Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum!

Or:
'The Anatomy of a Dive'
To:
'You've Come a Long Way, Baby!'
Cade started diving lessons on Monday. It went relatively well the first day, learning the correct approach, steps, etc. The second day? Ermm, not so much. He came home with a red, welted belly and a bruised ego. His coach (who, let's just say is a dead ringer for Izzy Mandelbaum) gave him some words of advice and called him Super Trooper. The third day (today) showed marked improvement. And even Cade could tell. The other 4 divers also noted (out loud to Cade, I might add) that he in fact 'got it.'
*whew!*
It's amazing what 3 days and the sage advice from a nearly octogenarian with 35 years of coaching high school and college diving (his words, not mine) will do for a kid.

Mandelbaum (AKA Coach Jim) trying to help Cade get rid of the belly flops.

I wish I had taken a picture of the shirt Coach Jim was wearing.
It said Marines on the front. And the back?
'Pain is weakness leaving the body.'
I'm SOOOOO not joking.
I can't make this stuff up, folks!

SMACK!
Pretty sure it hurt as bad as it sounded, too.

Another one of Coach Jim's tricks. Try diving with your hands on your head from the side of the pool. That way your head goes in first, not your belly. Now TELL ME that doesn't sound like something Izzy Mandelbaum would do??

Mandelbaum, er, I mean, Jim, trying to get it through to Cade to keep his chin to his chest.

He learned this little trick from Mandelbaum's granddaughter, who is also one of the divers.
And it really helped.

Finally. Wednesday's session.
It's go time!

THE best dive yet.
Even Mandelbaum thought so.

Come on. You see it now, don't you?


*for those of you out there who are not Seinfeld fans and have no idea what I'm talking about, you might try clicking on the gold words for a better understanding.*