It is true that you should break the water before juming in, but not into a pool. It's practiced when diving from much higher heights. Off roofs, cliffs, bridges, ships & such but usually in situations like that the water's already in motion, so it's seldom ever warranted. When I was a kid we used to dive off cliffs (& all the others things except for ships that I just mentioned) into quarries & because of the high surrounding cliffs (over 100' in places) the wind never got to moving the water so we'd all use boulders, rocks & pebbles just didn't cause enough motion.
I though everyone knew this but I was raised in & on the water.


I got caught running across RT 28, where it went over Bass River (maybe 75') on Cape Cod as a kid (12) by my aunt. When she got home she told my mother she saw me run across the road, clear the rail like superman without touching it, & dive head 1st off the bridge into the river. My mother was ready to shoot me when I got home but my grandfather met me at the door & said he heard I was diving off the bridge. I admitted "yup". He said there were many men during WWII that were afraid to up from the heights of ships that were sinking & because of that fear they drown instead. He told me he was pleased to know that if I were ever in a war I wouldn't die from fear of juming off of high places. I got to avoid the oncoming punishment that I didn't yet see coming. God bless Grandfathers.

Barry