AIDA New Zealand

Supporting New Zealand's Competitive Freedivers

Team World Championships 2012

The 2012 Team world champs are fast approaching us, The event is being held from the 8th June to 16th September in Nice, France. Further information on the event can be downloaded here and more inforamtion can be found on the official website.

AIDA NZ is looking for an expression of interest from those interested in being put forward for selection. Should we have more athletes come forward than there are spots available, we will be making selections based on performances in competition over the last 18 months.

What are Freedivers in New Zealand up to?

Freediving Depth Nationals 2012

07-12-2011

The AIDA Freediving Depth Nationals are coming soon to a Lake Taupo near you.

The competition will consist of three sessions over three days. For each session, competitors can nominate any of the three AIDA depth competition disciplines. Disciplines can be repeated, although final ranking will only take into consideration the best result in each discipline. As this is our national championship, competitors are encouraged to take part in all disciplines and challenge for the final ranking, though this is up to the competitors.

There will be a recreation grade available for those not interested in international ranking and just wanting to challenge themselves. Divers in the recreation grade will compete in the same disciplines, but with relaxed rules and against other recreation grade divers. These dives will not be eligible for international ranking.

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AIDA New Zealand

AIDA NZ is charged with the responsibility of supporting our elite athletes by facilitating competition in New Zealand and internationally as with any sport grassroots activity is important too and AIDA NZ wants to promote the sport at club level.  To maintain consistency in the sport AIDA NZ engages the rules of AIDA International standards and selects internationally qualified judges for every world ranking competition.

AIDA NZ believes that divers should be aware of the risks of the sport and promotes safe diving by compiling appropriate references and contact information for freediving courses run in New Zealand.

Training Tips

Maximum Attempts
Level: Intermediate

For 'maximum attempts' (one-off performances, such as in a competition, when you are going close to your limit) it is important to start with the best physiological state possible, and this means optimising several different factors.

One of these factors is hydration, which is closely related to blood pressure.  It is important to ensure that your tissues and blood have the right balance of fluids and electrolytes, and this means ensuring that you are taking in both mineral salts (table salt [NaCl] isn't important, but other mineral salts found especially in vegetables are) and water during the 12 hour period before performance.  We needn't drink copious quantities of water, as this can have the opposite effect, diluting our body's electrolytes.  However we should avoid putting stress on our body's regulatory systems, and one of the most important ways we can do this is to avoid exposure to the sun or heat before a maximum performance.  Sunburn can have a dehydrative and hypotensive (lowering blood pressure) effect for as much as 24 hours.  Heavy exercise will have a similar effect, but most freedivers would intuit that running 10 miles isn't the best preparation for a deep dive the next day!

This doesn't mean that we should become a couch potato or heliophobic (fear of the sun), but if we are planning on challenging ourselves in a freediving discipline then we want to ensure that our body's fluids are balanced and replenished.

Re-printed with permission from William Trubridge
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