What does the future hold for a professional freediver?
Thibault has been taking part in freediving competitions since 2014. He has witnessed a big change in the sport over the past years and will shed some light on what it is like to be a professional freediving athlete.
Freediving is a young sport and there are not any professional Freedivers that live purely out of their career as athletes. I witnessed a change in the past 3 years and a new generation of Freedivers that are dedicated to have a freediving career is blooming. Athletes such as Alessia Zechini, Alenka Artnik or Arnaud Jerald are living out of sponsoring at the moment. But what is in store for them in the future ?
So far most freediving top athletes were of one of these two categories:
- Freediving instructor/ dive center owner/ competition organizer: such as William Trubridge, Mike Board, Adam Stern, Carlos Coste, myself etc…
- Freedivers with another job on the side: such as Jennifer Wendland, Alexey Molchanov (Who is also teaching but manages a freediving agency and an equipment brand).
This has to do with the youth of the sport. In the past, it was hardly possible, even for the best athletes to live just out of competing. Money prizes are very rare on freediving competitions and sponsors are just starting to emerge as the sport is getting more exposure.
Thibault at Vertical Blue 2021. VB is one of the biggest and most prestigious freediving competitions in the world. It is held in Dean’s Blue Hole on Long Island, Bahamas.
For these athletes, it is easier to imagine what they can do after retiring from competitive freediving. Keep developing their teaching facilities or continue working in the field they are already working.
But for the athletes that decided from the start to become professional Freedivers, what can we imagine for them after retirement of competitions?
First we are still at a stage where you can be a top athlete very late in freediving. Abdelatif Allouach who is, in my opinion, one of the best Freedivers on the circuit at the moment is 44 years old, at his top level and with still margin of progression. Will this change and will we see only young athletes in the future like we see in some other sports? It is hard to say as very few people start sport freediving as kids and therefore the training starts late. Also freediving is a sport that requires a long terms adaptation from the body so we will maybe see like in some sports (I am thinking ultratrails for example), the best athletes to be in their mid-thirties or forties.
In any case, there will be a moment to retire from competing as a professional. And the question is, what does the future hold for a retired freediving athlete?
Just like for other sports, I guess freediving athletes will need to prepare for their reconversion, whether it is in a sport field or a completely different field. There are times in an athlete’s career to dedicate to learning new skills, studying again or even a new job. Also top athletes, usually through their sponsors and media, create a network that give them opportunities to give speeches (inspirational speeches towards public or companies). Giving motivational speeches, or teaching breathing techniques, relaxation to vast audience or in small groups can be a reconversion plan. Becoming a trainer for other athletes (freedivers or for other sports) can also be an option. Some other will maybe prefer to develop their artistic skills and will become underwater photographer or videographer and will direct documentaries like Guillaume Nery. My feeling is that as the sport will grow, it will become a sport beyond others and the opportunities of reconversions will be the same as for other sports. In France for instance, freediving is now getting acknowledge as a high level sport and that gives the opportunity to French freediving athletes to get help for reconversion or starting studying again. Other countries will probably follow.
In my personal case, I started freediving at 31 years old. Randomly. So I never imagined I would become a professional athlete. That’s why I first developed a freediving center (originally Freedive HQ in Mactan, Philippines and now Camotes Freediving, in Camotes, Philippines) to make a living with my newly found passion. On the side, I kept training and little by little I made it to the top as a freediving athlete. But that was not planned at all so I did not really look for sponsors or ways to earn money as a professional athlete. I was still lucky to be supported by Alchemy and STE Services. I am not making a full living out of it, but enough to pay for all my competitions and travelling to get there.
I also have another background as an Ocean Engineer and a Business developer. I am now 38 years old and I hope my career as an athlete is far from over. Still, I am thinking of the future and what to do if I stop competing for a reason or another. The answer is simple as I really want to keep sharing my passion and I already have the perfect place to do so in Camotes. Now for professional athletes that started as athletes and will make their whole career out of it, a little bit of preparation should make it easy to find a reconversion.
