Is SCUBA diving a sport?

[pir8]

Who Cares!!!

 

[drbill]

Jean-Michel Cousteau says it is not a sport. I agree... in most recreational diving there are few performance criteria one could use to measure against (max depth? bottom time? SAC rate?).

I love diving because it isn't a sport... like Walter, it is an integral part of my life. Sports are not (even though I was an athlete in my youth).

 

[Randy43068]

one thought on the subject, however.

One should stay in shape to dive, not dive to stay in shape.

 

[Charlie99]

Diving can be either a sport or a recreation.

No different that bicycling. Obviously the Tour de France is a sport. Taking a bicycle for a casual spin around the block isn't a sport.

In my Maui condo complex some of my neighbors go for walks every morning. Others play tennis. I grab a tank and go for a spin around the reef. Simple recreational activity, not a sport --- for me at least.

 

[Kingpatzer]

SCUBA is a sport in the sense that it is a pleasant diverging phyisical activity, such as hiking.

SCUBA is not a sport in the sense of a competative event such as football.

 

[LiteHedded]

SCUBA is a sport in the sense that it is a pleasant diverging phyisical activity, such as hiking.

SCUBA is not a sport in the sense of a competative event such as football.

so hiking is a sport?

 

[muddiver]

Until backpaking, hiking, rock climbing and camping become sactioned ESPN and olympic events I don't see recreational SCUBA diving as a sport. An outdoor activity maybe, but not a sport.

 

[Lead_carrier]

Yes, it seems to me there must be an element of competition to turn a recreational activity into a sport. Freeidiving may sometimes be a sport, but scuba diving almost never is.

I have some former dive buddies that will make it a competition, anytime, anywhere. Who can go the deepest, stay the longest, take their tank to the lowest pressure.

Notice I said, FORMER.

 

[Tomeck]

Jean-Michel Cousteau says it is not a sport. I agree... in most recreational diving there are few performance criteria one could use to measure against (max depth? bottom time? SAC rate?).

I love diving because it isn't a sport... like Walter, it is an integral part of my life. Sports are not (even though I was an athlete in my youth).

I didn't know that Cousteau said it is not a sport. I believed that Cousteau said it is a sport, because he was very military.

I don't think scuba is not a sport, because we cannot make efforts.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I believed that Cousteau said it is a sport, because he was very military.

You may be talking about different Cousteau's. It may very well have been a sport for the inventors of scuba. I tell my students and guests "in sports we say no-pain-no-gain, in recreation we say no-pain." If you dive well, the only possible sport involved is getting into and out of the water on shore dives.