Competitive Attitude
- Thread starter bradymsu
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The question of how to handle the natural human competetive urge is one of the "Zen" aspects of diving and diving instruction. I am sure that the instructors and divemasters reading this have been through some study of this along the way.
Internal competetiveness, directed in the right way, can only help to make one a better and safer diver. (I.E. How can "I" do this in a better way?)
External competetiveness can only lead to tragedy. The example presented in "The Last Dive" is a perfect example! Bernie once asked me what I thought of his book. I told him it was great, and should be required reading for all tech divers. My only criticism was of his description of the two divers themselves. At various places in the book they are described as "very good technical divers". I would argue that their lack of "good headwork", as we say in my primary business, made them "very bad technical divers"! (To his credit, Bernie thought that was a fair comment.)
Managing the natural competetive urge and directing it into safe channels is a subject worth study. I would welcome comments from other instructors, divemasters, or divers (either public or private) on their personal system for doing this!
To paraphrase what Mr. Natural used to say: "Get the right MIND-SET for the job, kids!":book2:
Internal competetiveness, directed in the right way, can only help to make one a better and safer diver. (I.E. How can "I" do this in a better way?)
External competetiveness can only lead to tragedy. The example presented in "The Last Dive" is a perfect example! Bernie once asked me what I thought of his book. I told him it was great, and should be required reading for all tech divers. My only criticism was of his description of the two divers themselves. At various places in the book they are described as "very good technical divers". I would argue that their lack of "good headwork", as we say in my primary business, made them "very bad technical divers"! (To his credit, Bernie thought that was a fair comment.)
Managing the natural competetive urge and directing it into safe channels is a subject worth study. I would welcome comments from other instructors, divemasters, or divers (either public or private) on their personal system for doing this!
To paraphrase what Mr. Natural used to say: "Get the right MIND-SET for the job, kids!":book2:
I believe the competetive nature of different individuals is a part of their chemical makeup. I think its a matter of genetics. I have as well as most people here known truly competive people in my life. The first purchase of scuba gear I made was from a friend who was honest enough to admit that scuba wasnt enough of a contest for him to be involved in. Since then he has been involved in several other sports and persued them until he couldnt go any further and then found yet another new challenge. I have never seen scuba as a competetive sport. If its a contest you seek then freediving has a lot of hunting tournaments that one can be involved in. I used to be and have the intentions of returning to the sport but I was never competive enough to be a factor in any of the tournaments but it was still a ton of fun. There are freedivers who hunt at or around 100 feet on a breath hold and to me thats competetive.
Bill
Bill
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