6th BFA Great Northern, British National Records for Georgina Miller & John Moorcroft, Winners Dan Betts (UK), Matej Bergoc (SLO) & Beci Ryan (UK)

George Miller 2015 Great Northern BFA National Record STAPicture Credit: Daan Verhoeven (www.daanverhoeven.com)

Thursday 26 March 2015; — On Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 March, the 6th Great Northern International and the BFA UK National Pool Championships, organised by Steve Millard of www.freedivers.co.uk was held at Lifestyle Fitness Aquatic Centre in Liverpool
(www.liverpool.gov.uk/lifestyles).

The Great Northern never disappoints in terms of Dan Betts 2015 Great Northern BFA UK winnerperformance and this
year was no different. Living up to the International bit of the title, fourteen countries were represented, with one athlete, from team USA, Mandy Sumner flying in from Hawaii the night before the competition! Keeping to tradition, national records were set, this year both British, over the course of the weekend. On day one, John Moorcroft, the first diver of the day, kick started the competition with a record in dynamic no fins of 176m and on day two, Georgina Miller set her record in static with 6 minutes and 33 seconds. John swam just over 7 lengths of a 25m pool on one breath with no fins, smashing his previous record of 167m, set at lJohn Moorcroft 2015 Great Northern BFA National Record DNFast year’s competition. Georgina Miller’s previous record was 6 minutes and 27 seconds set in 2014 at the 7th Mediterranean Freediving World Cup, and she pushed it a further 6 seconds away.

The UK male winner was Dan Betts with three strong performances, white cards and big smile at the end: 115m DNF, 05:39 STA and 151 DYN. Coming in second for the Brits was Josh Walton of Bristol Freedivers and in third Jason Kirkpatrick from the Glasgow Apneists UK group. In first place for International male Matej Bergoc of Slovenia with incredible holds: 140 DNF, 07:07 STA and 183 DYN, in second Stephan Heiss and in third David Fournier.

The UK female winner was Beci Ryan with 135m DNF, 05:12 STA and 150 DYN, in second Georgina Miller and in third Lucelle Simms. And Masa Sorn also of Slovenia, training with Apneists UK Yorkshire group, came in second place for International female with three strong performances (104 DNF, 04:46 STA, 150 DYN).

The winners of the Newbie Awards were Jason Kirkpatrick (05:17 STA) and Alison Hicks (151 DYN), with already impressively big holds and swims and a lot of promise for the future. Rumour has it that both athletes look set to join the UK Team at the Pool World Championships in Serbia!

The Great Northern is a competition that celebrates achievements across the board, it recognizes that freediving is not always about numbers and times but about personal achievements and obstacles overcome. The sense of atmosphere at this year’s competition spoke volumes, with athletes from clubs all over the UK and indeed the world, coaching, congratulating and celebrating personal bests with genuine enthusiasm.

Thank you to the sponsors for their support with such generous top freediving prizes, the helpers who made it so special, the judges, safety team and the athletes for attending otherwise it couldn’t have happened. The official kit sponsors were: Aqua Sphere (www.aquasphereswim.com/uk/) and Aqua Lung (www.aqualung.com/uk/), with sponsorship also coming from Fins4u (www.fins4u.com), Tidy Tide (www.free-water.org), and the British Freediving Association (www.britishfreediving.org). For a list of sponsors please visit http://www.freedivingcompetition.com/gn-sponsors-2015.html

Individual AIDA Pool World Championships Belgrade 2015

GB TeamUK Team Selection

Applications for the UK Team – 2015 AIDA Indoor World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia are now open. The competition will take place from 19th-28th June and will include Dynamic apnea (without fins), Static Apnea and Dynamic Apnea (with fins).

We hope to send a full team of 4 men and 4 women per discipline 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 4 months before the competition. 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 19th February. Please send an email to competition@britishfreediving.org listing your highest AIDA ranked performances since August 19th 2013 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 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 2015 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 525 Euros (which includes 9 days accommodation incl. breakfast, comp entry, training, shuttle bus hotel-pool, 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 2015 team.All competing athletes must be over 18 years old, UK citizens and members of the BFA at the time of the competition.

BFA AGM 8 November 2014

BFA AGM 2014 bubble rings

The annual AGM was was hosted by Salt Free (http://www.saltfree.biz) at the NDAC (www.ndac.co.uk) on Saturday 8th November and we had a great turn out! Despite the chilly weather some of us even went for a dip before the meeting. It was a beautiful day for a dive and we were treated to 20m visibility. There was even time for a bit of bubble ring blowing to end the session before getting down to the serious business of the meeting. It’s been a great year for British freediving, we can’t mention everything, but to give you an idea we’ve seen BFA members breaking national records, winning international competitions, taking and being the subjects of beautiful underwater photography, there was a short film featured by Redbull and spreads on freediving in the broadsheets. We can’t believe it’s almost the end of the year, but its that time when the committee often changes and so we would like to take this opportunity to say goodbye and thank you to Charlotte Sundberg, our membership officer and welcome in her place Rebecca Coales. Thank you all for your continued support of the BFA and the committee; we hope we may continue to be of service to you and our aim is still the same, to help freediving flourish and grow.

From all of us at the BFA, we wish you a Merry Christmas and lots of exciting, wonderful and safe dives for 2015!

Minutes from the Meeting

Location: Salt Free divers, NDAC

Apologies: Adam, Charlotte, David, Liv, Martyn

Present, George, Beci, Bart, Tim, Rebecca, Luke, Jay and Daan

2013/14 Committee
Chair – Adam Dzraga
Clubs Officer – George Miller
Competitions Officer – Bart Lubecki
E Media Officer – Tim Money
Membership Secretary – charlotte sundberg
Press Officer – Beci Ryan
Records & AIDA Liaison Officer – David Tranfield
Secretary – care taken by Georgina Miller
Sponsorship Officer – Jay Cluskey
Training & Safety Officer – Liv Philip
Treasurer – care taken by Martyn Jones

1) Thanks to Charlotte for her time on the committee and warm welcome to new committee member Rebecca Coales who is the new Membership Officer.

2) Apologies were received.

3) Minutes of last meeting were reviewed with no comments or objections.

4) Notification of Committee Members for 2014/15 were announced:

2014/15 Committee
Chair – Adam Dzraga
Clubs Officer – George Miller
Competitions Officer – Bart Lubecki
E Media Officer – Tim Money
Membership Secretary – Rebecca Coales
Press Officer – Beci Ryan
Records & AIDA Liaison Officer – David Tranfield
Secretary – care taken by Georgina Miller and Beci Ryan
Sponsorship Officer – Jay Cluskey
Training & Safety Officer – Liv Philip
Treasurer – care taken by Martyn jones

5) Committee reports, condensed versions were read out.

6) Announcement of Fees – it was unanimously agreed that there would be no change to Membership Fee for 2015.

7) Team Selection for 2015 – AIDA Individual Pool World Championships will be in Belgrade in June. It was proposed that we aim to send maximum number of athletes possible to this event (top three by AIDA ranking plus reserves, captain and coach). Maximum number of athletes is to be confirmed. The individual team members will be chosen based on AIDA Ranked performance from 18 months prior to cut off date. Cut off date 3 months before entry deadline. The Depth World Championships are to be held in Cyprus. Team selection will be the same as for the Pool World Championships.

8) Announcement of UK Champions – Congratulations to Mike Board and Liv Philip. Results gathered by Georgina Miller according to AIDA ranked points (Nov 2013 – Nov 2014)

ChairIt was suggested that the Chairman and Secretary collaborate more closely to ensure that emails and responses are organised and seen through to an end point. It was agreed that the Chairman organise quarterly meetings along with a To Do list for each role.

Membership

To get an operating e-membership system up and running with up to date database to allow membership communication via mail chimp to members from all roles.
Build Membership, invest a budget amount for marketing, i.e. advert in Dive Magazines, a stand at the dive show. A suggestion was made to attend a Triathlon show.
What can we offer our members? It was agreed that a quarterly newsletter go out to members and possibility of a members get together.

Clubs

How to build Clubs and members?
Ways in which to include, or not include, other freediving agencies or organisations on the BFA listings of affiliate clubs was discussed. At the moment we list SSI Clubs only if they have AIDA instructors and are teaching AIDA courses. Should we also include other freediving clubs who do not teach AIDA courses on our affiliate clubs in our listings? The topic was discussed and it was suggested that the Club’s Officer build a proposal to be discussed at a later date.
How can we encourage Clubs to recommend BFA membership to their club members, should this be mandatory? It was agreed that it should not be mandatory but we should invite organisers to encourage their members to join by sending information out to them of promotional offers and / or flyers to hand out (maybe for inclusion as part of a welcome pack if already done so by the club).

Sponsorship

Report was given on this year’s sponsors: Elios, Prawno, Beet-it and Bounce Balls.
Ideas for next year’s National and World Championship sponsors were discussed. It was suggested and agreed that the Sponsorship Officer along with the Press Officer should start targeting potential sponsors for 2015.
It was requested that the following be voted upon:
Should the BFA should cover shortfall in sponsorship – i.e. currently, if there are not enough suits provided for all athletes, the team splits the cost between them to ensure all the team are provided for.
Decision: It was voted that the BFA would not cover the shortfall
Should the BFA cover the cost of any extra bags or weight costs incurred by athlete/s to carry kit to an event?
Decision: It was voted that the BFA should in principal cover the costs of transporting goods but covering the shortfall should be done on a case-by-case basis.
Should the BFA pay for a Media package if offered at a World Championship event, to be used by BFA for sponsors and given to athletes for their use, and our promotional material.
Decision: It was voted that the BFA would vote upon this on a case-by-case basis.

Press

It was suggested that we should get sponsorship offers out to members. This could go out with renewals for membership? Offers could also be shared on the Face Book page and website.
A vote was requested on the BFA covering the costs of dive shows.
Decision: Yes but on a case-by-case basis but only with enough information and plenty of time to organise. It was also stipulated that the data base of personal information and contact details go back to the BFA ONLY and not to individual clubs. It was proposed that the BFA pay for one dive shoe and one tri show.
The possibility of a media page for the website was suggested.

Training and Safety: A report was read out at the meeting.

Treasurer: Statement was emailed to committee members on-line. It was decided that rather than set budgets in advance, decisions on finances would be made on a case-by-case basis of proposals. It was agreed that quarterly statements would be very useful to help consider spending. Report on monies spent.

Competitions

The first competition grant was awarded to Apnea Revolution, a London based club. This was their first competition. The first competition grant generated new membership to cover the cost of the grant. The grant and competition were deemed to have been a success.
Grant maximum amounts were agreed:
Pool Competition Grant (maximum £250 Grant)
Depth Competition Grant (maximum £400 Grant)
National Championships Grant (Pool or Depth, maximum £250 Grant each)

AOB:
The possibility of organising an outdoor happening in the summer for freedivers to meet, take part in workshops and take part in games. Bart and Rebecca agreed to have a look into this and report back to the committee.It was proposed and agreed to have a meeting every quarter via Skype to ensure ideas and projects run smoothly and are progressed efficiently.

Apnea Revolution Cup BFA Pool Competition

Apnea Revolution Cup - Lucy HannelApnea Revolution Cup - Deividas
A day of Firsts for Apnea Revolution and the BFA

Thursday 6 November 2014; — On Saturday 1st November, Apnea Revolution (www.apnearevolution.com), organised their first pool freediving competition: the Apnea Revolution Cup BFA Pool Competition at the Queen Mother Sports Centre (www.better.org.uk. Apnea Revolution received sponsorship from BFA in the form of a pool competition grant, which is the first time the competition grants system has been introduced. There were some fantastic performances all around. Tim Money (UK) won with 154m DYN out of the men and Beci Ryan with 134m DNF for the women; in second place were Eoin Clarke (IRE) with 107m DNF and Rebecca Coales (UK) a very close second with 130m DNF; in third place were Deividas Stankevicius (LTU) with 105m DYN and Ana Vadillo (ESP) with 104m DYN, both personal bests.

Twenty athletes signed up to compete in either Dynamic with Fins (DYN) or Dynamic No Fins (DNF) in the beautiful 25m pool in Victoria, Central London. There were 11 countries represented with freedivers from 4 clubs across the UK.

Apnea Revolution is run by a group of experienced freedivers, made up of competitors, instructors, safety divers and judges. An ideal group to organise a competition, the team worked together seamlessly, from start to finish, creating a relaxed and fun environment for the athletes, many of whom were competing for the first time.

It was a beautiful if unseasonably warm afternoon as the athletes congregated around the pool to register for the competition. After a brief by the organisers on how the competition would run and a review of the rules, the athletes drifted off to stretch and mentally prepare for their ‘Official Top’ (the time of their dive). There was wonderful air of calm with an undercurrent of excitement as the experienced and new athletes mingled and prepared, offering one another advice and coaching when needed.

In the pool, there were no shortage of safety divers on hand to keep an eye on the athletes, helping to alleviate nerves and boost confidences in the water – eight safety divers were in attendance no less! The safety team were always there when needed but never in the way, their hard training clearly paying off.

There were some brilliant performances and it wasn’t necessarily the bigger swims that were any more enjoyable or impressive to watch than the not so big. Competing can be both a terrifying and exhilarating experience and it was great to see so many new faces braving the water under official conditions.

Apnea Revolution have already expressed an interest in hosting another pool competition and the BFA will be sure to keep you updated with any news. The next and final competition of the year will be run by Apneists UK (www.freedivingcompetition.com) and will happen in Stockport on Saturday 29th November.

Apnea Revolution and the BFA would like to thank all of the staff and lifeguards at the Queen Mother Sports Centre for not only allowing us to use their wonderful pool and facilities, but also for making everyone feel so welcome.

The BFA are offering a number of Grants to promote freediving in the UK, the following grants can be applied for pool, depth and national championships. The grants are discretionary and may be awarded dependent upon the review and acceptance of an application submitted by the competition organiser.

Stockport Pool Competition November 29th

There will be a Pool Freediving competition held by ApneistsUK (www.freedivers.co.uk) on November 29th 2014 in Manchester. The organiser will be Steve Millard. There will be both complete beginners and current record holders attending, and anyone is free to join in whatever their level. If you don’t feel like competing, come and watch or even help out for the experience. There are viewing galleries for spectators. It will be an excellent warm up competition for the 6th Great Northern in 2015 on March 21st and 22nd in Liverpool.

It is the 12th AIDA recognised event by the group over the past 5 years. This competition will be small, relaxed and informal, no large prizes, but will hold AIDA ranking status. It is supported by the Freediving grant from the British Freediving Association (BFA www.britishfreediving.org) It will be held in Greater Manchester at the Life Leisure Stockport Grand Central pool. This is a long course, 50 metre pool. It will take the form of a single event with the possibility of a second. The choice is between swimming distance with a mono fin (DYN), swimming distance without fins (DNF) or maximum stationary breath hold (STA).

Registration will be from 5.30pm. The pool is booked the pool from 7.00pm – 9.00pm. The first dive will be around 7.45pm for spectators.

A video of Rebecca Coales Dynamic with fins record held here earlier in the year showing the pool and facilities can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3pQjrvaI_w

Please e-mail Steve Millard, apneaboy111@hotmail.com or visit http://www.freedivingcompetition.com/stockport-2014.html to book your slot or more information as it becomes available.
Location:
Grand Central Square, Wellington Road South, Stockport, SK1 3TA
(Directly opposite Grand Central Train Station for an easy journey in)

BFA 2014 Annual General Meeting

The committee would like to say thank you to David Tranfield for his time as records officer over the last years. We are sad to see him leave and wish him all the best with his diving in the future. Also we should say another big thank you to Charlotte Sundberg, who will be stepping down as membership Officer. Your help will be missed!

It’s that time of year again. This year’s British Freediving Association Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place on Saturday the 8th You are all very welcome to come to the AGM, listen, take part and give your views. We will meet first for a dive session at 1100 am and the AGM will be after that. So please come along have some fun! Diving is open to anyone qualified to AIDA 2 Star or equivalent. Please sign up at http://www.saltfree.biz/8novag letting us know what kind of maximum depth you’d be diving to (max on the day is 50m). Please note there will be a £7.50 entry fee to NDAC on the gate and £5 payable to Saltfree on the day. You will need to have your own kit, including a lanyard. If you need to hire anything, please contact sam@saltfreedivers.com who may be able to help out.

The AGM is your chance to find out what the British Freediving Association has been up to over the past year and express your views on what it should be doing in the year ahead. Most importantly, it is your chance to stand for a Committee position and get involved!

We need to fill quite a few gaps in the BFA Committee this year and really hope you will use this chance to give something back to the sport you love. Without the BFA, we may not be able to compete at International level or organise recognised competitions, will struggle with teaching insurance and won’t get our records recognised properly. If the Committee positions are not filled, then there is a good chance the BFA won’t be able to continue – so please consider whether you might be able to give an hour or so a week to give something back. To continue, according to our Constitution, we must appoint at least a Chair, Membership Secretary, Training & Safety Officer and a Treasurer. There are lots of other roles to fill! At the moment we desperately need a membership officer, records officer, treasurer and secretary, there are others standing for the other roles but if you are interested do stand up to be counted! The Committee posts can all be managed wherever you live, as long as you have internet and email access a couple of times a week. Whilst it would be helpful, to us and to you, you do not need to attend the AGM to stand for a position.

The BFA Committee positions are:

Chair – Currently Adam Drzazga, who will stand again. The Chair manages the organisation of the Committee in terms of the AGM, leads discussions on new developments for the organisation, keeps a bit of an eye to make sure all the Committee members are fulfilling their post’s requirements and generally keeps email and other discussions under control. The Chair sometimes also ends up covering roles in the short-term when vacancies arise and acting as a point of contact for other Committee members when they are on leave.

Clubs – Currently Georgina Miller, who will stand again. The Clubs Officer manages the recognition of BFA affiliated clubs, answers questions from club organisers and members, supports the clubs in developing their activities and advises on how to set up new clubs.

Competitions – Currently Bart Lubeki, who will stand again. The Competitions Officer supports anyone in the UK organising AIDA-ranked competitions, oversees the competition from the BFA’s point of view and may work with the E Media and Press Officer to help promote the competition. If organisers do not come forward, the Competitions Officer may be required to proactively seek out and encourage members to organise competitions.

E Media – Currently Tim Money, who will be standing again .The E Media Officer runs the BFA website and e-communications. This is the face of British freediving!

Membership – Currently Charlotte Sundberg who will be stepping down. The Membership Officer keeps track of who the current members are, processes membership applications, sends out membership e-cards and works with the Sponsorship Officer on building member benefits. Some IT knowledge is a help in this role.

Press Officer – Currently Becky Ryan, who will be standing again. The Press Officer liaises with the media (mostly the UK dive press and dive websites) to publicise records, competitions and other freediving stories and acts as a point of contact for media with queries about freediving. A new appointee will be provided with lists of contacts but it would be helpful if they had some previous PR or writing experience. The Press Officer needs to work closely with the E Media Officer and the Sponsorship Officer, to ensure all stories are covered on the website and that Sponsors get sufficient coverage in return for their support. They also manage the face book page- Phew!

Records and AIDA Liaison Officer – Currently David Tranfield, who will be stepping down. This position is responsible for liaising with the AIDA International Board and AIDA Judge list, sending information on any AIDA International Level votes (about 10 a year) out to the Committee, monitoring responses and sending back our reply. This post also handles the management and recognition process for UK records, based on the UK record rules you can download from the BFA website, and liaises with the Press and E Media Officers to make sure the records are publicised. It would be helpful if the person appointed to this post were an AIDA Judge.

Secretary – currently care taken by Georgina Miller. The Secretary manages communications with members, takes minutes at the AGM and provides secretarial support to the other Committee members as required.

Sponsorship – currently Jay Cluskey, who will be standing again. The Sponsorship Officer manages our relationships with sponsors and builds new sponsorship agreements. Sponsorship normally relates to the UK Team but it would be great to achieve more general sponsorship for freediving in the UK.

Training & Safety – currently Liv Philip, who will be standing again. This post oversees freedive training within the UK, working with the AIDA Education Committee to advise instructors on matters of training. It also has a wider remit, usually working with the Clubs Officer and sometimes with the Competitions Officers, to advise on matters of safety and is responsible for keeping the Open Water and Confined Water BFA safety advice sheets up to do date. The Training and Safety Officer needs to be a qualified freedive instructor.

Treasurer – currently Martyn Jones, who will step down if a replacement can be found. The Treasurer produces the annual BFA accounts for the AGM, keeps an eye on our finances, makes a final decision with the Chair on major expenditures, runs the BFA bank account and PayPal account. The treasurer ideally would have experience of keeping accounts, or accounting qualifications.

ALL the Committee members are actively involved in voting on AIDA International matters, discussing and putting forward the UK’s views on the development of the sport through AIDA, selection and support of the UK Team at AIDA International competitions and supporting the BFA in various ways in its purpose of “promoting freediving recreationally and competitively, in safe environments”.

Voting Process – In line with the BFA Constitution, anyone who wishes to stand (or re-stand) for a post, should send an email submission, stating the post or posts for which they would like to be considered along with a short CV or manifesto explaining why they think they would be suitable. This should be sent in by the 18th committee@britishfreediving.org. Where more than one person stands for a post, it will go to a majority vote of BFA members. Any vote will be sent to all BFA Members by the 25th October. You have two weeks to vote and the results will be announced at the AGM on the 8th November.

Thanks again for your support and we look forward to seeing you at the AGM.

British freediving committee

Introducing the 2014 UK Team, Proud to be sponsored by Elios Sub, Beet-it & Bounce Energy Balls

24.08.14; — The BFA are delighted to introduce the UK Team for the 2014 AIDA Team World Championship in Sardinia (www.blueworldchamp.it, which will run from 16th to 27th September, in the Gulf of Cagliari. The team comprises of 7 athletes: Liv Philip, Georgina Miller, Beci Ryan, Mike Board (Captain), Tim Money, Adam Drzazga and Jay Cluskey (reserve). All of our athletes are self-funded, and we are pleased to announce some fantastic sponsors for this year’s World Championships, helping them to perform to their full potential:
Elios Sub (www.eliossub.com) was established in 1977 and prides itself on its continuous innovation, evolution, improvement and refinement of comfort in its suits. Elios have sponsored the British Team for a number of years and many British Freedivers wear their suits across the UK because of the quality and feel of materials used. We are extremely proud that Elios have offered sponsorship to our UK Team for this year’s World Championships. elios
Prawno Apparel(www.prawnoapparel.co.uk) makes thoughtfully designed clothing for divers, freedivers and water sports enthusiasts. Underwater photographer Lia Barrett creates each design by pulling imagery directly from her underwater shots. Discreetly placed within each design are the location and depth at which the subject was photographed. The Freediver design used for the new BFA Team clothing features Caribbean reef sharks and Elisabeth Mattes, Austrian national freediver, both photographed off Roatan, Honduras, printed onto t-shirts and hoodies made from partially recycled fabrics. prawno
Beet-it (www.beet-it.com) uses 100% natural ingredients and the Beet-it Sport shot juice drink delivers a dose of 0.4g dietary nitrates per shot. The beetroot juice shots are now the preferred delivery method used by research teams to boost nitric oxide (NO) levels in the blood. Nutrition is extremely important to freedivers and we are excited to see how the Beet-it Sports range of drinks and bars, boost and prepare our bodies before an apnea session. Beet It
Bounce Energy Balls (www.bouncefoods.com) are an amazingly convenient and are a tasty way to nourish your body, satisfy your hunger and sustain your energy. Bounce Energy Balls are a special combination of high quality proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and essential fats. After a freediving session, recovery is of great importance and the Bounce Energy Balls have all the necessary ingredients to help our athletes do so. Bounce Balls
And now to meet the Team GB! Keep up to date with the team on our Facebook page by joining as a member:
Tim Money Tim Money

Tim thinks freediving makes the world go round, however his non-freediver friends refer to it as “hold your breath club”! He has been diving for a few years now and first represented the UK in 2006. Since then he has dived all over the place, and one of his favorites has to be Honaunau Bay, Hawaii. Imagine heading out for a dive, walking over the black lava rock beach, getting into the water with a turtle swimming in the coral reef, and then heading out to the deep past a few spinner dolphins to the dive line! He loves any events in freediving, and really enjoys the competitions as you spend a day, weekend or week in the pool, lake, sea or other country with loads of other people who are excited about the same stuff you are! Tim is very grateful to his employer, Saba Software (www.saba.com), for sponsoring him and enabling him to have the time to represent the UK in Sardinia.

Mike Board Mike Board (Team Captain)

Mike is a 7 times National Record holder for team Great Britain, an SSI Freediving Instructor Trainer, and a former Royal Marine Commando. Mike has a strong background in teaching, as a freediver he is an SSI Instructor Trainer and an Apnea Total Master Instructor, but he is also a TDI Technical Diving Instructor and a PADI OW scuba instructor. He has a strong physical approach to his own training, however through Freediving he has discovered that equally important is the balance achieved through activities such as yoga and gaining greater self-awareness and mental focus. Both approaches feature strongly in his teaching style. Mike has dived to 102m in the Constant Weight with Fins (CWF) discipline, has set seven British National records, and is the current British record holder for CWT at 102m and for Free Immersion (FIM) at 96m. He was also a member of the British Freediving Team for the 2011 World Freediving Depth Championships. Mike lives in Indonesia, on the island of Gili Trawangan, where he teaches freediving courses and training (www.freedivegili.com).

Adam Drzazga Adam Drzazga

Adam is an Aida Instructor, Judge and Chairman of the British Freediving Association. He has represented the UK at the World Championships in Belgrade last year and has participated at other international freediving events. He greatly enjoys the recreational side of freediving, diving on shallow reefs and the simple pleasure of being in the water. Adam started freediving as a spearo in the Caribbean Island of Jamaica, where he discovered the beauty of the underwater world. After running a spearfishing school for a few years in the UK, he then decided to enter into and concentrate on the pure discipline of Freediving. Freediving changed his life, giving him the right input to discover and enjoy life in a whole new way, through the many amazing techniques and experiences. Adam runs a club called Blue Water Freediving (www.bluewater-freediving.co.uk).

Jay Cluskey Jay Cluskey (Reserve)

Jay has been freediving for many years and is currently training to be an instructor. He runs a club session in the City of Liverpool for Apneists UK (www.freedivingcompetition.com). Jay has always been drawn to the sea and freediving has simply allowed him to grasp what he loves about it. He enjoys the competitive side of Freediving and likes to see people come out of their ‘freediving shells’ and pull out big performances. He also relishes the camaraderie and support of his teammates and fellow competitors alike, there is in his opinion, no sport like it. This will be the second time Jay has represented the UK. He is a ‘pool rat’, ‘depth junkie’ and ‘spearo’ all in one. Jay works on the British Freediving Association committee, dedicating his time to supporting and promoting freediving in the UK.

Georgina Miller Georgina Miller

George has always been interested in the underwater world. She learned to scuba dive in 1998, and is a PADI MSDT instructor since 2005. She has been freediving since 2007 and is an SSI freediving instructor. George is a 5 times British National record holder, currently holding the women’s record of 06:27 in static apnea and competes for the UK; she has been part of the UK team since 2007. She has trained all over the world, including the famous Deans blue hole. George has a strong background in yoga and swimming and believes that mental focus and self-awareness is a crucial part of freediving, but most importantly it has to be fun. Above all freediving is a passion for her and a fantastic community to be a part of. She has recently set up a club called Aquacity Freediving (www.aquacityfreediving.com) along with her partner, photographer Daan Verhoeven. George has also been a committee member of the British Freediving Association as Clubs Officer since 2011, to help to share her love of the sport.

Liv Philip Liv Philip

Liv has represented Great Britain at 7 World Championships. In 2013 she won a bronze medal at the AIDA Individual depth World Championships in her favourite discipline Constant No Fins (CNF). In 2010 she was the World Absolute Freediving Champion with the highest combined international ranking and has been the UK Champion 7 times. This year she was awarded for outstanding contributions to British Freediving. Liv runs the UK’s longest running freediving club London Freediving (www.londonfreediving.org), as well as her own businesses in landscaping and in Freediving Teaching and Coaching (www.livphilip.com). She has body doubled for Halle Berry and taught numerous stars including TV personalities Ant & Dec. As Training and Safety Officer for the British Freediving Association, Liv helps to promote safer freediving in the UK. Based in London, she has collaborated on many arts projects and has recently completed her first soon to be released short film ‘A Place Below’. Liv says ‘over the years freediving has given me a great deal of pleasure and allowed me to meet some wonderful people. I look forward to this 2014 Great Britain Women’s Team pulling together to produce some really solid competitive performances at the Team World Championship in Sardinia in September’.

Beci Ryan Beci Ryan

Beci got into freediving after scuba diving in Thailand in 2012 and was blown away. She came back to the UK wanting to continue her underwater adventures but without all the heavy equipment and found a club in Richmond called London Freediving (www.londonfreediving.org) where she was introduced to an exciting yet tranquil, silent, underwater world, falling in love instantly. That same year she joined the UK Team to compete at the World Championships in Nice, France, her very first competition. Because of the support and encouragement of her fellow teammates and club, she has continued competing and playing under the water. This year Beci came third in the women at the pool National Championships, more commonly and affectionately referred to as the Great Northern (www.freedivingcompetition.com).

Would you like to sponsor the UK Team? If so please visit our website for more information, or contact our Sponsorship Officer Jay Cluskey: sponsorship@britishfreediving.org

2013 UK National Freediving Champions

Liv Philip & Tim Money Crowned Again!


Picture Credit: Daan Verhoeven

Saturday 25th January 2014 — Tim Money and Liv Philip (www.free-flowh2o.com) have been awarded the annual UK National Freediving Championship prize once again! Both athletes won last year, and incredibly this will be the 7th time in a row for Liv. Tim and Liv of London Freediving (www.londonfreediving.org), are experienced athletes who put a lot of thought and work into their training and both reaped the rewards in different ways: Tim sites this as the year his deep diving changed, taking on the same consistency of the pool, learning a different way to equalize and progressing 10m deeper than his personal best; Liv’s concentration on performance was divided at the beginning of the year with teaching in danger of taking over, but with time invested on herself to train she earned a bronze medal at the World Championships.

The year kick started for both athletes, in the wet and cold winter with some pool competitions whilst training off-season, achieving some solid performances at the Riga Freediving Cup (www.free-diving.lv/competitions.html) and the Great Northern International Pool Championships (www.freedivingcompetition.com). As the summer began the great friends who have trained together for many years, travelled to Myrtos, Greece, to take part in the 6th Mediterranean World Cup (www.freediving-club.gr). This event was particularly significant for Tim, as it was here that his diving technique changed completely: ‘I figured out I had been equalizing a very hard way for the last six years, and there was an easy way to do it! It was a revelation, I went from constant focus, and probably anxiety of whether I can equalise at the next meter, to just falling and ears open no stress, laaaaa…. amazing.’ Performance-wise Money did well, diving five times below the 60m mark over the course of the competition.

During the Mediterranean World Cup Liv had placed her focus on teaching, not performance and so upon her return to the UK, she topped up her training, largely through working a very physical job as a landscape gardener in preparation for the Individual Freediving Depth World Championships in Kalamata, Greece (www.freediving-club.gr): ‘Its a vicious circle in an unfunded sport, if you are working to fund yourself, you are often too busy or tired to train, so I’m particularly grateful for any support I can get and especially to Fusion Lifestyles Camberwell Pool (www.fusion-lifestyle.com), who continue to support me by providing training space.’

Upon arrival in Kalamata, Liv made enjoyment of the competition a priority: ‘I wanted to have fun being in the water, and avoid the tension that creeps in’. Philip performed well, both at the mini competition held prior to the main event, and at the main event itself, receiving white cards in every discipline: CNF, CWT and FIM. The icing on the cake was when she performed a beautiful 50m CNF dive under challenging conditions and was rewarded with a place on the podium and a bronze medal: ‘CNF is probably my favourite discipline and performing a big CNF dive at a World Championship was the result of years of dedication and hard work. CNF is a much more technical discipline, but alongside that you have to be very relaxed at depth and naturally love being in the deep water. The time spent deep on a no fins dive is longer due to the slower ascent speed compared to the other disciplines, so it isn’t possible to wing it just to hit the plate. When you get it right, CNF is mind blowing. When you don’t it’s the worst thing in the world. That’s what I like about it I guess.’

Having missed out on the chance to compete at the World Championships and eager to continue further his exploration of equalizing at depth, Tim finished the year with ten days in Sharm at Freediving World (info@freedivingworld.it). He took part in three competition days and attended three theory sessions with Andrea Zuccari on equalizing which he says were incredible: ‘Equalising is becoming a joy, and I did 62m, 64m, 67m CWT in competition and then ended with a 71m personal best (PB) in training.’

Selection of the annual male and female UK Champions is made by collating points earned across all six competitive disciplines, pool and depth, between 31st October and 31st November.

Liv will be teaching courses as well as taking on a limited number of athletes for coaching during 2014. Trips for deep water training are scheduled both in the UK and abroad. Contact Liv on hellofreeflow@gmail.com

The winners’ competition performances for 2013 were:

Tim Money

STA 5min 37sec
DYN 154m
DNF 129m
CWT 67m
CNF 38m
FIM 52m

Liv Philip:

STA 5min 41sec
DYN 134m
DNF 112m
CWT 62m
CNF 50m
FIM 66m

BFA AGM 15 December 2013

The annual AGM was held via Skype in Sunday 15 December. It was great to have some more BFA members take part. So, it’s the end of another year and it is not quite all change, but the BFA are saying goodbye to some key committee members. We would like to say a huge thank you to Steve Millard, Martyn Jones, Gary McGrath & Ed Wardel. Without the hard work and support all our committee members give, the BFA could not function and it’s been a successful year thanks to team work. We would like to say an extra big thank you to Martyn Jones who as E-media officer has given so many years service to the committee and always with such support, warmth, enthusiasm and energy. And in saying goodbye, we welcome Adam Drzazga, Bart Lubecki, Tim Money and Charlotte Sundburg.

From all of us at the BFA, may we wish you a very Merry Christmas & may 2014 be full of beautiful blue dives!

Notes:

Agenda

Apologies

Dave Tranfield, Ed Wardle, Martyn Jones, Jay Cluskey, Gary Lowe,

Present, George, Beci Ryan, Gary, Steve , Adam, Tim, Benedicte

20012/13 Committee

Chair: Steve Millard
Clubs Officer: Georgina Miller
Competitions Officer: Ed Wardle
E Media Officer: Martyn Jones
Membership Secretary: gary lowe
Press Officer: beci ryan
Records & AIDA Liaison Officer: David tranfield
Secretary: ary mcGrath
Sponsorship Officer: Jay Cluskey
Training & Safety Officer: Liv Philip
Treasurer: Gareth Cantin care taken by martyn Jones

1) Thanks to Steve, gary lowe, gary mcgrath, ed, and gareth for their time on the committee and warm welcome to all the new committee members, Adam as chair, Bart as competitions, tim as emedia, and charlotte as membership.

2) Apologies

3) Minutes of last meeting : any objections? If not, continue

4) Notification of Committee Members for 2012/13

Chair: Adam Dzraga
Clubs Officer: George Miller
Competitions Officer: Bart Lubecki
E Media Officer: Tim Money
Membership Secretary: Charlotte Lundberg
Press Officer: Beci Ryan
Records & AIDA Liaison Officer: David Tranfield
Secretary: care taken by Georgina miller
Sponsorship Officer: Jay Cluskey
Training & Safety Officer: Liv Philip
Treasurer: caretaken by Martyn jones

5) Statement of Income and Expenditure

6) Proposal that accounts should have independent report

7) Committee reports : Full reports will be online.

8) Constitutional Changes :to have 3 signatories for finances from committee as treasurer, chair and membership. Agreed.

9) Rule Changes : none

10) Announcement of Fees : no change to Membership Fee for 2013

11) Team Selection for 2013 :

AIDA Individual depth World Championships will be in Sardinia in September 2014. Propose: aim to send maximum number of athletes possible to this event (top three by AIDA ranking plus reserves, captain and coach),choose the team based on AIDA Ranked performance in 18 months prior to cut off date. Cut off date 3 months before entry deadline.

To try to run ranked competitions in all disciplines in the UK in time for the selection date .

Teams selected at the event according to ranked points with reserves.

12) Announcement of UK Champions :Congratulations to Tim Money and Liv Philip. Results gathered by Georgina Miller according to AIDA ranked points.

13) Key mission for 2012/13 : get up to 300 members so we can aim for more recognition from UK Sport. By paying for a stand at the dive show open to all clubIdeas welcome on how to grow membership, and membership lists becoming available to committee members to use for their roles..

14) AOBTo ask committee members to create handover packs for next generation committee.To create a collaborative workspace and file sharing space for committee.