Scuba Diving, Sport or Hobby?

[Bratface]

I have always considered it a sport. A diver must have some level of training and fitness to participate. It's not always a recreational activity either. Technical divers explore caves, shipwrecks and some go to extreme depths.

I think of a hobby as birdwatching, stamp collecting or searching for antiques. You can call it whatever you want, but whenever I hear diving referred to as a hobby, I secretly cringe inside.

 

[Nemrod]

Hello everyone,

As the title say, I was wondering why is Scuba Diving considered an extreme "Sport"? in my opinion it's many things, but it's definitely not a Sport, sport it's something where you can win alone or in a team something, in diving there is nothing to win, no races, no tournaments, no championships, nothing...

Can please someone explain this to me, or you can all tell me your opinion about it...

Thanks!

This same thread topic comes up every so often and then we all have an argument over diving being a sport, a hobby or something else.

Not is not a team sport but it is a sport and at the same time it is a hobby, a life style, an avocation.

Is rock and free climbing a sport? Is skydiving a sport? Is hunting a sport? If you narrowly define sports as requiring a team and some measurement of victory then I guess not.

SCUBA is a sport, my opinion, by definition and I participate in the hobby of photography.

But it is not an extreme sport for most since the average participant is like 50 plus years old and getting older on average by the day.

Definition:

• : done for enjoyment rather than as a job or for food for survival
  
  
• : participating in an activity (such as hunting or fishing) for enjoyment rather than as a job or for food for survival

Unlike many here, I train to dive. I swim, bike, run, lift weights. I do oxygen deprivation training. I seek to improve my skills (buoyancy, balance, control). Because when the excrement hits the fan, I intend to WIN!

N

 

[Bennno]

Technical divers explore caves, shipwrecks and some go to extreme depths.

I think 'technical diving' is just a marketing term. Even the cave/wreck explorers are doing it for fun... it's just advanced fun/rec diving.

 

[doctormike]

I think 'technical diving' is just a marketing term. Even the cave/wreck explorers are doing it for fun... it's just advanced fun/rec diving.

Unless someone is paying you to do it, it's all recreational diving.

 

[BoltSnap]

Recreational Activity!

 

[halocline]

If golf is a sport, scuba diving should be too. In fact, you could combine the two by going after those shots in the water hazards.

 

[AdivingBel]

If golf is a sport, scuba diving should be too. In fact, you could combine the two by going after those shots in the water hazards.

True, but then I would have WAY more than 14 clubs in my bag...

 

[digdug87]

Lifestyle

 

[drbill]

Maybe "passion" would be a more accurate way of describing it.

I agree with this... SCUBA diving is a passion, it is life. I don't see it as a sport, and normal recreational diving I don't consider extreme.

There are ways it could be turned into a sport... perhaps like free divers who set maximum depth records.

 

[Dan]

Is bird watching a sport? I don't thing so. It's a hobby.

I like to float underwater to watch the fish swimming by or critter crawling in front of me & take pictures of them. It's so relaxing. I don't think relaxing is a sport. I consider my diving is fish watching, hence, a hobby.

A sport is also a sort of physical and or mental exercise. I have seen some divers swimming around from place to place, like running on a field track. Why should I waste my expensive air-tank capacity prematurely? If I want to exercise, I walk in my neighborhood or hike in the woods & weight train in gym at much less cost than diving.