Inside the Head of an Expert Freediver
Posted By Jennifer Wiley on 21 September 2004
After watching The Big Blue for the first time I remember actually becoming excited about holding my breath and swimming underwater. I hadn’t enjoyed nor wanted to participate in breath-hold diving since I was a kid playing in my grandparents’ pool. Give me a tank with air in it, and I was as happy as anyone could be in the underwater world. Back then if you asked me to hold my breath and dive down twenty feet, you could see the misery on my face.
Following some post-movie reading on the sport of freediving, I wanted to see just what everyone was so excited about. I grabbed my mask, snorkel and fins and jumped in the pool. I spent some time floating in the water trying to relax and to clear my mind. Finally I took a few deep breaths and down I went. Even though it was only a twelve-foot pool, and I only was at the bottom for a short time, I felt at ease and excited about how comfortable being in the water with no tank could be. I still consider myself quite the novice, especially considering that world records are set at incredible depths and times in this sport.
I recently took a course on Expert Performance and became interested in that of freedivers; specifically, competitive freedivers. I had the privilege of talking with quite a few individuals involved in freediving, including national (U.S.) and world record holders, coaches, and others both neophyte and veteran to the sport.
What I learned about the makings of expertise in such a young sport was incredible, and I gained valuable insight into the opinions of experts. I’d like to take the opportunity to share what I’ve learned with those of you who are interested in competing or are just curious to know what is going through these people’s minds.
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