President’s Report
This year CAFA adopted the following mission statement:
The Canadian Association of Freediving and Apnea aims to further the development, safety and promotion of the sport of freediving both recreationally and competitively within Canada and abroad.
Competitions
CAFA members were involved in four competitions this year: two Regional competitions in Vancouver, the National competition in Vancouver and the 3rd AIDA World Championships in Ibiza, Spain.
Team Canada did extremely well at the World Championships. The women’s team came in first and the men’s team came in fifth. This is the second year that the combined team has come in second overall.
New Documents
Mandy-Rae Cruickshank created a series of documents that fine tune CAFA’s policies and procedures:
- Rules for Records and Competitions
- Safety protocol documents
- Standard Safe Diving Practices
- Judges and Officials Standards & Procedures
Insurance
Applying for insurance has been a slow process. We applied for insurance with Elliott General Liability via Johnston Meyer insurance brokers, heard nothing for several months and then had a couple of other insurance companies give us application forms. We have recently applied for insurance via AllSport and we will hear back from them on July 19th.
Executive Positions
CAFA started this past year with four of five positions filled. Eric Fattah resigned from the executive in September. In December, Ken McCallum volunteered to join the board and took up the position of Director of Competition Development. Tom Lightfoot took on the role of Vice President in January.
Team Canada Changes
We have changed the way that the Team Canada competitors are selected for international competitions. In the previous two competitions, the top three ranked competitors were the ones to compete unless illness or injury required the use of the alternate. In order to keep all four members of the team motivated, the three members who get to compete will not be selected until shortly before the declarations are made. The coach will have the final selection in consultation with the rest of the team.
Also, in order to save money, the official team will consist of only nine members: four women, four men and the coach. There will no longer be an assistant coach.
Education System
CAFA is planning on having a comprehensive education system with accredited courses and instructors. These plans are on hold though because the education program is contingent on having insurance that would cover such a program.
In the mean time, there have been some clinics held by Performance Freediving with the assistance of other CAFA members. These clinics have been in Vancouver and Toronto. The most notable has been the three-month program at SFU which had 26 students. The clinics provide the vast majority of the new CAFA memberships.
Web Page Enhancement
Tom Lightfoot took over the web page, reorganized it and gave it a new look. The competition database provides competitor statistics that are unavailable from any other resource.
CAFA Affiliated Clubs
CAFA seems to have lost Freedive Vancouver for the time being. Indications are that it will be resurected in the near future. Toronto is in the process of starting up a new club and hopefully a new club will be started in Ottawa after next weekend’s clinic.
Underwater Councils
CAFA has become a member of the Underwater Council of BC. Ken McCallum has tried to approach similar organizations in other provinces but these do not seem to be as organized as the UCBC. Work with building bridges with other diving organizations is ongoing.