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Team World Championships 2014

UK Team Selection

Applications for the UK Team – 2014 AIDA Team World Championships in Sardinia, Italy are now open. The competition will take place from 16th September until the 26th and will include Dynamic apnea (with fins), Static Apnea and Constant weight (with fins).

We hope to send a full team of 3 men and 3 women per discipline, plus up to 2 additional athletes of each gender as substitutes, and a Team Captain/Coach (who may or may not be part of the competing team).

Selection will be based on the highest proven performances in the three disciplines. (AIDA world championship team selection will be by AIDA ranked points dated from 18 months prior to 3 months before the competition entry deadline. In case of candidates wishing to be considered who do not have AIDA ranked points a performance witnessed by an AIDA Judge or AIDA UK Instructor will stand at 80% of the resulting outcome.)

If you are interested in competing for the UK in Sardinia, please let us know by the 15th April 2014. Please send an email to competitions@britishfreediving.org listing your highest AIDA ranked performances since the 15th October 2012 in Static Apnea, Dynamic Apnea (with fins) and constant weight (with fins) with details of where this ranking was obtained. If you do not have a ranked performance in any or all of these disciplines, please let us know your current best performances in training, and when you anticipate seeing those ratified officially. If you anticipate achieving a higher ranked performance in any of the disciplines in the next few months, please also let us know that in your email. If your geographical location makes it difficult for you to gain a ranked performance, please let us know and we will take this into consideration.

If you are interested in going to Sardinia as Team Captain/Coach, please let us know you are interested by letting us know your experience in this area, and why you think you would be good for the job. Applications for the Team Captain/Coach position will be considered by the team once they have been selected, and appointed within one month of final team selection.

If you make the decision to apply for the 2014 team, you obviously need to be available to be in Sardinia for the dates above. You also need to be sure you can afford your flights and all expenses and the entry fee of 250 Euros (which excludes hotel costs).

In the meantime the BFA will be doing all it can to gather both sponsorship and logistical support for the 2014 team.

All competing athletes must be over 18 years old, UK citizens and members of the BFA at the time of the competition.

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Indoor World Championships 2013

UK Team Selection

Applications for the UK Team – 2013 AIDA Indoor World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia are now open. The competition will take place from 21st-30th June and will include Dynamic apnea (without fins), Static Apnea and Dynamic Apnea (with fins).

We hope to send a full team of 3 men and 3 women per discipline, plus up to 2 additional athletes of each gender as substitutes, and a Team Captain/Coach (who may or may not be part of the competing team). Selection will be based on the highest proven performances in the three disciplines. (AIDA world championship team selection will be by AIDA ranked points dated from 18 months prior to 3 months before the competition entry deadline. In case of candidates wishing to be considered who do not have AIDA ranked points a performance witnessed by an AIDA Judge or AIDA UK Instructor will stand at 80% of the resulting outcome.)

If you are interested in competing for the UK in Serbia, please let us know by 24th FEBRUARY. Please send an email to chair@britishfreediving.org listing your highest AIDA ranked performances since September 24th 2011 in Static Apnea, Dynamic Apnea (with fins) and dynamic apnea (without fins) with details of where this ranking was obtained. If you do not have a ranked performance in any or all of these disciplines, please let us know your current best performances in training, and when you anticipate seeing those ratified officially. If you anticipate achieving a higher ranked performance in any of the disciplines in the next few months, please also let us know that in your email. If your geographical location makes it difficult for you to gain a ranked performance, please let us know and we will take this into consideration. If you are interested in going to Serbia as Team Captain/Coach, please let us know you are interested by 15th July, letting us know your experience in this area, and why you think you would be good for the job. Applications for the Team Captain/Coach position will be considered by the team once they have been selected, and appointed within one month of final team selection. If you make the decision to apply for the 2013 team, you obviously need to be available to be in Serbia for the dates above. You also need to be sure you can afford your flights and expenses and the entry fee of 420 Euros (which includes 9 days accommodation, 3 meals/day, the arrival package ,comp entry, training, ceremonies and an event tshirt.)

In the meantime the BFA will be doing all it can to gather both sponsorship and logistical support for the 2013 team. All competing athletes must be over 18 years old, UK citizens and members of the BFA at the time of the competition.

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UK National Pool Freediving Championships needs you!

The UK National Pool Freediving Championships has been announced by Apneists UK and the British Freediving Association for next year on the 9th and 10th of March 2013. It follows the successful format of the previous three years, which is day one; a dynamic no fins competition (DNF), and day two; the UK National pool competition which is a combination of an early afternoon Static (STA) competition and an early evening Dynamic with fin(s) (DYN) competition. We are looking for athletes, judges, helpers and spectators. Please contact me at apneaboy111@hotmail.com for details.

This British Freediving Championships is now known as ‘the event!’ because it is the largest gathering of like minded UK Freedivers in the calendar. Also, because of the good vibe the group always produces. It has been attended by a few International athletes and pretty much every single group in the UK has been represented. It might as well be a family day out the way everyone interacts, what a wonderful occasion. Some pictures here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvcerCpXTIg

There were an unprecedented amount of personal bests achieved in 2012, many athletes reporting 3 PBs in three events, I think the trust in the safety staff and the relaxed atmosphere certainly helped. We have had at least two National records every year we have had the competition. It is a competition I encourage athletes from all abilities to attend, all are catered for, we aim to please.

Here is George Miller, the 2012 Female Pool champion, winning the day two event which included another National record http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_AjsC0_5YY

Next year we hope for more athletes and aim to make it a truly International event, come join us, tell your friends. I will be putting accommodation and flight details up for those coming from Europe and beyond. Anyone interested in sponsoring this well attended established event, please contact Steve Millard.

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BFA Safety Divers

The British Competition Freediving scene has really been hotting-up in the last few years, with UK athletes becoming competitive with the best freedivers in the world. Combining that with some excellent clubs and Instructors back home who are successfully helping more people into the sport, and providing safe and fun training places, even more freedivers are able to practise and make new freediving friends than ever before. Perhaps this is why so many people have participated in local and national competitions, discovering the fun of being part of a larger freediving community.

With record numbers of people competing in the UK already this year, the BFA want to make these events the safest places that you can go freediving and would like to announce that all safety divers at BFA endorsed competitions in pool and open-water, will now have a minimum safety diver qualification of AIDA 2*. We will be increasing this in September 2012 to a minimum of AIDA 2* plus the AIDA Competition safety diver course, or pool safety diver course (except for qualified & renewed instructors).

We have had positive feedback from swimming pools about this development and hope that it will help give the safety divers the support they need to continue to give the very best freediving safety to all of our freediving events. The BFA will be assisting clubs to organise AIDA Competition safety diver courses, or pool safety diver courses. If you would like some assistance or you would like to find out how to enrol on a safety diver course please email training@britishfreediving.org

You can download the associated safety images, for printing out, here.