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Swimming laps nonstop for an hour might be fun for some people. But ever since she was a 4-year-old on Flower Valley's pre-swim team, recent Magruder graduate Brittany Powell's eyes migrated to the diving well.

"I just saw everyone having fun over there," Powell said. "They were all jumping on the springboards, playing games. They just really seemed to be enjoying their hour of practice."

By the time she was 6, Powell was bouncing off the boards herself. In the fall, she will begin competing at Harvard (Mass.) University after winning the Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships in 2008 and '09.

For now, Powell is coaching and competing at Flower Valley, and is just one of many area divers whose success began on the Montgomery County Dive League community boards.

Others include Virginia Tech-bound Logan Shinholser (Calverton), who became Paint Branch's first Metros diving champion in 2009; rising Churchill sophomore Timothy Faerber (East Gate), who competes internationally; and former Holy Cross diver Meg Hostage (Potomac Woods), who dives at Stanford (Calif.) University and last summer qualified for the Olympic Trials.

The Washington area is known as a hotbed for national-caliber swimming talent, but as the MCDL continues to flourish, so does the area's diving.

"Without the league, kids would not have the opportunity to try diving safely and have fun competition at an age-appropriate level," said Karl Borst, a former college diver who has been with the league since 1988 and was MCDL President from 2002-07. "One of the things I have stressed for a long time is, this is not the Olympics. It is not about winning. It is about introducing kids to the sport. "

MCDL started in 1979 with about five teams. Since then it has grown to 25 teams and about 1,000 divers, an increase of 200 athletes since 2000.

Like its counterpart, the 51-year-old Montgomery County Swim League, MCDL does not provide the highest level of competition, but the base from which talent is cultivated. About 90 percent of the Montgomery Dive Club's year-round, national-level divers came from MCDL.

There are more than 80 teams in the MCSL, and MCDL hopes to get there someday. But starting a dive team is a little more complicated.

Within the last 10 years, dive meets were moved to Sunday evenings, to catch the attention of families just there to relax. Once an interest is sparked, there remains the matter of safety.

"It is vital to have the coaches know what they are talking about," Borst said. "Some places urge that coaches on deck must have lifeguard certification, but that does not mean they can teach a little kid to do an inward dive. In the last five or so years, we have taken on the task of doing our own coach training."