Take the plunge

This is no place for rips.

Leave those perfect dives to the Chinese Olympic diving team.

This is summer. Jump in that clear, blue pool water however you can muster the nerve.

Area pools are officially open today for seven-day-a-week general swim, offering ample time to work out signature dives.

However, some area swimmers got a head start on their moves Saturday at the McAllen Municipal Pool.

There, the consistently long line of divers proved jump-after-jump that taking the plunge is all about personality.

There is “Humble Diver” who, fearful of holding up the line, will scurry down the platform, bounce twice for minimal but obligatory fun, launch feet first and quickly exit the pool to make room for the next guy.

And the next guy will likely be “Mr. Grandstander,” who will saunter down the board, slowly turn his back to the water and without notice spring backwards into one twist-flip variation or another.

“Kamikaze Diver” will illegally sprint right off the platform with arms and legs flailing as if running through the air.

“Nervous-Ninny Diver” stares at the 10-foot abyss below while pinching his bottom lip and ignoring his older brother’s taunts from behind him before merely flopping off the board and scampering off to the safety of a game of Marco Polo.

Then, of course, there’s “That Guy,” who will repeat some combination of belly flops and cannonballs so as to satisfactorily soak and annoy as many fellow pool patrons as possible.

Belly flops, cannonballs, somersaults, pencils — the styles of how to jump into the deep end are, well, endless.

But no matter how you do it, just go ahead and dive in.

After all, it’s summer.

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Carlyn Mitchell covers Edinburg, the Delta region and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach this reporter at (956) 683-4439. For this and more local stories, visit www.themonitor.com.