By making little splash, Jaci Bell making a splash at FHS

Jumping from a board into a pool of water one meter beneath sounds simple enough.

However, things tend to get complicated when you consider that the board is designed to fling someone as high in the air as possible. Then you?re expected to be doing flips, twists and everything in between before hitting the water.

And one more thing ? there are judges.

Fairfield sophomore Jaci Bell hasn?t been around the sport of diving for long, but she has already been able to put just about all of those things together in one graceful package. And she has done it all with one attitude.

?Don?t think about being afraid or what could happen to you,? she said. ?That?s the one thing that will get you to hold back and you can?t have that.?

Bell began diving just one year ago as a freshman on the FHS swim team, but has already put together a big season in 2010 with coach Suzie Steinbeck.

?Suzie just had me get up on the board, and that?s the only way to do it,? Bell said. ?You have to learn how to stay balanced and stay tight while on the board, but eventually you just work that into doing the same thing while you?re in the air.?

Bell is now the school-record holder in both the six-dive and 11-dive formats, and if this season is any indication ? she has broken the 11-dive record three times already ? there are higher marks to come. Bell?s current 11-dive score of 295.50 broke the mark of 248.75 she set in 2009, which bested the previous school record of 228.35 set by Tricia O?Neill way back in 2003. The six-dive record she currently holds stands at 173.85.

?She?s real easy to work with, very friendly and probably harder on herself than I am on her,? said Steinbeck, who is a former diver herself. ?She has tendencies to perform better in front of crowds, which is probably good for a diver.?

But most of the work is put in when there is no crowd and the judging table is empty. Bell practices for approximately 90 minutes three times a week ? usually just her and Steinbeck at the Roosevelt Aquatic Center.

Off the board, in the water and up onto the deck. Over and over.

She is just the sixth diver Steinbeck has had in 14 years of leading the FHS swimming program, and also the only one on the 2010 roster compared to more than a dozen competing for the swim team.

?Sometimes I feel left out, but I do like it most of the time,? said Bell, who often performs before teammates even begin warming up. ?When I do well, I know that?s it?s all on me and I got myself there.?

The scores she has achieved thus far come from a panel of judges at each meet, whose 1-10 scores get added together and multiplied by the degree of difficulty. The higher the degree of difficulty the higher the score, and Bell says the best she can do at this time is about a 2.3 ? a back flip 1.5 twist. The degree of difficulty range tops out at about 3.0.

She also says she just learned, and is still fine tuning, another difficult dive ? the double front flip ? with several more in her repertoire including the forward dive pike, backward dive straight, reverse dive tuck and reverse somersault.

?You have to go every direction in a meet ? backward, forward, inward, reverse,? she said. ?You just have to choose based on which ones you can do.?

That set of dives only figures to increase as Bell, who is also active in band and chorus, gets more time on the board.

?She?s very brave, has a lot of guts and has a real good feel for entry into the water,? Steinbeck added. ?She might look wild in the air, but she?ll make it in the water just fine.?

Bell will be entering the water of her home pool for Fairfield?s final home meet of the season slated for Tuesday against Keokuk. She is scheduled to begin diving at 6 p.m.