Shark Freediving

News just came in that Bill Stromberg has just resigned as president of AIDA International. This happens 2 days after he has been re-elected again.

The how and why about it is slowly getting clearer, but for the moment it seems that some threats are being made against Bill. More info when it comes in.

If anybody has to share something, you know how to contact me (jorg.jansen@gmail.com)

News just came in that Bill Stromberg has been re-elected as AIDA president. The complete result list hasn’t been send yet to the Assembly but a reliable source tells me that the presidency is back in the hands of Bill.

What will some of the other candidates do? because some of them mentioned they wouldn’t want to work together with Bill again. Only if there was a fresh start. At the same time I’m also wondering what the AIDA Assembly must have thought, because when you look back at everything that has happened, the last thing I would have thought that would happen was that Bill would be re-elected.

Anyway, congratulations to Bill! I hope the official result list will be made public soon.

Today just a quicky. There has been a lot of talk recently about the missing results from many competitions in the AIDA ranking. I’ve got some messages from people where they can find the ranking lists; On the AIDA International website you can click on Ranking in the menu and see some excels. The top links to the result register.

But there’s also a quicker way to go to the ranking. Just go to www.aidaregister.org and you will be entering the results register immediately. As you can see there are some results in it from July this year, but there seems to be a lot of results missing.

I heard something about the fact that if competition organizers want to have their competition results listed in the ranking they should have to pay? I read the rules pretty quickly but couldn’t find anything. Does anybody have some details?

UPDATE AIDA NEEDS HELP

Sebastian Naslund from Sweden write a small post about the current situation and Bill Stromberg reacted to it. So I’ll put both reactions below.

Sebastian:

As Jorg says “Strange thing is that everybody is so quiet about it”. Let me add what I know.

The assembly is working. 17 nations are more or less active. There has been some work on new statutes.

Problem: no one has the authority to act. The board is dissolved. And the decision to do statutes before a new board might sound wise, but not practical. Nagel and BS pushed this through as a last act of the dying board.

Now it is more or less decided that a new board should be elected first (hard to know what the assembly decides, since the interim boar (read BS) has no right to demand votes.

There is an initiative for a new board. People will step forward.

Aida will be resurrected. The 17 active nations in the assembly will see to that. (Thank you: NZ; FRA; SWE; AUSTRALIA; USA; NORWAY; GERMANY;SERBIA; GREECE; DENMARK; FINLAND; ARGENTINA;SWISS;CROATIA; BRAZIL; CANADA; FRANCE).

THANK YOU!

It is time to get ready to step forward. We need people working in the commissions and on the board. The new statutes will see to that there will be less chances for power abuse. Spread power between bopard, assembly, commissons, Working within Aida WILL be more fun and creative.

In order to make sure that some individuals will not try to push through “weak” statutes (meaning: unclear and not rooted in the assembly) a few countries have got together and will push in essential votes in the assembly. I will post these issues here soon.

Sebastian
AidaSweden

Bill:

Hi All,

Right now all focus is on AIDA WC in Bahamas, this because we have to fix this first to ensure that our competitors do not throw thousands of euros into the lake. Directly after that there will be a vote about how many executive board members AIDA should have (incl board functions). That will be followed by executive board applications from people who have the fire, time, motivation and are ready to work with any otherthat will be elected for the board. Right now it looks like there is a majority for 9 executive board functions. (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Education Officer, Technical Officer, Sportive Officer, Medical and Science Officer and last Media and PR Officer. After this the new board can end the work with the new AIDA statutes and send it out to the AIDA Assembly for approval.

Regarding Ranking – we just got a new official offer from the people behind Freedive Central that is VERY interesting. This will probably solve the problems we had earlier and get the ranking to bloom.

I am sorry for all hassles and time-consuming things around all this. But when you have many people involved in decision-taking, things take time. As a consolation, I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel and it looks very bright!

have a nice week
/B

ps. before electing a new executive board, you have to know how many board functions you will have – and this decisions must be taken by the assembly before you elect a new board. (this is one of the many reason why everything takes time)

In June this year I reported about some issues that were going on within the AIDA organization. We are now almost 4 months later and it’s time to take a look on what’s going on in the mean time. I understand that politics isn’t everybody his game, but please take the time to read and comment to your national institution, otherwise AIDA could get lost. Probably sooner then you can imagine.

First, let’s look at the AIDA Executive board. Pim Vermeulen already resigned as Sports Officer, which is in my opinion the most important job within AIDA. AIDA’s main mission is the sportive part of freediving. The organization and validation of competition and record attempts. There is still no news about filling in this big gap.

Furthermore, Grant Graves who already resigned as member of the technical commission also resigned as Vice-president North-America and also no official news from AIDA about this either. So AIDA has two open spots on the executive board and still no official word about it. No vacancies! And while some other board members probably sleep most of the time, Grant and Pim are two very big work horses and contributed a lot to the sport. It’s hard to replace them, but it’s even harder if you don’t ask for new people to step in.

The education commission is also on the brink of collapsing. Still no official word about this, and there were no official communication from this commissions in the last month, so who knows. Fact is that certification cards aren’t being printed at the moment  and that more and more instructors are complaining (I just hope they also complain to AIDA, or inform at least the assembly).

Technical commission is no more for sure. Got this confirmed in the last couple of days, so no democratic group of people who are working on improving the rules.

The ranking for 2008 isn’t complete yet, and the one for 2009 hasn’t even started. So AIDA created a paid job in the function of AIDA ranking officer. Jonas Andersson accepted this job in June. He was already the webmaster and forum moderator of the AIDA website. This week Jonas resigned from his function already.

Not only he resigned as the ranking officer, but with everything related to the AIDA website as well. And it shows! The AIDA forum is being bombarded with some hardcore porn graphics and spam. I even unsubscribed from its RSS feed.

You can’t blame any of these people quiting! They worked hard, they are volunteers and they have personal life. If they invest precious private time into AIDA, they want to see results at some point. And they want to see some acknowledgement and support to what they are doing. But if there is someone constantly overruling and deciding what’s best, so their voices are put down, not because of a good and fair discussion but by power, then it’s easy to guess what these volunteers will do in the end.

Strange thing is that everybody is so quiet about it. The assembly already called for a re-election of the complete executive board, including and probably especially the president Bill Stromberg. But still no official word about that. There was also word that AIDA was creating a complete new set of statutes but they weren’t sure yet if the new board was needed first or the statutes. Well, that’s a no-brainer to me, new board of course!

The point is that there ARE people who want to work for AIDA. Even people who quit working for AIDA would like to start again if things were changed and when there would be new leadership. There is even a big group of enthusiastic freedivers who want to develop a completly open source ranking software system, as  long as their work is officialy accepted by AIDA. And AIDA still keeps quiet or even says no to offered solutions like freedivecentral.com.

After talking to all these people, some of them with big emotions about this, it’s clear that new leadership is necessary. And while nobody says it out loud, it’s probably time to do so. Bill Stromberg has dedicated his heart and soul to AIDA and freediving and worked his ass off to make things happen. But the problem here is trust and delegation. You can’t do everything by yourself. AIDA needs a leader who can motivate people again, bring them together instead of pushing away. Create synergy with team members and communicate openly. Change is needed!

Finally official word is out that the next pool world championships in Denmark will be a combined AIDA and CMAS freediving world championship. Below is the official news.

Freewc09.dk will be an event that houses two world championships. Both CMAS and AIDA will carry out their individual pool world championships at the event. Practically this means that AIDA and CMAS athletes will be competing by the rules stipulated by each organization at the same event, but not at the same time.

The website for AIDA is still www.freewc09.dk

The website for CMAS is www.freewc09.dk/cmas.html

We are very pleased that both organizations have chosen to go ahead with this shared arrangement and are happy to be able to provide the setting for at joint freediving event.

The schedule has been changed and DYN and DNF has switched places. The updated schedule is on the website.

Please remember to book hard floor accommodation at the gym. There is a limit of 100 people, who can stay here. Register on the website.

Getting around in Aarhus is easy with public transportation. For those staying in the centre of the city another good option is to rent a bike. Aarhus is a small enough city to get around in by bike, and it is easy and affordable to rent bikes at www.bikes4rent.dk. It may be a good idea to book bikes ahead of the event, as we are still in the holiday season in August.

After my last post about the current situation about AIDA International, no new news has come out with regards to the situation. It’s been over a month now. With all the information that is coming from the different people who have a role in it, it is safe to say that AIDA is collapsing. The strange thing is, that everybody is so quiet about it!

What do we know?

• The AIDA Technical Commission, responsible for the rules, doesn’t exist anymore. All people have stepped out and it’s gone.
• Some board-members have resigned, and unfortunately those were the ones who were actually working and trying to make a difference. Still no official word about it.
• The education commission is also on a brink of collapsing.
• Different administrative tasks aren’t being done, like printing judge and education cards, updating the ranking, updating judge experience.
• There is a big discussion going on at the Assembly where they already started to demand for resignation of the current board and for a new election with new statutes.

According to Sebastian Näslund (who is an assembly member and has the insights I don’t have), it all comes down to one big problem: unprofessionalism! Because of this there are four big problems, that are already going on for years:

1. Rules
2. Judges
3. Democracy
4. The Leadership

Besides only noticing the problems, he also comes with solutions. All in all, if you’re interested in the future of AIDA, you really have to read his writings about this.

For sure I will come back to this if there are some updates again.

It has come to my attention that the Pool Freediving world championships, that take place from august 15 until 22 in Denmark, will not only be organized under the flag of AIDA, but also by CMAS!

While I couldn’t find any official explanation by AIDA about this, it seems that CMAS approached AIDA after the cancelling of the CMAS world championships in Tunisia. They asked if they could come to Denmark as well and it seems that a deal was made.

The story is being cleared by people with high positions at AIDA and FFESSM. Wonder when we hear something official about this, because it’s pretty big news.

As the AIDA rules say, the 10 best ranking freedivers per discipline and sex from the 2008 ranking receive a wildcard for the 2009 World Freediving Championships. It seems that AIDA has finished its 2008 ranking, because I just received the complete list of wildcards that will be given away.

Pretty impressive top10 performances I must say. Still missing some big names like Herbert Nitsch and Sara Campbell. But apperantly they did their performances in non ranking or record attempts. Also glad to see some Dutch freedivers in this impressive list! Congratulations to Nanja and Eric!

Natalia Molchanova

STA WOMEN:

• MOLCHANOVA Natalia RUS
• MCPHEE Kathryn NZL
• MEYER Karoline Mariechen BRA
• WILSON Jessica USA
• EDWARDS Annabel USA
• HIRAI Misuzu JPN
• ROLLERO Claudio SUI
• ERICSON Lotta SWE
• CRUICKSHANK Mandy-Rae CAN
• VAN DER BROEK Nanja NED

Last time: 5:43

STA MEN:

• 

  Kathryn Mcphee and Guy Brew

  BREW Guy NZL

• DEXTEGEN Ulf SWE
• MULLINS David NZL
• SEVERINSEN Stig Åvall DEN
• KINNUNEN Timo FIN
• VAN RIET PAAP Eric NED
• CHATZIASLAN Dimitris GRE
• GUSTAVSSON Weine SWE
• MOLCHANOV Alexey RUS
• PÖNTINEN Mikko FIN

Last time: 7:31

Karla Fabrio

DYN WOMEN:

• MOLCHANOVA Natalia RUS
• MCPHEE Kathryn NZL
• FABRIO Karla CRO
• JOHNSEN Eva DEN
• KRISTOFFERSEN Elisabeth Sveen NOR
• MATSUMOTO Megumi JPN
• LIVBJERG Maria DEN
• ROLLERO Claudio SUI
• HIRAI Misuzu JPN
• JÖRGENSEN Josephine DEN

Last distance: 150m with announced 119m

DYN MEN:

• 

  Alexey Molchanov

  MOLCHANOV Alexey RUS

• MULLINS David NZL
• WILLIAMS Anthony NZL
• LARSEN Henning DEN
• SEVERINSEN Stig Åvall DEN
• STEYN Walter AUS
• WINRAM William CAN
• GIANKOS Manolis GRE
• PÖNTINEN Mikko FIN
• WIKSTRÖM Martin SWE

Last distance: 201m with announced 165m

DNF WOMEN:

Nanja van den Broek

• MCPHEE Kathryn NZL
• MOLCHANOVA Natalia RUS
• SLOVENCÍKOVÁ Jarmila CZE
• LIJIC Lidija CRO PRINSLOO Hanli RSA
• MATSUMOTO Megumi JPN
• KRISTOFFERSEN Elisabeth Sveen NOR
• ENEDAHL-MEKKI Yamina SWE
• NORDBLAD Johanna FIN
• VAN DER BROEK Nanja NED

Last distance: 106m

DNF MEN:

Eric van Riet Paap

• MULLINS David NZL
• STEYN Walter AUS
• PÖNTINEN Mikko FIN
• WINRAM William CAN
• THOMPSON Marcus NZL
• VAN RIET PAAP Eric NED
• NYGARD Bjarte NOR
• LARSSON Anders SWE
• SEVERINSEN Stig Åvall DEN
• COLAK Goran CRO

Last distance: 149m

Natalia Avseenko

CNF WOMEN:

• MOLCHANOVA Natalia RUS
• AVSEENKO Natalia RUS
• RODERICK Nicola NZL
• MCPHEE Kathryn NZL
• FABRIO Karla CRO
• KITAHAMA Junko JPN
• WOLFER Bettina SUI
• LIVBJERG Maria DEN
• VON BOETTICHER Anna GER
• PHILIP Olivia K. GBR

Last depth: 40m

William Trubridge

CNF MEN:

• TRUBRIDGE William NZL
• MALDAMÉ Christian FRA
• GIANKOS Manolis GRE
• KING Robert USA
• JAKOVAC Domagoj CRO
• ZBYNEK Josef CZE
• ERNEST Christian SWE
• LARSSON Anders SWE
• VRDOLJAK Tomo CRO
• JÖRGENSEN Mads Becker DEN
• TURRENT Luis MEX

Last depth: 45m (2 athletes)

Mandy-Rae Krack

CWT WOMAN:

• MOLCHANOVA Natalia RUS
• CRUICKSHANK Mandy-Rae CAN
• SLOVENCÍKOVÁ Jarmila CZE
• GAUTIER Julie FRA
• SCHRAPPE Carolina BRA
• HIRAI Misuzu JPN
• SOLOMONS Maria Teresa GBR
• AVSEENKO Natalia RUS
• MCPHEE Kathryn NZL
• WILSON Jessica USA

Last depth: 65m

CWT MEN:

• 

  Dave Mullins

  MULLINS David NZL

• SHINOMIYA Ryuzo JPN
• MOLCHANOV Alexey RUS
• GIANKOS Manolis GRE
• STEPANEK Martin CZE
• NÉRY Guillaume FRA
• MANA Federico ITA
• MALDAMÉ Christian FRA
• DAHLSTRÖM Johan SWE
• CHATZIASLAN Dimitris GRE

Last depth: 85m

AIDA International Sports Officer Pim Vermeulen send an email today telling he is resigning from his function. Pim has done some tremendous work in the years he was part of the AIDA board. In my opinion one of the best things he has done is simplify and clarify the AIDA international competition and record rules. Pim will surely be missed, and if you read his letter there are some open questions which needs to be answered by AIDA.

Anyway, as AIDA volunteers get way too little recognition I would like to thank Pim for his countless number of hours he has dedicated in making the sport better. Below you can read the complete letter from Pim.

Pim Vermeulen

Hi all,

Through this mail I would like to inform you of my direct resignation from AIDA International as Sport Officer….

I feel I can no longer function within the AIDA Executive Board in the way I stand for as a person or contribute the way I would like to contribute as in a democracy. The reason for my resignation is a result of continuous actions of individuals undermining all common sense, undermining all workgroups, discarding/disrespecting all volunteers work. I am willing to put in many hundreds of hours a year for free, as I have been doing over the past years, if there is a mutual trust in honesty, goals, reliability, etc. My trust in some people I have worked with is totally gone knowing that I tried to change this situation and still AIDA International foundations are being undermined. I have no trust this situation will change in the near future although I gave it some time before and after my resignation as member of the Technical Commission.

An inquiry was asked for within the Board and in the Assembly, but so far no investigation/actions have been taken. I support AIDA International as THE Freediving organization and will still do so in future and therefore I will continue my work in the EC as long as needed and will stay active as judge, organizer and instructor.

Best regards, Pim Vermeulen

PS: It has come to my attention that also Grant Graves resigned from the AIDA technical committee. So something is going on at AIDA HQ. Grant still keeps his board position but he is directly blaming AIDA president Bill Stromberg because Bill “believes he can do anything he would like to at any time.”

Not so good signs I would say. But I guess the Assembly is now asking some serious questions.

In times of recession and many people losing their jobs, it’s good to see new job openings. What’s even more remarkable that it’s a paid job working for AIDA! I never knew that AIDA paid its people, so I guess things are going well for them. Well, they earn it.

Below is the letter I received from AIDA International. So if you’re interested, you know what to do!

Dear Judges,

The AIDA Executive Board would like to inform you about a vacancy for a Responsible for Ranking for which we are searching possible candidates. We are currently looking for a person who will be responsible for updating the AIDA ranking list and working closely with the Sports Officer. The work includes keeping the databases up to date, checking for payment of competition fees and related work. We are looking for a freediver and active judge that can work accurately and has experience working in a database environment. Payment for this work is 120€ per month.

If you are interested we invite you to send us an email with your motivation and a short resume to the board before May 1st, 2009. The AIDA board will after that take a decision and appoint the Responsible for Ranking.

The e-mail address to use is: info@aida-international.org

Have a nice weekend

Bill Stromberg

AIDA President

Maybe the new person can also start working closely together with these guys, so that a lot of work that is done by many different people finally gets one automated system that can be used by everybody.