Scuba Diving: A Sport or Activity?
- Gary-Alan Hopkins
- May 10, 2021
- 5 min read
Table of Content
Introduction & Background
As a scuba diver, I can say this question does not get brought up much within the scuba diving community but is sometimes asked by outsiders. Before we take a deep dive into this question, I think it will be helpful that you understand my experience and background with scuba diving.
I started scuba diving at age nineteen. Before taking the certification course, I had no prior experience with scuba diving. The extent of my scuba diving knowledge was that the word “SCUBA” was an acronym for “Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus” and it looked cool on television. I stumbled across scuba diving while trying to find something new to explore during the summer months. At the time, I was living in Central Michigan and prior to diving the most extreme things I did was ice and rocking climbing.
After calling around to local dive shops and talking to a couple Dive Instructors, I signed up to start the Open Water certification course through the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). Following my Open Water certification, I went on to get my Advanced Open Water through Scuba School International (SSI). For the Advanced Open Water certification, I took specialized courses in Deep Water Diving, Nitrox Diving and Night Diving.
Scuba Diving: Sport or Activity?
So, is scuba diving a sport or activity? To answer this question, we need to break down the defining elements of a sport and an activity and see how they fit into scuba diving. If we look at the definition of “sport” according to the Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.) we will see that:
A “sport” is defined as…
“a game, competition, or similar activity, done for enjoyment or as a job, that takes physical effort and skill and is played or done by following particular rules”
An “activity” is defined as…
“something that is done for enjoyment, especially an organized event”
Competition
Based on the definitions we can see that we have four defining characteristics of what classifies something as a sport versus an activity. The first characteristic is that a sport has a competitive aspect to it. This characteristic is the fundamental defining characteristic because an activity does not need to possess this quality. Scuba diving is not a competitive activity. In general, there is no competition between other scuba divers and there is no trophy at the end of a dive.
However, while it is true that scuba diving is not a competitive sport there are aspects of scuba diving that blur this line. For instance, when a person attempts a world record dive like Ahmed Gabr. This would be competitive because a group of people are challenging each other. Dive shops or quarries will hold events for the holidays such as underwater egg hunts or underwater photography contests. These events would also be competitive in nature.
Events like an underwater egg hunt or world record dive, are not typical of normal scuba diving trips. Under normal circumstances scuba diving is not outwardly competitive but it is internally competitive. As a scuba diver you are constantly learning and practicing. You are pushing yourself both mentally and physically to be better because that allows you to dive in more challenging and exotic places.
Strength & Physical Fitness
So, what about strength and physical fitness? Scuba diving does require a good deal of physical effort. Take Ahmed Gabr’s world record dive for example. Mr. Gabr reached a depth of (1,090 ft 4.5 in). The amount of pressure exerted on the human body at that depth is impressive. For every 33 ft. of water a diver descends they enter a new atmosphere of pressure. This means that for every 33 ft down a diver goes there will be 14.7 pounds of pressure per square inch. Therefore, at 1,090 ft Mr. Gabr body experienced 485.55 psi!
Staying healthy and fit is important to scuba diving and not just when practicing for a world record dive. Any scuba diver can have complications underwater if they dive when they are not feeling well. For instance, if a person has simple head cold, allergies or any type of ear or nose issue it would be hard, if not impossible, to equalize your ears while underwater. This can lead to broken eardrums, severe pain and deafness that would cause a person to abort the dive and seek medical attention. So, staying healthy and not diving when sick is important.
Another physical aspect of scuba diving is preparation and travel. Diving gear such as tanks and Buoyancy Compensation Devices (BCDs) are heavy. To prep for a dive, one needs to first check equipment which usually means pulling gear out of storage, checking dive computer batteries, hooking up the first stage to the tank and making sure the readouts are working correctly and that the hoses and other vital equipment are all in perfect condition.
As a diver you may have one, two or more tanks made from either aluminum or steel depending on the type of tank and its use. Aluminum tanks are cheaper and are naturally more buoyant, so they make great stage bottles. Also, some people prefer to have a buoyant main tank. Steel tanks are more expensive, can hold air at higher pressure and are negatively buoyant. Next you need to get the tanks filled. This requires you to lug them out to your vehicle and take them to the local dive shop. Then you need to pick them up from your dive shop and drive to the dive location where you will again unload and reload them into your vehicle.
On top of this sometimes scuba divers need to walk a distance from shore to access a safe area or get to an area of water where it is deep enough to swim or float. This usually requires gearing-up, climbing or treading three feet of water while wearing 50 – 100 lbs. of gear.
Skill
So, let’s move on to another defining aspect of a sport...skill. Being a proficient capable scuba diver requires both learning and practice. A diver is always honing their skills. Going out and having fun on the weekend is great but along with that comes practice. Scuba diving can be dangerous which is why practicing a skill for the first few times usually takes place at a dive shop pool or community pool. This is a safe environment for skill drills and putting what you learned from class or books to the test. Then when the diver feels confident, they will practice in open water. Skills include things like clearing your mask when it is flooded, diving to a depth and ascending properly with safety stops, diving during the night, diving in low visibility, diving in conditions where you can’t immediately reach the surface such as cave, ice or wreck diving.
Conclusion
All the defining aspects of what classifies a sport are present when scuba diving. However, the one thing scuba diving lacks, in general, is being an outwardly competitive sport.
However, I wouldn’t classify scuba diving as an activity either. I believe scuba diving falls into the same category ice climbing, rock climbing, mountain climbing, etc. Therefore, I would classify it as an extreme sport with a laid-back twist.
References
Cambridge University Press. (n.d.). Sport. In Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved on Feb. 19, 2021 from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/sport
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