For her entire athletics career, Brittany Logan was always taught to land on her feet.

Now she’s learning how to land on her head.

Logan, 22 and a senior psychology major, is in her first year on the Iowa diving team after spending the past three seasons as a member of the women’s gymnastics team.

Not only is it the Edmonton, Alberta, Canada native’s first year on the team, it is her first year doing any competitive diving whatsoever.

“She’s still learning,” head diving coach Bob Rydze said. “It takes more than six months or one year to learn how to dive. But she improves every day, and she works hard.”

A bar specialist on the Iowa gymnastics team, Logan competed four times for Larissa Libby’s squad during the 2008 season.

Unfortunately for her, a shoulder injury forced her to give up the sport she loved, a sport she had competed in since she was 12.

“It was really hard to let [gymnastics] go,” she said. “But the twisting and the pressure on my arm got to be too much for gymnastics.”

Her path to the pool started in March during evening open swims at the Field House.

“I would just come in and fool around with diving,” she said. “Sometimes, some of the members of the diving team would be there, and they would give me pointers.”

The divers, specifically redshirt senior Deidre Freeman, advised her to talk with Rydze about being a part of the team. Despite the shoulder injury and having no diving experience, Rydze accepted Logan’s proposal to join the squad.

It isn’t the first time a gymnast has switched over to diving, Rydze said. In 1998, Brad Virkler joined the diving team after an injury ended his gymnastics career. Virkler went on to compete at the Big Ten championships.

The difference between Logan and Virkler is that he joined the diving team his sophomore year — 2009 is Logan’s final year of eligibility.

Logan started training in the summer in her hometown to prepare for the season, and with only six months of diving experience, there have been many challenges and frustrations with starting the new sport.

“I’m not where I want to be. That’s really frustrating,” she said. “I know it’s hard to expect a lot when I’m still learning, but I want to do more and be more competitive.”

From a coaching standpoint, Rydze said it’s all about being upbeat.

“You try to be positive and encourage, so she doesn’t get frustrated because it is a long process,” he said. “No matter whether it’s her or any of the other divers, it’s a long process.”

All of the training paid off over the weekend against Wisconsin when Logan competed for the first time.

Extremely different from gymnastics, the meet was much more calm and went by much faster, she said.

As she stepped up to the diving board, a slight rush of nervousness came over her.

“I just didn’t want to land on my head or do something embarrassing,” she said about her first dive.

“I’m still learning the rules and the scoring system, so I don’t have a personal score I want to get,” she said. “My goal is to beat my previous score each weekend, try to go to all the away meets and be a contributing scorer for the team.”