"The biggest hurdles are those that you cannot see because they are in your mind. Freediving is all about mastering your mind and using it to control your body, your breath," says Adel Abu Haliqa, the UAE National Freediving Champion. Over the past two years, he has earned 11 national and continental records in eight different freediving disciplines.
Haliqa is now training with his coach, Patrick Musimu (a world-record holder in the No-Limits discipline of freediving) and is hoping to create a new +100 metre record in the No-Limits discipline at the freediving summer camp in Greece organised by Aida International, one of the two world associations governing freediving.
"For this challenge, I started learning a new technique called the ‘mouth-fill technique' a few weeks ago. It was not easy. In fact, when I began preparing myself for this discipline, I found that I was doing worse than I ever had. I was totally disappointed with myself, because initially, using this technique, I was unable to dive beyond 40 metres, about less than half the length I had done when I became the UAE champion."
It took a few days for him to realise that, "in my excitement of meeting a new challenge I forgot the importance of disciplining my thoughts… I was feeling let down by my failure to learn quickly. It was daunting. On the one hand, I saw myself as an achiever who had so much behind me and, on the other, I found I was unable to do what I had already done, let alone better myself!" recalls Haliqa, who last summer broke the UAE national record for Free Immersion (45 metres) and Constant Weight without Fins (27 metres). He also holds the Asian Continental records in the Variable Weight (65 metres) and No Limits (77 metres).
"But with time and a lot of patience and practice I managed to get it right. I am now ready for the challenge that is due in a few weeks and I am hopeful to do something spectacular for myself," says Haliqa, a certified Aida instructor.
Ruqya Khan is a Sharjah-based freelancer
