Game version
Call-out warm-up: a partner or coach calls the next move from the list every 20 seconds, so you stay switched on the whole time.
Diving Warm-Up, Ages 14 and Up
A 12-minute moving warm-up for diving players 14 and up: moving stretches, strength, single-leg control, cuts and build-up runs, then diving moves at practice speed.
By Coach Evan Waechtler Youth coach (U11, Cache Valley, Utah) and founder of SSTracker Updated October 30, 2026
- Ages
- 14 and up
- Time
- 12 min
- When
- Before training
- Bring
- Nothing to bring
Before training
- 01Jog easy for
- 02Moving warm-up over
- 03Leg swings, 10
- 04Strength
- 05Single-leg hops
- 06Cuts
- 07Build-up runs
- 08Sport moves on dry land
Core: All 12 minutes, before practice. Same order every time, so it becomes your own habit.
The steps
How it goes
- Jog easy for 1 minute, then skip, side shuffle and backpedal for 1 minute.
- Moving warm-up over 15 to 20 yards: high knees, heel flicks, carioca each way, walking knee hugs and walking quad pulls (one step in each, no long holds).
- Leg swings, 10 each way each leg; walking lunges with a twist, 6 each leg; then 5 inchworms (walk your hands out to a plank and back).
- Strength: plank 30 seconds, side plank 20 seconds each side, 8 slow squats, and 6 single-leg reaches each side (hinge forward on one leg with a flat back).
- Single-leg hops: 3 small hops forward on one leg, holding the last landing for 2 seconds; each leg twice.
- Cuts: run 5 yards, plant and cut at about 45 degrees off the outside foot, 4 each way at three-quarter speed, knee over the toes.
- Build-up runs: three runs of about 20 yards at 60, 80 and 90 percent; walk back each time.
- Sport moves on dry land: arm swings overhead, tall stands on your toes with arms by your ears, and 5 small two-footed jumps with soft landings. No jumps into the pool until your coach says.
Coaching points
- Quality over speed: quiet feet, knees over toes, hips level.
- Each run a little quicker; finish ready, not tired.
- Short moving stretches before play; the long holds wait until after.
Safety: A flat, clear space with room to run. Stop if anything hurts: a warm-up should leave you ready, not tired. Do this on land, out of the water; get in only when your coach or a lifeguard says.
Growing fast? Growth spurts: many girls have theirs between about 10 and 14 and boys about two years later. While you grow fast, muscles can feel tight and landings clumsy for a while; that is normal and it passes. Keep the work light (your own body weight), stretch gently and never push into pain. Sore just below the kneecap or at the back of the heel after sport? Tell a parent or coach and rest it. If the pain keeps coming back, makes you limp, or is there even when resting, see a doctor.
Make it fun
Play it, don't drill it
Practice makes progress
Start every session this way
In SSTracker every planned session starts with the warm-up for the child's age and ends with the cool-down, so the habit is built in.
Free for families and teams
Save the week with this routine built in, free
Sign up and the free diving week opens in your child's planner, kept to healthy limits for the age, with progress your child sees against their own start. Coaches can send the same drills to the whole team as homework.
14 days free for a family, no card · Running a team is always free
Does your child's coach know about this?
An email from you to the coach, with the words ready. Nothing is tracked and nobody is rewarded.