SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 12 AND 15 YEARS OF AGE, I HEARD OF A UNIQUE DIVE called the cannonball. I had been watching some of the older kids dive into the river with amazing elegance. I began to reason that a cannonball is very do-able and has perfect safety measures built into it: you jump up and grab both legs tightly and tuck your head in as you jump off the diving board. You could then spin around as much as you want in any direction as it doesn’t matter at which angle your body hits the water ’cause you’re as round as a ball. I COULD COMPLETELY IMAGINE THIS !!! . Then my tender young mind reasoned (all mentally so far) that one could form a cannonball and at the last minute open up into a beautiful dive. All totally imaginable! Finally I tried it: after five or six successful cannonballs (no belly-flops!), I began to open up at the last moment. It was surreal!! . What a thrill!! . Soon I began applying this IMAGINATION to back flips!!! . Wooo-hoo!!