Competition from the inside
Posted By Paul Kotik on 17 September 2002
Half an hour later, I was feeling pretty smug. Only one guy had done a little better than I had. This seemed quite in accord with my delusions of grandeur, and I was certain the upcoming static apnea discipline was my trump card. I had forgotten all about my mental lapses. Another mental lapse !
I was still strutting around the pool, cock-of-the-walk, when Glennon called the 45-minute countdown to my static apnea attempt. I stripped down to my Speedo and joked around with the guys for a while before climbing into my clammy, cold wetsuit. The rains began again, and the chill wind freshened. I lowered myself into the staging area of the pool with 20 minutes to go.
I did the first two of my usual 3 warm-up statics, and then, with 7 minutes left on the clock, realized a) that I was shivering, and b) that there was not enough time for my third warmup. I moved into the event zone and faced the judges. The shivering got worse. I climbed up the pool steps to get out of the water, but it was even colder in the breeze.
My static apnea performance was nasty, brutish and short. A tiny bit more than half of my personal best. I simply bailed as soon as it became apparent that it would not be a winning time. I forgot the elementary tactical reality that a competitor who performs less than his declared time gets penalized, much like someone who guesses the wrong answer on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. A total, complete screw-up of the most basic sort.
Tony Marcuccino turned in solid performances in both disciplines and walked away top finisher in the 2002 Miami Trials for the US Freediving Team. Tony was fit, focused and most importantly, well-trained. The last phase of Tony's training included simulations of event conditions, and it had paid off in a big way.
I cannot count the times I've watched national and world-class freedivers in competition and said to myself : "Gee, that doesn't look so hard, I've done better than that." Well, never again. I am humbled. Competition is a whole 'nuther thing folks, and now I know it in my bones. Out in the ocean with friends, or even in training with top athletes, the question you answer is "What can you do ?" In competition, the question is a bit more specific and a lot more demanding : "What can you do HERE and what can you do NOW ?" . Not tomorrow, not twenty minutes from now, and not in your favorite spot. Here and now. Not your way, but their way.
I went home sadder but wiser. I thought I was above it all, the jaded, cynical journalist there to watch the kiddies play their little game. Instead, I was swept away by the athletes' and judges' sincerity and out-front love of sport, the true love of amateurs. By event's end I had been, alternately and in concert : self-conscious, nervous, embarrassed, chilly, desperate, nauseous, frightened, frustrated and, finally, numb and exhausted.
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