananiem]

I also know someone who became a quadriplegic after diving into the 6 foot end of a pool.
The public pools around here say no diving until the 9 ft. end.

 

[lulugirl]

Six feet isn't very deep at all, I would say at least 9 feet.

 

[noseybuddy]

I was going to say no less than 8ft. But 9ft sounds better.

 

[Stitch Inside]

Depends on how tall the person diving in is.

 

[SherryNC]

Depends on how tall the person diving in is.

Yeah, I was going to say it would depend on height and weight.

 

[brerrabbit]

We built a pool in 1998 and researched the issue pretty well. What we found out was while depth is one factor in the equation the factor that contributes to more neck and spinal injuries is the length of your deep end. A 12 ft pool that is only that deep for say 10 to 15 ft is dangerous because when you dive in you are driving forward and will hit the bottom of the pool where it rises up to the shallow end. This is applicable for pools without diving boards ans well as pools with very short diving boards. We decided on a pool that goes from 3 ft to 6 ft and really try not to dive in at all, only cannonballs in the deep end.

 

[roger_ramjet]

At least 8 or 9 feet, depending on the height of the diving platform. The higher the platform, the more momentum one has, and the deeper the pool needs to be.

 

[imsorry]

Not sure - but please be careful. My nephew just had surgery last week for a severely dislocated shoulder from diving into a pool. He was lucky he didn't break his neck. (He is 35 years old and knows how to dive). Accidents can always happen. Is a diving board absolutely necessary?

Be safe

 

[Spoisal]

ok - thanks for the input! sounds like the rule at my house will be NO DIVING!

 

[DisneyArk]

The father of a friend of mine broke his neck belly flopping into a six foot deep end. He never hit the bottom, his neck actually snapped on impact with the water. Accidents like this can happen regardless of the depth of the pool.

Anne

That's terrible. I had no idea that you could injure yourself from the impact with the water. My sons love to jump off the diving board and often try to do belly flops. That's scary!!

 

[justjulie]

We opted for no diving board at all and a no diving "rule". We're all swimmers but it's just not worth the risk ...

 

[ducklite]

That's terrible. I had no idea that you could injure yourself from the impact with the water. My sons love to jump off the diving board and often try to do belly flops. That's scary!!

It was absolutely horrible.

The son of a man I worked for about 20 years ago broke his neck body surfing into the waves at Hilton Head. Same idea, they don't think he ever hit the bottom. At 16 he was rendered a paraplegic.

Anne

 

[Disneyrsh]

First, ask the guys who are building your pool. They'll know.

Also, we have a pool, it was built in 1971 so it's 'old school', very big, very deep, huge deep end, not much of a shallow end. We don't dive a lot, in fact, nobody dives but me, and I end up usually jumping in because I don't want to have to fish my top back up from around my waist.

It looks like it used to have a diving board because at the end of the deep end it's actually elevated about a foot higher than the rest of the pool.

Soooo, I'd say, if we were going to build our pool new (and in the next house we may), we'd do a big rectangle (our current kidney bean shape is annoying), and do the deep end about 8 feet, good for my 220 lb husband's pool-emptying cannonballs.

Currently the our pool has a 9 1/2 foot deep end, and a 3 1/2 foot shallow. I'd do a much bigger, shallower shallow end-maybe a zero entry. Again, your pool guys will know....

 

[mickeyboat]

That's terrible. I had no idea that you could injure yourself from the impact with the water. My sons love to jump off the diving board and often try to do belly flops. That's scary!!

A couple weeks ago, a boy jumped from the diving board at our local pool and broke his collar bone when he hit the water. He had to be rescued by the lifeguards.

Denae

 

[Spoisal]

I wonder if there is anywhere that I could get a cute "pool rules" sign for our pool....just so there isn't any confusion. 1) no diving, 2) no diapers, 3) all kids under 12 must be accompanied by an adult...etc.etc.....

 

[ducklite]

I wonder if there is anywhere that I could get a cute "pool rules" sign for our pool....just so there isn't any confusion. 1) no diving, 2) no diapers, 3) all kids under 12 must be accompanied by an adult...etc.etc.....

I would imagine any sign shop could make one to your specs.

Anne

 

[Lil_Tink]

Well Me being a swimmer. I am trianed to dive in 4ft water..But shallow dives.. but I would suggest only jumping in 6ft