Making scuba a real "sport"???

[Ed Palma]

I had some uncertified buddies do a "resort class" in the Keys. They said I'd be much better than them, so not to expect much. I had much more experience obviously. However, I told them the "winner" in diving is the guy having the most fun. They won that day, on their first ocean dives.

I'll second that statement.

A week ago, I was at my LDS to use their pool to test a reg that I had repaired. There was a class going on, so I waited for the students to come up before I went in. Anyway, after a couple of minutes of them on the bottom doing their confined water skills, when they came up, one of them exclaimed: "That was AWESOME!"

My being in the pool that day was a chore - but to them, it was a whole new world. Sometimes, a change of perspective is all that you need i guess.

 

[highdesert]

SCUBA as we understand it can never be a sport. Why, you may ask?? No balls! If there is some way to introduce a ball into diving, so a diver has to carry it around, not let it get away, whatever, give it some purpose that can lead to a score, well, then you have an activity not only worthy of being a "sport", but now with a simple (and I do mean "simple" in a "special" sort of way) goal every sports junkie can understand.

 

[grazie42]

SCUBA as we understand it can never be a sport. Why, you may ask?? No balls! If there is some way to introduce a ball into diving, so a diver has to carry it around, not let it get away, whatever, give it some purpose that can lead to a score, well, then you have an activity not only worthy of being a "sport", but now with a simple (and I do mean "simple" in a "special" sot of way) goal every sports junkie can understand.

Nevermind...

 

[k8brandt]

I consider it a sport, the cost, the skill, the bruises on my legs from the ladder.

Scuba is not so much a competitive sport, but between me and the ladder it is definitely a contact sport.

 

[watercooled]

so would the top competitors get "the big fin deal". would you need to have all the little sponsor stickers on your wet suit?

" yea we were really doin great until that last overhead, started having fin trouble there, started siltin' pretty bad. but the mares fin team really come through this year."


would divers need to be fluent in sponser speak like in nascar?

 

[bubba105]

Actually, at the International Police/Fire Games there is a buoyancy competition. Don't know exactly what it entails besides buoyancy. We were going to get a couple of teams together to go, to the games to represent the FDNY, in Australia. Sounded good to us, beer and buoyancy, on the other side of the world. The bride shot me down like a one winged pheasant. Seems if I want to go to Australia, she's got to come along. I was going to lie and tell you that it was "sporting" to try to talk her into letting me go, but, it was a very short "game". None of the other guys got to go either. Maybe when New York is the host city???

 

[grassyknoll]

Here's how it goes.
Teams of four divers with each team having an observer. Teams start on boat or shore. Whistle blows, teams rush to gear up. Once geared up they call time and the clock stops. Gear is checked, anything missed-air not on, releases secured, etc..is an automatic time penalty. Once everyone is squared away the time re-starts (with time penalties applied). Teams are then given an instruction-"approximate 300 yd. surface swim on x-heading, decend to 50' and find next instructions". Divers swim out, decend and look for their next set of instruction suspended floating at 50', again time stops. Teams then check the next set of instructions and conduct the next leg-decend to 75', each member conducts a maskless, mid-water BC ditch and don; and on and on it would go.
The "race" would check all sorts of skills-search and rescue, situational awareness, navigation etc.. with points garnered for speed but larger points reduced for shortcuts or unsafe actions. The team observer would also throw curve balls during the race-oops blacked out and need rescue, oops OOA and need to buddy breathe etc, oops you loose use of your lights for 5 minutes...

 

[Druid]

Octopush maybe?

OK so in its present form it's snorkelling rather than scuba, but I'm sure it could be developed - deeper water, larger pitches...

 

[mdb]

In the "I'm better than you" thread, it's been pointed out that many people feel that recreational scuba is some sort of competiton (I did more dives, longer, deeper, saw more things, did more sites, have more gear, blah, blah). The typical American male sees everything as a competiton; however, conventional diving is not a true 'sport'.

But could scuba ever be a real sport?

No, SCUBA is not a Sport. Diving is just a very nice activity. It is not a sport:

Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.

 

[underwasser bolt]

No, SCUBA is not a Sport. Diving is just a very nice activity. It is not a sport:

Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.

by your own definition scuba is a sport: it is an activity governed by a set of rules and customs. some people choose to ignore/break them, just as in any sport. the words "often engaged in competitively" is also correct, as is does not say "always".

you dont have to have cameras, and audience, and over paid athletes to define a sport. the fact that people think that is so is sad.