AIDA has announced a brand-new competition safety training program developed jointly with Vertical Blue.
The goal of the new course, dubbed “AIDA Competition Safety Freediver by Vertical Blue Professional Safety Freediver,” is to standardize safety protocols for all AIDA competitions and set an example for freediving safety worldwide.
According to AIDA’s Jeroen MG Van Haudt, the course will allow prospective safety diving students to specialize in both pool and depth competitions and earn different certifications, enabling them to take part in a variety of AIDA events.
Specialties will include:
- Pool Competition Safety Diver – All AIDA pool competitions
- Depth Competition Safety Diver – AIDA depth competitions limited to a depth of 80m maximum
- Advanced Depth Competition Safety Diver – All AIDA competitions at unlimited depth
Van Haudt said in a Facebook post:
“The Advanced Depth Competition Safety Diver course will be taught by a select number of experienced safety trainers. The standard Pool Competition Safety Diver and Depth Competition Safety Diver courses can be taught by any AIDA Instructor with active judge status.”
Additionally, Van Haudt said AIDA is rolling out a new “experience point system” for AIDA Safety Divers, following the well-established model for AIDA Judges:
“This will create objective measures and make it easier to select safety teams for AIDA competitions worldwide.”
The course is based on content created by Marco Cosentino and adapted for AIDA by AIDA Education Content Manager Francesco Corucci with the help of the AIDA Safety Committee and AIDA Medical and Science Committee, according to Van Haudt.
The official launch seminar is slated for this month, he added.
