Before you go too far down this road, check with your insurance company. Many insurance companies will not cover you if your pool has a diving board.

We have a Turbo Twister slide, time will tell if the kids outgrow it. But the adults all love it too, so I don't think that will happen :-) Like you I was concerned about the slide sticking up in the air (it's about 9' tall), so I planted some landscaping around it to "soften" it. It really stuck out like a sore thumb when the pool was finished, but now that the landscaping is growing it looks more integrated.

No increase for insurance for me with a diving board. My kids love it (9 and 14), and OBTW, so do I. Of course, my oldest does scare his mother with his full gainers! I do have a 9 ft deep end and a 44 ft long pool, so the slope isn't that severe and I wouldn't want less. If it would be 8 ft deep and not as long, be real carefull about educating users on the hazards of hitting bottom.

I wish we had one. My inlaws pool had one and it was ALWAYS in use. The grown boys (men) would have splash contests to see whose was biggest. If you have the room and can do it, I say go for it. I also wouldn't say that if you don't get it they will loose interest in the pool. I have a 14 yr. old who still loves it and I have 2 older nephews that have a ton of fun when they come over. I would definitely get a basketball sleeve if you have boys. That is something cheap and easy, plus it is removable.

From a former Waterfront Director at a boys' camp:

When my sons were teenagers, we put in a pool with a diving board (built above and beyond all regulations regarding depth and length), but we wouldn't do it again. Our kids loved the diving board and clearly understood that they needed to use caution when diving into a home pool (as opposed to the Rec Center pool), but their friends did not. The combination of normal teenage exuberance and the fact that most of their friends were over six feet tall resulted in too many close calls for comfort. Even when their friends weren't actually diving, they'd use the board to "catch air" as they'd carelessly lunge out towards the sides to catch a frisbee and would sometimes scrape their knees, ankles, elbows on the sides or bottom. Small stuff, but it began to make me feel uneasy- so much so, that when we were asked to host big events, like church picnics, etc., we'd "close" the diving board for the day and hire a professional lifeguard to keep an eye on kids in the pool. (It's frightening how easy it is to lose track of what's going on in the pool when there are lots of people around.)

We've moved and are now in the process of building a new pool, but it's designed more for empty nesters. However, if we still had kids at home, we'd consider a volleyball pool (shallow at both ends, deep in the middle) or pool with a tube slide or a slide built into a hillside or berm (so you can't fall off). Other suggestions to keep kids from getting bored with the pool: try to make it long enough to swim laps and races (they can think up some crazy relays) and try to preserve enough of the yard for grass to play games on so they can work off some of their energy - and then cool off in the pool :-)

All the best with your plans!

We love our diving board. Our pool is about the same size as Tomcat's. We grew up with a diving board and after I was married, my parent's moved and put in a play pool. All the grandchildren admit the diving board was more fun.

I'm in Florida. Our Insurance Co. stopped doing business in Florida a couple years ago.

To get new homeowner's insurance coverage we had to remove our diving board.

Before that, our kids and their friends loved the board.

Beware: at some point, you will be asked to score each dive (for hours), which sometimes is a pain.

maddielee, boy did this bring back memories! I spent most of each summer sitting by the pool, rating dives from my kids, and the neighborhood.
Now the diving board is mostly used by grown men at parties which I find much more scary than the kids. The kids always followed the rules!
Mona

I was just thinking last night watching my 11 year old son practice his dive - it seems he re-learns each year and has to "work up" to diving. I am so glad we did put in the board. Our teenager is our daughter, and her friends enjoy it as well. We have never had too many "scary" things happen with the board. As some mentioned, it is usually the adults around who seem to forget how dangerous pools can be and rough-house around.

To make a long post get to the point. I am glad we put in the diving board, and wouldn't have it any other way. :)

As a former lifeguard and water safety instructor, I have the same concerns over a diving board. We are currently under construction and put in what they call a jump rock. It is a large, somewhat flat rock placed where the diving board would be. Using it will not create extra height except for the height of the rock. It looks beautiful since it is from our property and blends in.

I agonized over putting in a diving board when we built our pool over 4 yrs ago. I, against the advice of my husband got a 6 ft board(thought it would be safer since it did not bounce as high) for our 8 ft deep pool instead of an 8 ft board. It is a diving pool and could take either size. My husband broke the 6 ft board the first summer trying to make it bounce. I wish I would have gone with an 8 ft board to begin with now. All the kids love it and we do have rules. My dtr is a competition cheerleader and loves to show everyone all her jumps and flips off the diving board. I live in SC and have a golden blanket policy for our homeowner's insurance and it did not increase. We had to get full coverage since we have trampolines, 4 wheelers and tons of kids here all the time. Take my advice and go ahead and get a diving board with some spring. You'll be glad you did!!!

We love our diving board and slide. I did tan color on both to blend with the color of the concrete around the pool. We enjoy playing as much as the kids. No increase on our insurance. We did go with gunite because we could not find a fiberglass pool deep and large enough to allow for diving board.

I put in a diving board and the TurboTwister slide. The kids (from ages 8 to 18) and the parents all love it.
I did deliberately put in a deep pool though, so we could have the board and slide. It's 9 ft at the deep end.
I felt a board was actually safer. Before the board was put in, the kids trying to jump and dive from the RBB into the shallow end, and doing flips from the edge. I had to keep stopping them.
I thought it would be safer to have them jumping from a spring-ey board over water, than from a dive rock at the edge of the pool. It's going to hurt a lot more to hit the dive rock.
I only wish now that I had put in an 8 ft board instead of the 6 ft board. I had designed for the 8 ft board, but them changed my mind.

A large enough of a pool without a diving board just doesn't seem right to me. As a kid growing up with a pool, I remember us using that thing all of the time. And opt for the 8 footer springy, as opposed to the 6 footer stiffy... no matter how hard the PB tries to talk you out of it.