My name is Maria Teresa, but everyone calls me MT.

I have over 15 yrs of experience of training in freediving and have regularly competed at an international level at several AIDA world championships. An outline of my experience in instructing, judging and in competition is mentioned below.

Biography

I was born in a small west country English town where I was surrounded by forests - I really had no contact with the water when I was a child.  My passions were in travel and adventure - particularly exploring Eastern Philosophies.  After graduating from University, I spent three years in Asia studying martial arts and the relation between the mind and the body.  Back in the early 90s, I returned to the UK to do my Masters in "Applied Remote Sensing," which was really the infant stage of what we today know of as GIS or Google Maps.  I was drawn to this area of study, not so much out of the physics and math that it was based in, but more for the perspective it provided me of the natural world.  I loved flying over Sudan and taking in the topography - the experience of flying over such vast areas, I was humbled by how small we are as human beings, but at the same time shocked and disturbed by how much damage we can cause to the natural world - or in other words, using the latest popular buzz word, our "ecological footprint."  In our constant struggle to survive, we are forced to mortgage the future for the next generation in order to make it to the next day.  I was drawn into introspection and felt that if I could learn to be more self aware - that each one of my decisions - day to day - and moment to moment - that this could lead me to become closer to the natural world and instead shift my impact towards helping others share in my realization.  Around the time when my thought processes were evolving in this manner, I found Yoga.

Around this time I saw the movie Big Blue, which was my first interaction with freediving - I thought it was fantasy - I never investigated further.  This was 1992 and it wasn't until 1996 that I met Aharon Solomons in a yoga center in Crete, Greece.  The memory of that film came back full circle when I saw his fins disappear into the water column and I lost sight of him.  Visibility was 30m.  Time seemed to stop and he was gone for what seemed like several minutes and then I remembered the film Big Blue - the slow motion ice dive.  That was my first true introduction to freediving.  This experience changed the direction of my life and I followed Aharon to Israel where I played with depth. In three months, I was diving to 50m with over-sized bi-fins and an ill-fitting suit.  This was back when freediving was in its infancy and there were no training courses available and we were essentially creating a new discipline - nothing was given to us on a silver platter and we were growing the sport through experimentation. 

Aharon was one of a handful of people freediving in the world at the time - he was pushing the limits on every level - reaching new depths, developing novel training routines, and reaching a better understanding of how to best to teach the sport. He was a contemporary of Bob Croft, a US icon in the 60s and mentor for all of us - Aharon even archived several interviews with him, which are perhaps the only such recordings in the world.  Those interviews capture what is perhaps now the most revolutionary technique for achieving the most extreme depths in freediving - these techniques are based on air packing and mouth fill.  In the space of six months we were dive training with Pipin, Audrey Mestre, Tanya Streeter, and Pelizzari - our contemporary heroes in the 90s. 


My Teaching Philosophy

Credentials
Under Construction


Professional Experience as a Freediving Instructor

• I am the only AIDA MASTER INSTRUCTOR(International Association for the Development of APNEA),to date in Mexico. I am a registered, qualified AIDA Judge with experience in several national and international competitions. I have also trained with various recognised international organisations over the years in CPR, Wilderness Rescue and Fir
  
  st Aid, and in-water Rescue skills with the British Royal Lifeguard Society.

• From 2003 - 2009 with Aharon Solomons, my partner in "FREEDIVERS",  www.freedivers.net , helped form AIDA Mexico, (now Buceo Libre en Mexico), and developed the first courses and competition scenarios for Freediving in Mexico. We together trained the foremost mexican freedive team members here in La Paz, who have continued to establish and retain most of the existing Mexican freedive records.
  

• Instructor and Trainer/Coach for FREEDIVERS, individual freedive coaching school.

• Safety and Training advisor for Buceo Libre en Mexico and since 2003 have been involved in the formation and training for members of the Mexican freedive team.  
  

• Insured by DAN EUROPE (Divers Alert Network) to Professional GOLD level - for professional training and competition. I was acting Training and Safety officer for the British Freediving Association in 2010 during a year's sabbatical back in the UK. Since 1998 have been certified by PADI as a SCUBA DiveMaster with Rescue Skills, from 2005 -2008, certified as a  Wilderness First Aid Responder, from 2008 - 2010 trained and certified with the RLSS (Royal Lifeguard Safety Society), and recently and currently, (2010-2012), as a PADI First Aid Responder.
  

 

Judging Experience

        2010: La Paz, B.C.S.Mexico: "Cortez Cup", national championships with guests.

        2009: London, England: “No Tanx” national pool competition.

2009: Chepstow, England : "Double Dip" national championshipos with guests.

2009: London, England: National Championships: "The 2nd Great Camberwell Breath-hold” Training & Safety Team.

        2008: Eindhoven, Holland: World Championships. Pool championships.

        2007: La Paz, B.C.S. Mexico: national pool championships.

2005: Cabo Sn Lucas, B.C.S. Mexico. "Entre Dos Mares", National championships with guests.Organiser and Safety Team member.

 

 

World Freediving Championships and national Mexican competitions

 

2010 International Ranking

UK Team: 1st place female ranking in 3 disciplines: Constant Weight, Free Immersion & Constant Weight 'No fins'

2010 – World Championships, Okinawa: UK Mixed Team, 3 disciplines: Constant Weight, Dynamic and Static Apnea: (60m ruptured                   eardrum. Interrupted competition participation.)

2010 – 3° Mediterranean World Cup, Kalamata, Grecia. Individual. 2° overall place with 2 first places in 2 depth disciplines; Free                       Immersion and Constant Weight.

2008 –World Championships, Egypt: UK female Team. 3 disciplines; Constant Weight, Dynamic an Static Apnea

2008 – Xibalba, Cenote Azul – Individual – 2 disciplines.  Constant Weight and Static Apnea, 1st Place

2007 -  Mar de Cortez, Baja California Sur  – Individual – 2 disciplines; Constant Weight and Free Immersion

2001 – World Championships, Ibiza. Mixed Team  - Israel -.  3 disciplines: Constant Weight, Dynamic and Statiic Apnea. 6th Place

 

 Personal Bests:

  Variable Weights                     85m                  3^rd World Championships, Kalamata, Greece 2010

     Constant Weight                      72m                 Mar de Cortez, 2008.

     Free Immersion:                      68m                 3^rd World Championships, Kalamata, Greece 2010

     Constant Weight ‘No Fins’        45m                3^rd World Championships, Kalamata, Greece, 2010

     Static Apnea:                         6:02 mins.         La Paz, BCS Mexico, 2008

     Dynamic Apnea:                     124m                La Paz, BCS, Mexico, 2010