Your opinions are valid, though I would like to point out that I (for instance) felt the pre-dive fear was not at all unrealistic, and so it may be that our opinions are divided based on our personalities / life-experience.

But never the less, if that is his pre-dive emotion, who are you to discount his fear? other than perhaps someone with the benefit of hindsight? (I pressume you to be older than 16).

I like it, and you're welcome to your opinion (obviously), just thought I'd share my opinion of yours.

Granted, everyone thinks differently.

The subject is a 16 year old male.

Pre-dive his fear would primarily be the height and significant impact on landing. They are primal fears that significantly override one of rejection.

Post-dive, how likely is it that a 16 year old would surface and shout 'I failed'? Realistically, they may think like that but they wouldn't vocalise it. They would sheepishly swim off to a corner out of sight.

Hi, author here. Clearly a lot of this post is my analysis of what was going on in the boys head, which I can only hypothesise about from my own experiences, but the events in the story are pretty much as they happened yesterday, rather than a created analogy. And his first words were certainly "I failed!".

Thanks for everyone's comments. Appreciated!

Completely believable to me and a very astute set of observations.

I've been there. I know exactly the difference you describe between justifiable fear (the unknown physical consequences of diving off a board for the first time) vs. the far more powerful irrational fears (mind reading that everybody is looking at you and laughing at how awkward you appear, especially the cute girl over there that you are quite attracted to, and how disappointed she's going to be if you mess up the dive; maximising the importance of your dive performance in your mind because you believe she wants somebody perfect, whereas for all you know she thinks it's cute, etc.).

I especially enjoyed your conclusion - it's one I reached before, myself. Socially awkward people who eventually develop out of their behaviour have a great gift - they can recognize and empathize with other socially awkward people far better than the natural extroverts and, through their words of encouragement and empathy, share the gift of self-confidence.

Reality is stranger than fiction. I didn't find the story unbelievable--I'm far more conservative on trusting the psychoanalysis than the events--perhaps I've just had exposure to more "weird people" than the above commenter. If you had written the kid had let out a shrill scream of rage I wouldn't think you were lying from that alone, people are weird and have weird reactions to seemingly trivial things. What never ceases to amuse me is the array of reactions others have when meeting (relatively) famous people they are fans of.

The fear of rejection isn't much less primal than the fear of heights. Same parts of the brain, different evolutionary reasons.

You are right that nobody shouts out "I failed", but it's not unusual to hear something defensive like a sheepish "I'm not very good at diving" or "I messed that up". It basically means the same thing -- they are preparing to be rejected by the tribe by reducing their social status (and increasing the relative status of the people they are speaking to.)

I imagine it as more of an attempt to engage with the bystanders, maybe to try and tell them that he can do better. "Ugh! I failed", he says, trying to smile in the direction of the onlooking girls. A quick attempt at a chuckle to make light of the situation and he swims away.

OTOH it does sound like the kid in question was a lot younger than 16, especially considering his reaction and the fact that he was at the pool with his mother.

Are you saying you can't imagine yourself with those fears? That's fair enough. To claim, however, that no 16 year old male could behave that way seems absurd. I myself provide a counterexample; perhaps I am not real to you :) (My social anxiety - described so well by this post - extended well into adulthood and even now in my late 20s I still suffer from occasional social anxiety.)

I agree with you with regards the post-dive, but pre-dive, speaking from experience I can imagine my 16-year-old self going through that exact thought process (had I not already been jumping from any number of high objects for fun by that age already), rightly or wrongly.

I feel you man. I didn't really know how to articulate my feelings, but it all feels cheesy and false. It's like social conditioning. It's not real life. It's what your high school english teacher would want you to say about the event, not what you really felt.

As a side note, I would have said "Come on bro dive off that board like a BOSS... the chicks will dig it!" My kids are gonna get tough love.

:) it is entirely possible that this feels like what a high school english pupil would write about the event, as this is possibly the first piece of "creative writing" I've done since high school. Although, while creative, it's largely based in what happened/how I felt about the incident during and reflecting on it afterwards.

I'd have loved to have shouted something like that, but I've my own social awkwardness to deal with too!