プロ選手として活動できる場を。

フリーダイビングを普及させて欲しいという依頼を受けたとき、思い浮かんだのが、野球やサッカーで活躍するプロ選手たち。子供だけでなく大人も熱狂させる圧倒的な存在は、競技を普及させる上で必要不可欠だと考えました。私が競技活動を始めた10年前は「スポンサーをつけて競技活動をするのは不可能」という雰囲気でしたが、現在ではフリーダイビングが世間に認知されつつあり、フィンやウエットスーツに企業ロゴをつけて大会に出場する選手が増えてきました。
 
このシリーズ戦のコンセプトは、一発勝負ではなく、いつでも高いパフォーマンスを発揮できる本当に強い選手がチャンピオンになることです。
 
このシリーズ戦を足がかりにプロとして活動できる選手を１人でも多く輩出する、企業の皆様には有望な選手を見つける機会になればと思います。将来的にはプロ選手が凌ぎを削る大会になればと思いますが、まずはフリーダイビングを楽しんでいる全ての選手が参加し盛り上げてください。
 

A place where you can work as a professional athlete.

When we were asked to popularize freediving, professional baseball and soccer players came to mind. I thought that their overwhelming presence, which enthused not only children but also adults, was essential for popularizing the sport. Ten years ago, when I started competing, the atmosphere was that it was impossible to have a sponsor for competitive activities. Today, however, freediving is gaining public recognition, and more and more athletes are competing in competitions with corporate logos on their fins and wetsuits.
The concept of this series of competitions is not a one-shot competition, but rather that the truly strong competitors who can demonstrate high performance at any time will become champions.
We hope that this series of competitions will serve as a stepping stone to produce as many players as possible who can act as professionals, and provide an opportunity for companies to find promising players. In the future, we hope that this event will become a competition where professional athletes compete against each other, but first of all, we would like to encourage all athletes who enjoy freediving to participate and make this event more exciting.
Shinya Oi, organizer