Competitor Decline

[Morg]

I have yet to compete but I soon enough will at the end of the month. My reasons for entering are basically to better myself and my knowledge of freediving. I see competitions as a great place to meet other people who share the same passion as myself. I am also very excited to meet people who take it very seriously because I have yet to reach my limit in freediving. Infact I have done quite a lot of things that I never even dreamed of when I discovered freediving. I am not looking to actually compete against others but I see it as a competition against myself. I have set my bar a bit higher then what I have done, so in a sense it is still a competition to me.

[Sergiu]

Initially I didnt want to compete, in particular not in pool disciplines but when the annual competition was organised by my local group, i changed my mind. The decision was based on the fact that i
- got to meet new freedivers and see other styles, ideas, equipment, etc
- had all safety required to do a proper max attempt, something i dont normally do in training at all, even if we train mostly with buddies around. In fact, knowing that i have safety right there, it's very conforting, yet the very first attempt, a DNF swim ended up with an ample samba, what else?
- motivational boost. This one i learnt only after the first competition, seing others doing better it's an inspiration and makes you think/hope it's doable.
- had the pool for ourselves, at least once a year! i know it may sound strange but here in Budapest, it's always packed at the pools and we tend to train at rather odd hours...

On the down side, it is somewhat demotivating if you enter a competition knowing your results, even with a new PB, will totally suck compared with the top athletes. It's very likely that one will enter a competition also due to a bit of competitive spirit but it's hard to not have it shuttered from the start knowing that you'll likely fight for the last 5 positionss . That's more and more true as the top performances are getting futher away from what a beginner, even a talented one, can achive within, say, 1 year of training.

That's why a like a lot the idea of entry level and pro competitions, maybe organised just as any other competition at once, just that ranking would be done in two categories. How to differenciate is another story but with a bit of cleaver thinking, it should not be that complicated.

S

[naiad]

I have competed once, and enjoyed it a lot. I want to enter more competitions in the future.

Reasons why I want to compete:
- Improving my own performance
- Meeting other freedivers and the fun atmosphere
- Giving myself an incentive for training

Reasons why I don't want to:
- Having to travel to competitions
- Expenses such as medical certificates
- Poor performance compared with other competitors

[AltSaint]

Running a freediving club in London, and attending international AIDA competitions, I get to see both ends of the spectrum. On one hand the nervous newbie struggling to hold their breath for 60 seconds, to the confident record-breakers and medal holders.

Whenever someone new has an induction, I explain that pool training is not freediving - it is training for freediving. I have tried my best to encourage club members to compete, but not all go down the route.

If I were to analyse the last 100 people that have started freediving at our club, then this is roughly what I would estimate people have progressed on to: 50 or so come once, and then don't return again. 25 come for about 6 weeks, then drift onto something else. 15 are happy to just do the weekly pool thing ( though not every week ). 5 train regularly for recreational freediving. 5 train regularly for competition. ( The last 2 figures I have rounded up as well. ) Also, I have missed out some categories.

I have to accept some of the responsibility for this - our sessions are just dynamic or static - we haven't so far had any mini-competitions, games evenings or weekend outings for example. We do socialise for an hour before training though, and now and again we have group relaxation sessions before getting in the water.

I think the biggest problem though is bridging the gap between the 'Little Chlorine' and the 'Big Blue'. Competing requires some form of competitive nature, and confidence. How do you get across to someone that they don't have to be uber-athletes to turn up at a competition and have a really good time? Sometimes it works by critical mass - a couple of people sign up for something, and then others follow. That seemed to happen for the last 3 UK national championships ( Saltfree and Cyprus 2003/4 ).

These days though, there doesn't seem to be enough stimulus to get people to cross the mental barrier unless a) it's a big event that doesn't have selection criteria, and b) you know someone else going who is the same level as you.

Sometimes I wonder if we just try and 'sell' competitions too much. Maybe if there was more mystique and exclusivity, everyone would try and get in. I don't think there are any easy answers, but if my maths are correct, then there are definitely some grass roots issues to resolve.

[naiad]

Maybe there should be different bands of ability/experience. Entrants would have to be honest about their experience and PBs to compete at the right level. This may be difficult to put into practice, and I can't think of a way of doing it. There are always those who have been freediving for many years and have relatively low PBs, and those who are total beginners and can do impressive performances.

Even those who are not very competitive often feel discouraged by being much worse than everyone else. Who can honestly say that they would not feel disappointed if after 10 years of freediving your static PB is 2:55, and a total newbie next to you does 5:03? I felt that way about dynamic. There has been some recent improvement, but for a long time I felt that there was little point in my trying to improve, because despite several serious training efforts, there was not a single newbie who was worse than me. I concluded that my dynamic performance sucks.

[Nikkey]

Naiad don't sweat your dynamic, I think its pretty common not to be great at all disciples- me and static arnt friends.

Bill the comp cost right now for our Nationals stands at $180. Are you thinking of coming?? You are very welcome here! You can check out the CAFA website for All the details. We do often have Americans compete here. Is it the club who runs it that makes the comp there invite only?

The only problem with seperating novice/advance is that there arn't enough competitors to seperate! lol.
But what is great about the competitions here is that all the competitors are very kind and good sportsmanship is always shown. None the less though I agree it would be intimidating.
AltSaint I like your pondering! Make it mysterious and everyone will want in!
Maybe it is just a trend and there will be more competitors some years over others.

[Sergiu]

[quote=Nikkey;
The only problem with seperating novice/advance is that there arn't enough competitors to seperate! lol. [/quote]

The solution here is to run the competitions as usual, maybe with more competitors/beginners if there will be two separate rankings:
- overall ranking for everybody
- rockie ranking for those coming in their first/second competition ever or with a known PB below a certain level.

I am seriously thinking of having this set up for our annual competition in Hungary, i will propose it in our next meeting, it will only add a bit of paper work and perhaps a few more give aways but it should be fun!

[cebaztian]

In Sweden ever since 2000 we have had between 20 and 25 swedes in every comp: new and old names, never more sometimes less.

No we are not growing! And the fault is ours. Beginners feel excluded ("I am not good enough")
Unecplicable rules, move a finger and you get a red card. Pay hundreds of euros travel 100´s of kilometers and all you get is at best two dives.
Confusing, bloody expensive and sometimes boring (you dont understand shit about whats happening around you). Sometimes two days later you see some list on the internet where you see what the others did. And then you might give it a go the next year and your asked to take another medical exam for 50 euros, takes you a day to find out someone who can do it.

Its not realy fun is it?

Sebastian
Freediving competition - Nordic deep

[rbsub]

Why to be fixed to such events like competitions? I you read the replies, you see that most of the people wants to meet others and wants to have fun.

I think, we need more events like happenings. See the homepage from the Apnoe Happening 2006 in Germany to get a clue what I mean.
( Hemmoor Apnoe Happening 30.6. - 2.7.2006 ).

I think that this is the real fun. And I'm still unhappy that I didn't had time for this event in 2006.

I hope there will be one in 2008 again.

[cebaztian]

Originally Posted by rbsub

I think, we need more events like happenings.
( Hemmoor Apnoe Happening 30.6. - 2.7.2006 )

Yes make some of the comps into "a happening". Add value!

But I would argue that part of the problem is in the rules:
Freediving and the audience

Sebastian
Freediving competition - Nordic deep

[Jorg]

Seb, great article! As always right on the spot with some stuff. Maybe for fun we should take the current rule set and make them audience friendly!

Anyway, for me personally, I don't like competitions that much, but I do like the atmosphere a lot! Hanging out with everybody is the fun part of it for me. That is exactly one of the reason why I'm organizing this: Eurotrip 2008 | Shark Freediving

[naiad]

I forgot to mention the rules - that is one of the things that puts me off the most. I find it very hard to learn new things when I am accustomed to doing something my way, and the rules such as not touching the lane markers/rope/safety diver/coach/side of pool and the surface protocol are a real struggle. Maybe my fault, but the end result is that I am less likely to enter a competition.

[timm]

My experience of competitions has been amazing, even though I have had good and down right disastrous results.

I went to Greece for the Hellas Summer Games last year as my first comp and since then I have been to the BFA pool comp, Worlds in Egypt and the Coupe de Calanque. In each of these competitions there has been a diverse group of competitors, someone doing 20m FI, and someone doing 111m CW, we all sat at the same table, eat the same food, and talk the same talk, this was the beauty of the experience for me.

Apart from the social aspect which has been amazing at all 3, there is also the training, in these scenarious you can rub shoulders with some great divers and can learn so much. It also gives you training days where you can spend 3 - 5 days diving, and in all these experiences I have progressed / or learnt masses in this time. If anyone has been skiing you can see how much you learn in 1 week, I would make the same compariosn, spending 1 week just on FI or CW, you will learn so so much.

I have heard people say they are not good enough to compete or that they have to win, this is not the case. The French comp in Marseille had many locals all there for fun / there own challeneges, and the Apnea Academy in Egypt is entertainig 120 freedivers just from Italy, I dont know 120 freedivers, but would love to go and meet them all.

If you love freediving i am sure you would love a competition, yes you may not win, and you might not do your best performance but as an experience they are untouchable, do it.

Tim

[BennyB]

Competition can be a great old thing too. At the Maribor comp Dannyuoy here on the forum beat me in Dynamic by 1 metre. We had a good old laugh and some competitive banter ("Bastard - you beat me... i'll kill you!" .... or "i'll get you next time...." that sort of thing), then in the no-fins I beat him by 2m. We both thought it was funny as hell, and so did the people around us.

You can be serious about your own performances, but don't be serious about other people's.

Cheers,
Ben

[gbo200]

I think Freediving competitions are a tough sell. If you are a tourist, and going for the experience, they are great. If you are in the top 10 - 25%, and you are pushing yourself to do your best (potentially within a team that could hit the podium), you train your ass off, then get 1 dive to put all your training on the line. My first real competition was the World Team Championships in Nice in 2000. I had spent a year training leading up to it. In the end the pressure was unbearable. I was also at my limit performance wise, and could feel the dread before my performances. After the experience, I concluded it was not worth it. I no longer compete.

I occasionally have the chance to introduce people to the sport, which I enjoy immensely.

g.