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Originally Posted by spaghetti
2-But I don't think that a private organization as Aida will succeed: what if, after aida, other private org's may be set, with different rules again, and others again? The best thing should be changing and modernizing Cmas from inside. Hard, I know...
Respectfully, just my opinion. Please, feel free to tell me how i'm wrong.
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I think you might have misunderstood a few details about AIDA and her basics. First of all, AIDA is NOT a private organization like PADI or similar. AIDA do NOT seek to gain a profit from its activities (and to be fair, neither does her rival FREE).
This is really important. Back in 1994, when AIDA was formed by a group of freedivers from France, Germany & Italy, they included the word 'development' in AIDA's name, indicating that they sought to develop competitive freediving, now that CMAS refused to do it. Also, their aim it seems was not necessarily to outcompete CMAS, but to further build up the game if suddenly CMAS changed her mind. Despite a couple of child deceases, AIDA seems have prospered in that job.
AIDA politically was from her start a copy of CMAS and IOC. AIDA's Executive Board is elected by the Assembly, who has two representatives from each national federation, who must operate through good old-fashioned democratic principles towards their members. All of this is how IOC, and CMAS, and FIFA, and what have you, works, as well as AIDA. Again, AIDA is not PADI.
Now, obviously CMAS made the political decision in the late 1980's to run away screaming from these 'Apnea' activities. If CMAS hadn't made that decision, AIDA wouldn't have been formed. To be fair, CMAS faced some huge challenges of risk assessment at the time. Aparently too huge for some people.
Let's not kid ourselves, freediving is a risky business. The tragically stupid death of Audrey Mestre again proved that.
But CMAS should IMHO have compared these risks with the risks of motor racing, road cycling, skiing, etc. etc., hell, even scuba. Jacques Cousteau and his buddies did some silly things in the early days of the automated lung out of ignorance to the risks, and suffered countless cases of DCS. How silly would it not have been for divers today if they had fleed the challenges from back then?
IMHO, CMAS made a wrong decision 15 years ago, and AIDA emerged and prospered out of necessity. CMAS issuing this decree now can only come out of trying to muscle down the rebellion, instead of admitting defeat. So be it, pride is human.
As I see it, CMAS will finally lose out on this one, from a Ghandian* perspective. Screw it, when CMAS is ready, CMAS is ready, and if it has to take generational change of a cast of over-proud leadership, then so be it. Hell, I'll even try not to gloat when it happens and instead try to remind myself of their initial reasons.
If CMAS for some peculiar reason would suddenly change policy radically and inaugurate time, distance and most importantly deep freediving, as AIDA and others has struggled to develop it this last decade ... fine by me. I don't care what name is on the cap, as long as I'm allowed to conduct a magnificent game in a magnificent activity in a magnificent environment. AIDA's own goal is more or less that her existence one day no longer is needed.
Now, I personally really don't like the idea of AIDA starting to conduct finswimming, spearfishing, underwater hockey and rugby, in direct competition with CMAS. I don't see that CMAS has yet lost it completely in these activities, and it actually gives me hope that CMAS leaders on a basic level actually means well and are prone for some kind of constructive dialogue. I'd much rather keep lobbying for CMAS to wake up and face a few errors, than to provoke an attack of sorts. There's enough political idiocracy already in the underwater world of humans, and we should weed that out in stead of piling up more. If it takes gut and tears, so be it.
Another cent: It's not necessarily bad to have a huge heap of sports activities gathered in one body. The IAAF governs countless track & field events every year, and seems to be doing a good job at it. Why not have CMAS govern all underwater sports, as long as she's good at it?
Anyway,
Chris Engelbrecht
Copenhagen
* Ghandian, as in:
First they ignore you,
Then they ridicule you,
Then they fight you,
Then you win.
- Mahatma Ghandi
