What motivates me the most in freediving lies in it : being free, weightless, detached and its simplicity. Nothing much to teach really, just a safe environment to create, something deep that resonates in our cells… The microcosm reflects the macrocosm.
In spite of having everything within, in spite of many obstacles, I got graduated with a sports master where I developed a method to prevent freediving accidents. Basically my method was not something new : I used the same software that was used for the mountain accidents by the laboratory L-ViS (« Laboratoire sur les Vulnérabilités et l’Innovation dans le Sport ») at the University of Lyon.
I wanted to continue towards a PhD however I chose to be in Gozo to do what I like the most. The reason why I went back to University in 2016 was because I had a canyoning accident not far from Lyon in the Bugey canyons. It was a beautiful experience, but unfortunately I jumped too far in a pool of water, landing on the edge from about a 8 meters high water fall. That was stupid I know. I thought it was OK, my friend who was experienced at the bottom of the cliff was showing me the middle of the pool. You couldn’t tell the difference between the middle and the edge of the pool. The result was two fractured ankles. I stayed one month lying on the floor of my bedroom, one month in a wheelchair and one month on crunches and swimming progressively until I discover the long distances swim in Gozo. I was lucky, I could run again and during my recovery I was thinking about going back to university, the same one I left 20 years before. The biggest change was not being the oldest student. It was that we had our laptop with us all the time and I like the spirit, the mindset. Beyond all that experience and knowing how lucky I was (because it turned out they created the Laboratory in 2016 and they needed new students, I didn’t do any selections. I wrote some emails and met the directors of the Lab).
So I must thank Bastien Soulé, the director of the Laboratory L-Vis at this time for suggesting me to study freediving accidents and to allow me to use the software they use for the mountain accidents. That was very instructive. Beyond the help this method of prevention could give to the freediving community, it is not necessary to capture all the dramatic details of accidents. What is important is indeed to give attention to details but not especially accidents. It is more about incidents, to be conscious of what we are doing, to be honest with ourselves and to capture or share little things that could potentially lead to an accident.
So I learned that it is more about being there, being with others, sharing, telling every significant thing.
For example I was going to 40 meters with a sled many times when I started deep freediving with Pierre Frolla in 2009. I had few times some blood in my spit. This is a quite common thing to have a trachea squeeze. At this time the mouthfill was not taught in schools. This little bleeding was something important to tell. I obviously told Pierre about it, but really it was not such a big deal. I felt concerned about it and then he told me not to worry. It was considered as a common thing. No much more explanation. Today we know everything about it. All the details about the why and how to avoid it with a good control of the glottis, the tongue, to separate the mouth from the lungs basically. Eric Fattah brought a lot to the community.
I think every person who has a passion has a lot to share. There is no better, no competition, no me and others, there is only an ocean of passion in which we dive abundantly. The way I share what I learn is to open someone to freediving or other sports I did a lot like jiu-jitsu and physical preparation. All this started at a young age. I may have 40 years of experience in sports but I feel like I don’t know much and have so much to share in the same time. I feel like I want to learn more and I feel it is good to be in a constant learning process. Yes I dedicated all my weekends for 3 years just to be a judo teacher for example. I was teaching judo then, did lots of competition to a point I needed more, discovered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, then went further into the competition aspect, taught to hundreds of students in Lyon as a bjj pioneer, to a point I had to open a second academy and lost control of it. Because I couldn’t be that busy guy. I taught to all kind of people though. My « free spirit » side took me to Gozo and I realized what I wanted here, on this beautiful Island. Creating both a « Gym » (or a brazilian jiu-jitsu academy but it is more than that)… and a freediving academy. I am just a calm person who wants to help you to expand your limits!