Where are the DIVE SPORTS and COMPETITIONS?

[Blackwood]

When someone says auto racing the first thing that comes to most peoples mind is NASCAR or Indy professional racing but there are tens of thousands of people racing at local tracks every weekend.

Formula 1 for me.

 

[knotical]

These folks:
CMAS - Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques - PORTAIL
do some underwater orienteering, but not on scuba. Still, the concept could be broadened.

 

[drbill]

I've never seen SCUBA as a competitive "sport." It is an "activity" that I engage in because it is the means to an end... my study of the kelp forests and their critters, and my desire to share it with others who may not dive and witness it firsthand.

However, you may be onto something re: the younger divers who don't stay with the activity. Why not turn it into a video game! Actually DiveNav has a dive simulator that might be used for such a competition.

 

[seaducer]

Competition is not the answer. If you want more people to love scuba and respect the uw world, we need another Jaques Eves Cousteau. Shows like Blue Planet, shot in hi-def would be great if they showed shallow reefs, lots of color and spectacular life. Put it on prime time network tv and show people what is out there, and they will show up at the LDS.

But would that be a good thing?

I am inclined to think not. Raise awareness for environmental concerns, yes, but increase the amount of people pressuring fragile ecosystems with poor bouyancy control and a lack of true respect would accelerate the decline of coral in all the popular destinations.

Cheap UW digital cameras are already doing that quite nicely. While I was happy to be able to afford a decent setup, the low price has enabled so many new divers to purchase one, and there they are bashing into the coral or hanging onto a piece in the current trying to get a shot. At least I learned to dive first.

Attracting the masses would, imo, be a horrible thing in the long run. Great for the industry, terrible for the environment.

Right now the people who dive, and dive often do so out of an innate love of the underwater world. We are already inspiring like minded folk to follow along. Those that need a "sport show" or some other to get off the couch and into the water...sorry if this sounds "elitist", but I would rather they stay right where they are...

 

[jason.elias]

However, you may be onto something re: the younger divers who don't stay with the activity. Why not turn it into a video game!

A game just came out for the Wii that is getting pretty great reviews...

Endless Ocean Game - Nintendo Wii

 

[dpbishop]

What a great idea. Competition certainly improved surfing. I can't count how many times I have been chased out of the water because someone was running a contest. Scuba, like surfing, is not an everyday sport in most locations; It is condition dependent. Wouldn't it be great if you headed out to your favorite dive spot the first weekend in months that the viz was good only to be chased away because some high school was running scuba races.

 

[Hickdive]

100 feet visibility is great for diving - lousy for virtually all spectator/televised sports and that, ultimately, is the killer.

 

[perdidochas]

Over the last few months, as I have been kicking around the idea of getting into the Dive Business, I have wondered why there are so few younger Divers that stick around and how maybe to connect with them a bit more...

I realize there are a number of factors involved here, but after looking at a few of the sports that have grown from specialized activities into major sports, it became clear that activities which had sporting competitions associated with them had given a way for younger enthusiasts to follow the sport, and also given sponsors an opportunity to groom new stars. Snowboarding, skate-boarding, even mountaineering and surfing to a lesser degree, they have all used competitions to get people interested and following the sport..

So I was wondering, where are the Dive Sports? I know there is free-diving, which is close, but where are the competitions in Scuba Diving? Are they out there and some of us just haven't heard about them? Or do they exist at all?

And if they don't exist already - we are a VERY creative group of people - couldn't we put our minds together and come up with one?

There is no need. Scuba isn't a competitive sport, and I wouldn't want it to be. I also don't see the need to encourage many more people into the sport.

 

[perdidochas]

Well.

I guess the most difficult part is trying to have a respectful discussion.

But let's accept you feel what you do. Back to my point..

Diving has a high attrition rate - according to one study, only 7% of Divers ever Dive after one year of Certification. It also has a poor retention rate - by one estimate less than 20% of all Divers who continue Diving after the first year ever become "Active Divers", defined in one study as those who Dive at least more than once a year.

So what?

Additionally, new Diver Certifications have declined by roughly 2.5% each year for the last two decades. And the demographic of Diving continues to climb, with the median age now at 46.

That is a problem.

And finally, in a 2003 survey, non-divers, when asked why they didn't want to be certified gave these as some of the primary reasons:
• Its an “isolated” experience
• It is too difficult
• It is too dangerous or frightening
• It is too boring
• There are concerns about the quality of training
• People don’t know where to learn
• There is no-one to do it with

I would bet in rank order, the second and third are the most important.

SO, the question is not so much about my personal decision to destroy the entire Dive Industry with my crass motives, but INSTEAD to try to find a way to help an ailing industry that allows us to do what we love...

I have spoken to a number of very dedicated but listing Dive Shop owners who have struggled in the last few years. And the prospects are even worse for the industry with a possible recession looming...

Gimmicks aren't going to do it. I would warrant that most of the demographic who dives now (if the 46 yr old average that you posted above is correct) grew up with reruns of "Flipper" and "Sea Hunt" as well as Jacques Cousteau specials. There is nothing that fascinating now, except for Shark Week on Discovery, which probably contributes much more to non-diving than diving. A scuba version of the Crocodile Hunter or Sea Hunt 2008 would be the thing that would get people into diving.

The question is how to help the Sport - or activity - we all love so much, how to help it reach out to new people so that it can flourish..

All that being said, your unbridled verbage actually made my wife and I laugh... And I apologize I upset you so much...

 

[perdidochas]

Oh good grief, the OP said it was his love of diving that is the motivation to get others involved, not that he thinks its a bore. I think he makes a great point. We love this sport, this activity, this participation event, or whatever the heck else you want to call it. Sad when people say that something will NEVER be popular....or something will never work. There are a lot of great ideas that were the right thing at the wrong time.

I love how the SB "cold water committee" shows up anytime someone suggests something new. No one wants to tear up reefs, destroy the tranquility of your diving, push things to dangerous limits....he asked a simple question. What can be done to help bring this event we all love to a new generation? Not a bad question at all. O

The OP is right on the money....many of us are diving because of an early TV show that featured diving.....many of us had the love of diving instilled in us by watching a guy with a thick French accent, show us things we had never seen before. I was hooked from an early age....how, by seeing others experience it before I ever knew what Scuba was.

I agree, but "extreme scuba" as a sport won't do it either, and if it did, it would just bring jerks into the sport.

Nah, getting a new generation interested in diving is not possible....there is an old saying in sales, "If you think you can't....YOU CAN'T" I say, I love Scuba Diving so much I want others to experience it too......So, DREAM ON....let's explore new ways to make it happen.

I do agree, I just don't think scuba competition is the way to do it.