Tanya Streeter Clinic
Posted By Anderson York on 10 December 2001
Jill was bouncing around like a schoolgirl trying anything to take her mind off the fact that she was going to have to cease her breathing in only a few minutes. Tanya's Suunto was counting down... "two minutes folks, ...that's two minutes! Come on now, I don't hear any breathing.... let's go people!"
The countdown zeroed and the neoprene encased bodies went limp back into the steamy water. Jill horribly failed to make it to the first signal and pulled up around 30 seconds. Tanya ignored her frantic gestures and simply, but authoritatively, told her to breathe. Our instructor's focus was now on the other two students keen on following the drills. Tanya nodded for the one-minute signal to be given by the appointed buddies, and then she quietly moved up in front of Jill.
"I want you to listen to me," said Tanya, "and don't stop your breathing. Just listen and focus."
Tanya's own mental focus here was borderline astonishing. This petite, 28-year-old, Cayman native had transformed into this angelic mentor for this individual at this one brief, yet highly important moment. Her words were sincere, swift, and most importantly effective, for Jill came out of her corner with a glazed over look of extreme determination. Jill, a regular SCUBA diver who had never attempted premeditated breatholds, easily cleared the two-minute mark on her last static. Her accomplishment brought a smile to the faces of everyone else in the pool. Her schoolgirl antics continued, but now with an added sense of elation.
My visit with the Streeters began with my arrival at the Austin airport Friday afternoon. It was near the curb outside Baggage Claim that I righteously displayed my longblades on top of my luggage. I was only able to explain what these large, black, plastic thingies were to one officer and three civilians before Paul and Tanya pulled up in their pickup. A short ride to their home and a long intro on ourselves made way for all of the events that were to take place that weekend.
Tanya was well aware that my interest in her clinic was solely to improve my ability to spearfish. My first conversation with Paul had enlightened me to the fact that his wife was a pretty skilled spearo. Obviously, this was one of the reasons that sold me on her clinic. It seemed that most of our time together outside of the clinic was spent trading stories of all our adventures spearfishing. Ironically, the Streeters had plans to transform me from a diehard spearo to a freediver "with accessories."
The clinic was structured around two full days. Classroom sessions were held both mornings, followed by drills and exercises in the pool. Sunday's regime was followed up by a trip to Lake Travis where we would get a chance to put to test all of Tanya's deepest secrets.
Saturday's class began with the group's introduction along with that of the cameraman and reporter from CBS. It seemed Tanya was not too pleased to have the media there. Her concern for the students getting the most out of the class was totally clear when she told the guys that if they were to interrupt anything, they would have to leave.
The time in the classroom flew by with Tanya mimicking both the History Channel and the Discovery Channel when she covered freediving's background and its psycho/physiological aspects, respectively. Countless issues were covered and discussed in great depths, but the simple definition page seemed to awe most of the attendees. These pages covered, what seemed to be every word that had ever been uttered by freedivers over the sport's entire course of existence. The inexperienced were now "lingo" competent.
The pool sessions entailed several drills and examples that led to a better understanding of the esoteric jargon that Tanya had so eloquently spewed out in the classroom. From a spiritual perspective, we were all coming "full circle." Soon we would be able to put into practice all that we had learned, or at least thought we had.
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