Section 4: Players & Officials
- Each diver competes individually; multiple divers compete in a flight
- Officials: meet referee, diving referee, panel of 5 or 7 judges (NCAA championship typically 7), announcer, recorder/calculator
- Coaches in the team area; on-deck coaching during the dive is allowed before the dive begins
Diving Officials (Rule 4-31)
Rule 4-31 was revised under the 2025-26 and 2026-27 Swimming and Diving Rules Changes to align diving referee duties and responsibilities with USA Diving and World Aquatics practice. The revision added detailed procedures for outdoor meets affected by inclement weather, clarified the standards diving judges must apply to award points across the full 0-to-10 scoring range, set detailed criteria for allocating points on dives completed in the wrong position, and clarified the instances in which a dive must be declared a failed dive.
NCAA Championship Qualifying
NCAA Diving Championship qualification is via NCAA Zone Diving Meets — five regional Zone meets contested in the weeks before the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, with a specified number of qualifiers from each zone advancing per gender per event.