Underwater sports
Encyclopedia
Underwater sports include a range of sports, mostly involving the use of swimfins and often including some element of breath-hold
, snorkelling or scuba
. The governance of these sports involves some controversies.
Some sports here are related to some events in sports lifesaving
.
Most of these sports are swimfin
based. The inclusion of the word "underwater", in the group noun for these sports, is, perhaps, unwarranted but the phrase has become fixed. The term is almost certainly derived from the name of Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques
(CMAS), which is also known as the World Underwater Federation. Most have surface based elements. There are many fin-based sports that are not included in this category of sports (including bodyboarding
). Freediving includes a few events that are not fin-based (static apnea, dynamic apnea without fins amongst others). Only 7 events in Speed Lifesaving (in both stillwater and surf) use fins.
Most of these sports are minority sports. Underwater ice hockey and underwater football are not competed in or even participated in on an international basis.
Aquathlon (underwater wrestling) has been included in the CMAS envelope.
. Sub-aqua diving has various other international agencies controlling it, including the Professional Association of Diving Instructors
and the British Sub-Aqua Club, amongst others.
Finswimming is the only sport in this group included within the family of sports regulated by the International Olympic Committee
.
The fin based events in lifesaving are governed by the International Life Saving Federation
. There has been significant cross over between lifesaving and finswimming, including participation in both sports by such international competitors as George Hopkinson (European medallist in speed lifesaving and Commonwealth finswimming record holder (see Commonwealth finswimming records
)).
There is a debate over whether scuba and underwater photography can be considered as sports. Additionally, several of these sports have alternative world governing bodies. Freediving is also governed by AIDA International
. There was an attempt to form a breakaway group in underwater hockey, which resulted in nearly all of the significant teams not being present at the 2007 World Aquatic Games, in Bari, Italy.
The European Commission
has, allegedly, asked the European Parliament
to consider banning commercial spearfishing.
Spearfishing has invoked controversy on several occasions, including a ban (for members) on competition fishing of territorial fish by the British Sub-Aqua Club in the late 1970s.
There has always been a debate on funding. In the English speaking world, the only sport that has a significant following (other than scuba) is underwater hockey. However, the more widely spread and more popular sport of finswimming is the only sport that is an International Olympic Committee sport.
This has led to issues in funding and governance relationships in some National Governing Bodies.
In the United Kingdom
, the original governing body for underwater sports was the British Sub-Aqua Club. However, in 1997, CMAS expelled the British Sub-Aqua Club for several reasons.
The Sub-Aqua Association
was invited by CMAS to take the vacant seats.
This expulsion led to many British underwater-sports participants not being able to compete on an international stage. As a result the British Underwater Sports Association was formed to allow for international participation, which is registered with CMAS. However, UK Sport
(the governmental sports agency in the United Kingdom) has not accepted this change in governance. This has caused some issues with regards to funding and governance control within the United Kingdom.
Free-diving
Freediving is any of various aquatic activities that share the practice of breath-hold underwater diving. Examples include breathhold spear fishing, freedive photography, apnea competitions and, to a degree, snorkeling...
, snorkelling or scuba
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
. The governance of these sports involves some controversies.
Some sports here are related to some events in sports lifesaving
Lifesaving
Lifesaving is the act involving rescue, resuscitation and first aid. It often refers to water safety and aquatic rescue however it could include ice rescue, flood and river rescue, swimming pool rescue and other emergency medical services. Lifesaving also refers to sport where lifesavers compete...
.
Underwater sports
Underwater sports are typically considered to include:- Sub-aqua diving (also known as scuba)
- FinswimmingFinswimmingFinswimming is the progression of a swimmer using monofins or normal swimfins either on the water surface or underwater, using only muscle strength. It is a discipline of underwater sports. The competition distances are same as for swimming...
- Underwater hockeyUnderwater hockeyUnderwater hockey is a global non-contact sport in which two teams compete to maneuver a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into goals.-Play:...
(more commonly known as Octopush) - Underwater rugbyUnderwater rugbyUnderwater rugby is a sport that has its origin in the physical fitness training of German diving clubs and has little in common with rugby football except for the name....
- Underwater orienteering, combining OrienteeringOrienteeringOrienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they...
, Scuba divingScuba divingScuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
and FinswimmingFinswimmingFinswimming is the progression of a swimmer using monofins or normal swimfins either on the water surface or underwater, using only muscle strength. It is a discipline of underwater sports. The competition distances are same as for swimming...
.
- Underwater target shooting
- SpearfishingSpearfishingSpearfishing is an ancient method of fishing that has been used throughout the world for millennia. Early civilizations were familiar with the custom of spearing fish from rivers and streams using sharpened sticks....
- Freediving
- Underwater photographyUnderwater photographyUnderwater photography is the process of taking photographs while under water. It is usually done while scuba diving, but can be done while snorkeling or swimming.-Overview:...
- Underwater ice hockeyUnderwater ice hockeyUnderwater ice hockey is a minor extreme sport that is a variant of ice hockey. It is played upside-down underneath frozen pools or ponds. Participants wear wetsuits and flippers, and use the underside of the frozen surface as the playing area for a floating puck...
- Underwater footballUnderwater FootballUnderwater football is a two-team sport that shares common elements of underwater hockey and underwater rugby. As with both of those games, it is played in a swimming pool with snorkeling equipment ....
(here the football refers to American FootballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
not Association Football or any other variant) - Aquathlon (underwater wrestling)
- Speed Lifesaving (there are several events in which fins are used)
Most of these sports are swimfin
Swimfin
Swimfins, swim fins, fins or flippers are worn on the foot or leg and made from finlike rubber or plastic, to aid movement through the water in water sports activities such as swimming, bodyboarding, bodysurfing, kneeboarding, riverboarding, and various types of underwater diving.Scuba divers use...
based. The inclusion of the word "underwater", in the group noun for these sports, is, perhaps, unwarranted but the phrase has become fixed. The term is almost certainly derived from the name of Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques
Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques
The Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques is the World Underwater Federation. CMAS is the international umbrella organisation for recreational diver training organisations represented in the CMAS Technical Committee and underwater sports governed by the CMAS Sport Committee...
(CMAS), which is also known as the World Underwater Federation. Most have surface based elements. There are many fin-based sports that are not included in this category of sports (including bodyboarding
Bodyboarding
Bodyboarding is a surface water sport . The average board consists of a small, rectangular piece of hydrodynamic foam, sometimes containing a ridged spine called a 'stringer'...
). Freediving includes a few events that are not fin-based (static apnea, dynamic apnea without fins amongst others). Only 7 events in Speed Lifesaving (in both stillwater and surf) use fins.
Most of these sports are minority sports. Underwater ice hockey and underwater football are not competed in or even participated in on an international basis.
Aquathlon (underwater wrestling) has been included in the CMAS envelope.
Governance
The first nine sports listed above are governed by CMAS, as is aquathlon (underwater wrestling). Freediving is also governed by AIDA InternationalAIDA International
The International Association for Development of Apnea is the world wide rule- and record-keeping body for competitive breath holding events . It aims to set standards for safety, comparability of Official World Record attempts and freedive education...
. Sub-aqua diving has various other international agencies controlling it, including the Professional Association of Diving Instructors
Professional Association of Diving Instructors
The Professional Association of Diving Instructors is the world's largest recreational diving membership and diver training organization founded in 1966 by John Cronin and Ralph Erickson...
and the British Sub-Aqua Club, amongst others.
Finswimming is the only sport in this group included within the family of sports regulated by the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
.
The fin based events in lifesaving are governed by the International Life Saving Federation
International Life Saving Federation
The International Life Saving Federation is an organisation for drowning prevention, water safety, lifesaving and lifesaving sport.- Definition :...
. There has been significant cross over between lifesaving and finswimming, including participation in both sports by such international competitors as George Hopkinson (European medallist in speed lifesaving and Commonwealth finswimming record holder (see Commonwealth finswimming records
Commonwealth finswimming records
Below is the list of current Commonwealth Finswimming Records. The records are ratified by the Commonwealth Finswimming Committee, which is made up of the National Finswimming Governing Bodies of Commonwealth of Nations. The First Commonwealth Championships were held in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia...
)).
Controversies
Several controversies have arisen with regard to underwater sports.There is a debate over whether scuba and underwater photography can be considered as sports. Additionally, several of these sports have alternative world governing bodies. Freediving is also governed by AIDA International
AIDA International
The International Association for Development of Apnea is the world wide rule- and record-keeping body for competitive breath holding events . It aims to set standards for safety, comparability of Official World Record attempts and freedive education...
. There was an attempt to form a breakaway group in underwater hockey, which resulted in nearly all of the significant teams not being present at the 2007 World Aquatic Games, in Bari, Italy.
The European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
has, allegedly, asked the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
to consider banning commercial spearfishing.
Spearfishing has invoked controversy on several occasions, including a ban (for members) on competition fishing of territorial fish by the British Sub-Aqua Club in the late 1970s.
There has always been a debate on funding. In the English speaking world, the only sport that has a significant following (other than scuba) is underwater hockey. However, the more widely spread and more popular sport of finswimming is the only sport that is an International Olympic Committee sport.
This has led to issues in funding and governance relationships in some National Governing Bodies.
In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the original governing body for underwater sports was the British Sub-Aqua Club. However, in 1997, CMAS expelled the British Sub-Aqua Club for several reasons.
The Sub-Aqua Association
Sub-Aqua Association
The Sub-Aqua Association or SAA is a diver training organization for scubadivers in the United Kingdom. The association and some other UK-based diving groups have traditionally used a club-based system with unpaid instructors, while the other principal training agency, PADI, organises most of its...
was invited by CMAS to take the vacant seats.
This expulsion led to many British underwater-sports participants not being able to compete on an international stage. As a result the British Underwater Sports Association was formed to allow for international participation, which is registered with CMAS. However, UK Sport
UK Sport
UK Sport is the UK Government's organisation for directing the development of sport within the home countries.-History:The Sports Council previously had been formed in 1972, and had the motto Sport for All. There was also the Central Council of Physical Recreation. In July 1994 it was decided to...
(the governmental sports agency in the United Kingdom) has not accepted this change in governance. This has caused some issues with regards to funding and governance control within the United Kingdom.