Diving Rules: Dive Groups, Scoring and Pool Depth

This article contains affiliate links: if you buy through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Learn more.

“Inward one and a half somersaults, pike. Degree of difficulty, two point one.” The announcer reads the dive, the referee blows the whistle, and a college diver steps to the back of the 3-meter board. Two seconds later the judges’ cards go up: 7, 7.5, 7, 6.5, 7. Diving can look like magic from the stands, but it runs on clear diving rules: every dive has a number, every number has a difficulty, and every judge looks for the same things. This page explains how dives are named and scored, how diving scoring differs in high school, college and international meets, and the pool depth rules that keep divers safe.

Events and heights

Springboards are 1 meter and 3 meters above the water. Platforms (towers) are 5, 7.5 and 10 meters; the 10-meter platform is about 32 ft 10 in. Under World Aquatics rules, senior platform events at international meets are done only from the 10-meter. The Olympic program has eight events: 3-meter springboard, 10-meter platform, synchronized 3-meter and synchronized 10-meter, each for men and women. World Championships also include 1-meter springboard, a mixed team event and mixed synchronized diving. US high school diving is done on the 1-meter board; college meets use 1 meter and 3 meters, plus platform at some meets and championships.

How dives are numbered

World Aquatics gives every dive three or four numbers and a letter. The first number is the group:

• 1 Forward: facing the water, rotating forward.
• 2 Back: standing backward on the end of the board, rotating away from it.
• 3 Reverse: facing the water but rotating back toward the board.
• 4 Inward: standing backward but rotating in toward the board.
• 5 Twisting: any dive with a twist; the second number gives the direction of the take-off.
• 6 Armstand: starting from a handstand on the platform edge.

In the forward, back, reverse and inward groups, the second number is 1 for a “flying” dive and 0 otherwise. The third number counts half somersaults, so 105 is two and a half. Twisting and armstand dives add a fourth number for half twists. The letter is the position: A straight, B pike, C tuck, D free (free means a mix of positions, used in some twisting dives). A 5233D is a back one and a half somersaults with one and a half twists, free position.

Degree of difficulty

Each dive has a degree of difficulty (DD) calculated with a World Aquatics formula that adds five parts: somersaults, flight position, twists, approach and an “unnatural entry” (added for some dives where the diver can’t see the water before going in). The results are printed in official tables for each board height. A forward dive tuck (101C) is 1.2 on the 1-meter board; a forward two and a half somersaults in pike (105B) is 2.4 on the 3-meter. Harder dives score more points, but only if they’re done well.

How diving is judged and scored

Judges give each dive one score from 0 to 10 in half points, based on their overall impression: 10 excellent, 8.5–9.5 very good, 7–8 good, 5–6.5 satisfactory, 2.5–4.5 deficient, 0.5–2 unsatisfactory and 0 for a completely failed dive. They judge four parts of the dive: the starting position and approach, the take-off, the flight and the entry. The entry should be vertical and not twisted, with the body straight, feet together and toes pointed. On head-first entries the arms should be stretched beyond the head with the hands close together. Judges are told to ignore the difficulty of the dive and anything that happens under the water.

Then the math. With seven judges, the two highest and two lowest scores are dropped; with five judges, the highest and lowest. The remaining scores are added and multiplied by the DD. World Aquatics’ own example: 8.0, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5 and 7.0 from five judges leaves 22.5, and 22.5 × 2.0 = 45.0 points. The diver with the highest total after all rounds wins.

Failed dives and penalties

Under World Aquatics rules the referee declares a failed dive (0 points) if the diver performs a different dive from the one announced, double bounces on the end of the springboard, doesn’t take the last step from one foot, misses the announced twist by 90 degrees or more, enters feet first on a head-first dive (or the reverse), gets help after the start signal, refuses the dive or takes more than a minute after a warning. A dive clearly done in the wrong position can’t score more than 2 points.

Synchronized diving

In synchro, two divers do the same dive side by side. At the Olympics, World Championships and World Cups, 11 judges score: three watch each diver’s execution and five judge how well the pair matches in the take-off and height, the timing of their movements in the air, the angle and timing of their entries and how far from the board they enter. Other meets may use nine judges. The highest and lowest score in each group is dropped. Women’s synchro has five rounds and men’s six; the first two rounds are dives given a fixed DD of 2.0, and the rest have no limit. Forward-facing springboard dives must use a running approach. If either diver does a different dive or position, it’s a failed dive.

How the rules differ by level

Level	Boards	Dives	Notes
World Aquatics (senior)	1 m, 3 m, 10 m	Men 6, women 5	Dives from at least five groups (men’s platform: six); no DD limit; divers must be 14 by Dec. 31.
USA Diving juniors	1 m, 3 m, platform	By age group	Age groups 11 and under, 12–13, 14–15 and 16–18 (as of Dec. 31); older groups do more dives.
NCAA	1 m, 3 m, platform	6 in dual meets; 6 or 11 elsewhere	Follows World Aquatics technical rules. Dual meets: six optional dives, one from each of five groups plus one more, no DD limit.
NFHS (high school)	1 m	6 in dual meets; 11 at championships	Dual meets open with a voluntary dive (DD capped at 1.8) from the week’s group; two failed dives disqualify.

High school details. The NFHS voluntary group rotates each week: forward, back, inward, twisting, reverse, unless the state association decides otherwise. In dual meets, the five optional dives must come from at least four of the five groups. At an 11-dive championship, the five voluntary dives (one from each group) can’t total more than 9.0 DD, and the six optionals must include one from each group. The referee takes 2 points off each judge’s score for a balk or an illegal forward approach (fewer than three steps). Divers may wear tape or wraps for support without medical permission.

College details. NCAA rules allow divers to wear tape, kinesiology tape and wrist guards as a preventive measure without medical paperwork, and divers aren’t limited in how many suits they use. To reach the Division I championships, divers must qualify through a zone diving meet. Platform events at zone meets can be done from any competitive platform level (5, 7.5 or 10 meters).

Pool depth rules for safety

The most important rule in diving isn’t about points. Every board needs deep enough water below it, measured at the “plummet,” the point straight down from the front end of the board. These are the NCAA’s required minimums, with the preferred depth in brackets:

Board	Height	Minimum water depth at the plummet
1-meter springboard	3 ft 4 in	11 ft 2 in (11 ft 6 in)
3-meter springboard	9 ft 10 in	12 ft 2 in (12 ft 6 in)
5-meter platform	16 ft 5 in	12 ft 2 in (12 ft 6 in)
7.5-meter platform	24 ft 8 in	13 ft 6 in (14 ft 10 in)
10-meter platform	32 ft 10 in	14 ft 10 in (16 ft 5 in)

The NCAA table also sets how far the deep water must extend ahead of and beside the board, and the clear space overhead. World Aquatics sets its own facility standards and requires the water in a diving pool to be at least 1.8 meters (about 6 ft) deep at every point. The NCAA reminds hosts that local and state laws on pools still apply. For everyone else, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) is blunt: never dive into shallow water or water where you can’t see the bottom, and swim away from the board after you come up.

What the rules allow divers to bring

A suit that meets the coverage rules for men or women, wrist tape or wraps, and a shammy towel to dry off between dives. Athletic tape like Mueller MTape tears by hand, and a Flow Swim Chamois fits in a small tube in the meet bag. See the full diving gear list.

Prices change often. We saw the Flow Swim Chamois at about $13 and the Mueller MTape 2-pack at about $9 on Amazon in October 2026; check the current price before you buy.

More on diving: the diving hub, leagues and associations and the youth diving guide. Many divers come from swimming and gymnastics; see the swimming rules and our gymnastics guide.

Diving rules questions

What are the six dive groups?

Forward (1), back (2), reverse (3), inward (4), twisting (5) and armstand (6). Armstand dives start from a handstand on a platform. Springboard events, including US high school and college, use the first five groups.

What does “105B” mean?

Forward group (1), no flying action (0), five half somersaults (5), in the pike position (B): a forward two and a half somersaults pike.

How many judges score a diving meet?

Usually five or seven for individual events. World Aquatics uses seven at the Olympics, World Championships and World Cups, and 11 for synchronized diving. Many local and school meets use fewer; check the meet rules.

What is a balk in diving?

Under NFHS rules, it’s when a diver takes the starting position, clearly starts the approach or press, and then stops before entering the water. It costs 2 points from each judge’s score, and two balks on the same dive make it a failed dive.

How deep does the water need to be for a 1-meter board?

The NCAA minimum is 11 ft 2 in at the plummet, with 11 ft 6 in preferred. Local and state pool codes may set their own rules. Never dive from a board into water that doesn’t meet them.