New technology at natatorium helps diving teams succeed

The men's and women's swimming and diving team have seen a majority of their growth and success in recent years.

A season after both the men and women placed first at the annual Terrapin Cup in Maryland and fifth at the Big East finals, the Huskies appear to be on track to do just as much, if not more, damage in 2007-08.

In fact, they are picking up from last year's 8-1 and 7-3 records, respectively, as the men are undefeated at 3-0 and the women have just as many wins but suffered a loss to conference rival Rutgers two weeks ago.

And with one the largesr and more talented freshman classes in the program's history, the Huskies have been steadily emerging as a conference contender.

To top it off, this season they have the help of some state-of-the-art technology.

Courtesy of Dr. Bruce Silverstein - father of 2008 graduate diver Rachel Silverstein - the diving program has had the luxury of honing their skills by way of an innovative instant replay system, acquired at the start of the 2007-08 season.

Silverstein's gift to the program was a "thank you" for allowing his daughter - a walk on - to do something she loved tremendously.

"She really wanted to dive and the coach gave her the opportunity," Silverstein said. "The least I can do is help them out and give them something they needed."

The system consists of two independent playback units, with two flat-screen televisions attached to their own replay device, both mounted behind the three-meter springboards located at the center back walls of the deep end. Two infrared cameras sit high above on the left and right walls, each focusing on a one-meter board and three-meter board on its respective side.

The Huskies no longer have to wait to view their dives after practice, but instead can rise to the surface, receive verbal feedback, and most importantly, watch all aspects of their dive - from the launch point to the landing - on 32-inch, high-definition monitors. The dive is replayed about 30 seconds after the landing, a time set by coach John Bransfield.

"[The replay] is close enough so that you can see specific details of your body movements," senior Liza Marianni said. "It's literally like taking an action shot," added the All-Conference diver.

The team's older camera equipment did not allow for the automatic replay option that instant replay provides. Therefore immediate feedback was not obtainable and was never used on a daily basis.

"If we got it like once a month, we were lucky, you know, we were happy about it," Marianni said. "We would always ask for it but often it was too much trouble. It took John a lot of time to set up. I don't want to say it wasn't worth because when it was out, it was helpful. But for us to really utilize it, you need it on an everyday basis to compare yourself."

The new system serves as major tool for coaching, as its foremost intent is to assist in what Bransfield considers one of most important aspects of the sport of diving - feedback. With pause, play, stop, rewind and fast forward all at Bransfield's control, up until about three hours of recording can be viewed at any time.

"Feedback is given quite a bit throughout a workout," Bransfield said. "And often you can't follow up with a kid because you're already giving feedback to the next kid, then the third kid, and so forth. Much gets lost, it kind of falls between the cracks."

Many of the divers understand the rate at which workouts are performed and, as a result, are taking advantage of and relying on the visual feedback to reinforce Bransfield's criticism.

"Before I do a dive I have a plan, like one thing that I want to correct or fix on my dive," said junior Steve Ferreira. "I'll go over to the monitor and look specifically at that one movement, and I'll see if I did it or didn't do it and go from there."

But according to Bransfield, signs of improvement are materializing more quickly for some divers. He attributes "distractions" and insecurity issues as possible hindrances to adjusting previous mistakes.

"For some kids it's working better than others," he said. "They can see themselves going through a movement sequence and relate to what I'm trying to identify. Others, I don't see the results as quickly. Some may be more drawn to seeing other aspects of the skill, other components. They may be getting too self-critical. Some kids are just learning more quickly with the visual than others."

Nonetheless, the system will only bring the Huskies to greater heights, as it will be the primary apparatus in recruiting, Bransfield said. Freshman Kelly McCauley received a nice surprise when she attended UConn in the fall.

"I came in already thinking the facility is nice and this was like a bonus," McCauley said.

"I think [the system] is going to be a knockout [for recruiting]," Bransfield said. "I think that anybody who comes up and sees the situation recognizes that we have a great training situation here."

A major component of the program's success is not just the accomplished recruiting or arduous workouts, but the success of the divers, whose role has been instrumental in the Huskies' great start this season.

"The diving team is an extremely important part of the program," swimming coach Bob Golderberg said. "For example, down at the Terrapin Cup, the points from the diving will contribute to what we hope is going to be another victory. Having a strong diving team makes for a well rounded program, which is what we're striving for."