Diving week of the 7s class in Beli-Croatia / Report: Prof. Christian Hofinger

On June 27th, 2007 we left BORG Linz for the sports week in Beli on the island of Cres. 24 students from the 7th sports class of the BORG Linz and their class teacher Gerhard Heilbrunner were also part of the party.

A total of 4 EOBV diving instructors (Gerald Christl, Mario Fordinal, Gerhard Wiesauer and Christian Hofinger) ensured the safety of the students and that the week ran smoothly. Thanks to the good cooperation, we quickly had logistical problems such as equipment distribution and grouping under control. Thanks to Vlatko, the good spirit of the base, we always had well-filled bottles at our disposal. The students were so enthusiastic that we were even able to go on boat trips. The preparation of the students took place during the school year with theory courses and indoor pool training. Gerald provided the theoretical fine-tuning for an evening, Gerhard and Mario corrected the last uncertainties during the theory test.

Of course, the social aspect was not neglected in the evening debriefings on the adventures that had been completed. Once again it turned out that so-called high-risk sports (I was able to gain a lot of experience with climbing, whitewater paddling… as school sports) can also be practiced very safely as school sports. The students learn how to behave in a spirit of partnership, to bear responsibility and to assess the risk. They also learn about their strengths and weaknesses in unusual situations and can develop strategies to deal with them.

Since the activities mentioned are not competitive sports, there is certainly no pressure to perform. Experience has shown that sports such as climbing, ski tours, whitewater paddling and diving are experienced much more consciously, since the students are much more concentrated than they are is usually common.
I would also like to mention the aspect of experiencing nature. Getting to know a relatively species-rich and yet manageable ecosystem and moving around in it sharpens ecological awareness and thus the willingness to act in an ecologically responsible manner.
Even if the sporting aspect was in the foreground, some students became interested in underwater life and marine biology (this will of course be used and expanded in the coming school year).

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the diving instructors for their understanding of the young people and for the good cooperation, but also for the fact that they worked practically at cost price and thus made it possible for the young people to have a financially affordable week. I would also like to thank the class teacher and the students for their enthusiasm and discipline.

I hope that diving can also be established in school sports as a result of such sports weeks.