HEAD GAMES OF DIVING

B.R. Wienke
Applied Theoretical Physics Division
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, N.M. 87545

"INTRODUCTION"
As divers, we often view our performance in terms of the manueuvers we can, or cannot, do. Skills, and their respective levels of development, are certainly of concern to both the beginning and accomplished diver. In grooving motor skills and attempting to enhance our performance, it appears useful to consider a number of competing factors impacting physical performance and mental perception, and especially their interplay, the so called head games of competitive endeavor. Accomplished athletes often exhibit exceptional control of mental disposition, superb reflexive mastery of movement patterns, and uncanny ability to visualize motor skills. Some of that performance ideology can be applied to both learning to dive and diving better, a more pedestrian, yet equally complex, activity.

"SKILL PERCEPTIONS"
The word skill underscores proficiency in the performance of certain motor tasks. The acquisition of a skill requires both practice and the desire to assimilate, or learn, the skill. The rate of skill assimilation depends on muscular dexterity, the degree of understanding of the skill, the complexity of the skill, and the standard of performance set for the skill. Conscious, and even unconscious, perceptions of these skill factors are mainly centered, and controlled, by one side of the brain, the right side.

Recent studies have established that the brain hemispheres have different cognitive styles and ways of perceiving and processing information. Both hemispheres interact through a connected nerve bundle (corpus callosum), and, when necessary, can gradually assume the functionality of the other. Most activities use both sides of the brain, but motor activities draw principally upon the right hemisphere, while cognitive activities rely more upon the left hemisphere. The left side is the smart side and the right side is the skilled side. Another way to describe that separate functionalty is verbal and nonverbal. Left brain activities are analytical, such as thinking, reading, writing, talking, counting, and dissecting patterns in sequential (parts) manner. Right brain activities are creative, intuitive, and associative, such as dreaming, composing, crafting, drawing, laughing, and integrating patterns in holistic (whole) manner. The right brain, oriented towards holistic grasping of complex patterns, can deal with multiple concepts, making those intuitive leaps that complete otherwise disjoint, but logical, associations of the left brain. In physical activities, such as diving, both sides of the brain interact to control movement patterns, but the perceptual and information-processing functions required are those of the right brain.

In learning to dive, we draw heavily on right brain capabilities of holistic perception, rhythm, spatial differentiation, and simultaneous information processing. The left brain is largely uninvolved in such activity. However, we should not discount the functionality of the left brain. When it comes to learning dive tables, the left brain readily sorts and collates information for tabular reconstruction. Admonitions to never dive alone, never hold your breath, and always surface with 200 psi are similarly imprinted on the left brain. The right side of the brain is facile at integrating components, then actually making each of the components more efficient in the total movement pattern. Tapping into methods like rhythm, relaxation, awareness, and feeling can build a strong basis for preconditioning skill assimilation via the right side of the brain.

As divers we are concerned with waterskills, that is, any number of complex movements carried out mostly without conscious attention in the water. With growing experience, control of physical movement passes from high centers of right brain consciousness to lower centers, thus releasing mental resources and energy to deal with new problems. Complex skills require considerable concentration at first, and then pass on to lower centers of reflex action. Recall your first regulator breathing experiment, and contrast that experience against the matter of fact procedure you now engage routinely. At all levels, diving can be looked upon as the end result of many component waterskills at the microscopic level, or the result of just a few skills on a broader level. In either case, there is one attribute which is fundamental to skillful diving, and that is the ability to relax, both mentally and physically.

"RELAXATION AND PERFORMANCE"
Relaxation is to diving what balance is to windsurfing and skiing. Without a well-developed sense of relaxation in the water, learning even the basics of diving can be inefficient and difficult. Though we all inherit some ability to relax in the water, it is a state of mind and body that can be developed and sharpened in all divers, through practice, reflection, and patience.

To be relaxed as a diver is to be first relaxed as a swimmer, and that is often where we can start. Working on basic swimming skills is completely compatible with diving, and such nonbuoyant water activities can often enhance our relaxation as a diver. Sometimes swimming skill refinements are prerequisite to diving skill refinements. Witness the head-out-of-the-water swimmer who automatically adopts the same snorkling position, or the surface-only swimmer who never learns to orchestrate pike surface dives in mask and fins, or who chokes following attempted no-mask scuba regulator breathing.

Fostering a sense of relaxation and efficiency in the water, while performing tasks such as buoyancy control, snorkle and regulator clearing, buddy and octopus ascents, and so on, is really the fundamental issue when we learn to dive. As beginning divers, our first and sometimes only concern is to remain safe and comfortable in the water. Other tasks are secondary until we are relaxed in the environment. The quality of our performance of secondary tasks increases with increasing levels of comfort. Until we have discovered a comfort zone in diving gear, it may be pointless at times to push forward with tasks requiring more than nominal activity. Pool play periods are great for practice and relaxation, permitting new sensations. And while we cannot always process our senses in movement patterns, we can help the learning process by assuming body positions and movement patterns which aid in the discovery process. Certainly, the full head out-of-the-water attitude can can easily be righted when we learn to snorkel, and our attempts at horizontal body positions when swimming underwater eventually root home with proper buoyancy control.

Our need for relaxation in the water really never goes away, no matter how proficient we become in the performance of tasks. True, after certain comfort levels are achieved, our attention turns to other aspects of diving. But soon again, conditions, natural or imposed by others, will cause a return to square one, that is, a new task requiring relaxed disposition. Building on prior experience, adjustments necessary to accommodate proper water attitude and relaxation can then be effectively employed in new situations. For instance, recall when you first learned to clear a snorkle, and then, possibly, to buddy breathe off a shared snorkle. In the latter case, only continuous exhalations between clearings need be interposed to perform the exercise easily, assuming equal competence in the pair. And, if we view our performance at the beginning and advanced levels, we find many similarities. Refinement and integration of more complex skills require additional motor training, but essentially the same comfort levels as with the assimilation of simple skills. The rigors of an equipment ditch-and-donn outweigh those of mask clearing, but mainly in multiplicity and not mental disposition.

Comfort in the water can be developed with practice certainly, but proper neuro-muscular imaging helps the process immensely. And here mentors can play a primary role. Behaviorists tell us that degrees of apprehension in skills learning situations correlate with perceived discomfort in the performance of skills by the mentor. And that makes sense. Body language usually preempts the spoken word. Students read mentors from what they do, and then from what they say. To establish and develop a sense of relaxation in divers first requires a refined sense and conditioned response in the diving instructor. If your present diving instructor is less than efficient in the water, or makes you nervous, maybe you need a new one. If he makes you visibly anxious and fearful, you do need a new one.

Anxiety and fear play two important roles in the learning experience. Depending on how we handle them, they can either enhance or detract from learning. At low intensity, fear can actually aid learning by creating a more perceptive atmosphere, enhancing awareness. Beyond that, and to a much greater extent, uncontrolled reactions cause muscle tension, which disrupts motor function and bio-feedback to the right brain.

"VISUALIZATION AND NEURO-MUSCULAR CONDITIONING"
Motor skills develop according to all the broad principles described in learning theory. To learn, we must want to learn, and our interests need to be constantly maintained by successes in goal attainment. But, there is another important ingredient in skill learning, and that is repetition, since skills are assimilated and refined by doing. Skills are the product of neuro-muscular conditioning, and are remembered through a kinesthetic (muscle) memory, a memory even more durable than the factual (brain) memory. The feeling for riding a bike is never forgotten once the skill has been assimilated. Swimmers do not forget how to swim. Yet, by a process known as retro-active inhibition, inefficient actions can interfere with new ones being conditioned, resulting in reduced performance levels until the new actions are mastered. Dissatisfied with poorer performance, we often revert to earlier styles in an effort to bring about feelings of success. Confronted with a tank on our back for the first time, we may inefficiently elect to overinflate our BC before changing body attitude and optimizing kick. Or we may turn over on our back completely, seeking out that well grooved resting position. Then, skill learning benefits from clear demonstrations and correct movement patterns, to supplant inefficient ones and to minimize the necessity for unlearning. And here a good mentor can be both prime mover and catalyst, describing, suggesting, and demonstrating manuevers and skills, partially or in totality. Choose your mentors well.

Seeing a skill performed properly the first time has positive impact on fresh learning, the crisper the demonstration, the fresher the experience. When possible, skills should be viewed at two different, but complementary, tempos. The actual working tempo sets the standard for performance, while performance at a much slower tempo permits viewing of component parts more easily. In the latter case, movements can be repeated, slowed down, or exagerated for emphasis. Skills can certainly be learned through trial and error repetitions, but are yet best learned through imitative behavior, the learning psychologists tell us, particularly with practice following good demonstrations. Visualization, followed by skill practice, forms the basis of many modern AV approaches to teaching. SYBERVISION, for instance, is one highly successful approach used in skiing, tennis, golf, and windsurfing. Right brain stimulation also works in learning to dive, and there are a number of diving instructional videos on the market commercially providing just the means to such repetitive stimulation ands visual grooving.

The impact of a skill demonstration dramatically affects learning patterns. Optimally, we note the activity and movement patterns in the demonstrations, and then make a general assessment as to their effectiveness, continuity, timing, efficiency, and importance in attaining stated objectives. Good demonstrations provide not only a positive endorsement of the activity and skill objective, but fix the movement patterns in the kinesthetic memory, reinforcing those patterns which produce the desired result. Poor demonstrations incur negative endorsement, reinforce little in the muscle memory, and result in dismay instead of enthusiasm. Good demonstrations put us in a state of readiness to learn, bad ones induce apprehension. In honing diving shills by emulation, focusing on the total flow of a correct and functional set of movement patterns can be helpful. Drawing on feelings of harmony and flow provides durable reinforcement for kinesthetic memory through the imaging process.

"IMAGING AND SELF-CONCEPT"
Imaging, a right brain function, uses mental pictures to aid skill mastery and performance. As described, it helps to have visual images from description, from pictures, or best yet, from observation of demonstration. The more vivid the conjured image, the easier it is to emulate. Images fade rapidly, so to retain accuracy, images must be constantly refreshed. Observation is a big part of developing waterskills. Models which convey rhythm, cadence, harmony, and flow allow all natural sensory associations, permitting deeper imaging to transpire. Recall your first impressions of a well-executed dolphin kick underwater. Imaging is also preparation for action. Either summoning mental pictures of a performance, or concentrating on an image to affect mood or movement can enhance execution. Visual rehearsal is one form of this practice. Role playing is another. In the former case, one might imagine himself performing a bailout, starting with all gear in hand, jumping into the water, sinking to the bottom, stabilizing, and so on. In the latter case, one could imagine himself floating like a feather through the water, attaching like an urchin to the bottom, and then moving like a manta, with the power of suggestion depending on willingness to identify with the particular subject chosen.

Imaging awakens the right side of the brain. In various forms, it can be a powerful tool for divers at all levels. It helps us all believe in ourselves and relax anxieties. Through practice and a willingness to surrender to the image, this technique is one of the most useful tools that an athlete can acquire to improve his performance. It works well for assimilation of waterskills in diving also, particularly when coupled to positive self-image and peer reinforcement.

We are who we think we are, and we can do what we think we can do, if we maintain a positive self-image. Self-image is really concerned with self-perception and self-communication. At times, we can talk ourselves into having a bad day, convincing ourselves that we are powerless to change the outcome. Few can talk themselves into a good day. Our perception of ourselves is the basis for self-talk, which in turn, influences performance, which creates self-image, more self-talk, more imaging, and so on back and forth. When we blow a neutral buoyancy control exercise, we can often talk ourselves into the same rut next time. Negative self-image feeds on failures.

Negative self-imaging is fairly common in diving skills assimilation. Tied to values of right and wrong is a lack of confidence that undermines all performance. To enhance performance, it is necessary to alter a negative self-image, either self-imposed or other imposed. Low self-esteem can also result from constantly comparing performance to what it is not. Such unrealistic comparisons and senseless attachment distracts from the reality of a situation. Since awareness is a path to change, we ought not allow negative self-image to interfere with awareness. Self-image will rise the moment a goal is achieved. Positive self-image will help us to focus upon concrete tasks, and divert thoughts from destructive processes in self-talk. Choosing reasonable and attainable goals in a learning progression insures ample successes and positive self-images. In such a positive situation, small jumps are the rule, and quantum leaps the exception. Thus, in learning to clear a mask and snorkel on one breath, it is helpful to learn to first clear the mask and the snorkel separately on half a breath.

"AUTHOR SKETCH"
Bruce Wienke is a Certified Member of the United States Ski Coaches Association (USSCA) and the Professional Ski Instructors Of America (PSIA), works as clinician and coach in the United States Ski Association (USSA) Junior Racing Program in New Mexico, and is interested in performance methodology and motivational techniques. Wienke also races in the USSA Masters Series Competition. As a NAUI Instructor Trainer, PADI Master Instructor, and YMCA Institute Director, he is interested in diver learning and skills assimilation processes, particularly ways to enhance the experience. Wienke has also authored three diving monographs, Basic Decompression Theory And Application, High Altitude Diving, and Diving Above Sea Level (in publication), serves as a Contributing Editor for SOURCES, the NAUI journal, and is a co-owner of Inner