The Northern Virginia Swimming League was founded in 1956 to sponsor competitive swimming events and activities among community pools of Northern Virginia. The Diving League was founded the following year as part of NVSL and is among the longest-running and largest community diving leagues in the country. Like NVSL swim, the Northern Virginia Diving League’s goal is to develop in the children participating in this program a love for the sport, advanced aquatic skills, teamwork, and the principles of good sportsmanship.
The league is composed of 48 teams from local community pools in Fairfax and Arlington Counties. Members of an NVSL pool without a diving program are welcome to dive at another pool.
Teams are divided into eight divisions and compete in weekly dual meets during a 5-week season. Divers are divided by gender into four age categories: Freshmen (10 & under), Juniors (11-12), Intermediates (13-14), and Seniors (15-18). The season culminates in divisional championships with top divers competing in a league-wide All-Stars event.
In addition to divisional competitions and All-Stars, NVSL Diving hosts three league-wide events:
• Cracker Jack: the world's largest one-day diving competition for developmental divers, operating since 1987. More than 8,000 divers have competed at Cracker Jack, with each annual competition featuring around 300 divers.
• The Wally Martin 3-meter meet: Begun in 1968 by Col. Wallace R. Martin, this is the only 3m competition of the season.
• 1-Meter Synchro Championships: Starting in 2014, the league has held a synchronized diving meet, allowing NVSL divers to participate in a separate diving discipline.
While the focus on NVSL diving is to develop the fundamental skills and a love of diving, the league has fostered numerous high school All-Americans, national champions, and Olympic divers over the years.
For current information on league membership, divisional alignment, participation statistics, and championship meet results, please visit: NVSL Dive by the Numbers
