Who are we?
AIDA Belgium – Past, Present, Future
What is freediving?
Freediving is the art of diving while holding your breath — a discipline where body and mind learn to cooperate in subtle harmony. It combines self‑mastery, relaxation, technique, safety, and the exploration of the aquatic world. Far from sensationalist clichés, modern freediving is built on rigorous protocols, structured teaching, and a culture of kindness among practitioners.
What is AIDA?
AIDA is the International Association for the Development of Apnea, the global federation that has governed, structured, and advanced competitive freediving since 1992. It establishes the rules, trains instructors, certifies athletes, and organizes international competitions.
Belgium joined AIDA in 2000, becoming one of the first European countries to officially structure freediving according to international standards.
Since then, AIDA Belgium has represented the Belgian community within AIDA International, organized national competitions, trained instructors, supported athletes on their way to world championships, and actively contributed to decisions within the International Assembly.
AIDA Belgium – Yesterday
The story of AIDA Belgium is a collective adventure born from passion.
In 2000, a group of visionary pioneers — Jean‑Pol François, Patrick Musimu, Pierre Galère, Frédéric Vanderschueren, and Philippe Desitter — laid the foundations of the association. Together, they built the first competitions, regulations, training programs, and workshops.
Jean‑Pol François made the deliberate choice to create a unified structure, bringing together the north and south of the country under a single banner, even if it meant giving up certain subsidies. This choice shaped the identity of AIDA Belgium: a community above all else.
The early days were filled with open workshops, discovery sessions, and shared training among a handful of enthusiasts eager to progress together.
It was in this context that Patrick Musimu, then a beginner, joined the adventure before becoming one of the greatest freedivers in history: https://patrickmusimu.com/
AIDA Belgium – Today
In 2025, a new Board of Directors was elected.
For the first time, two women hold the positions of president and vice‑president, supported by a dynamic, professional team firmly oriented toward the future.
In a context where nonprofit legislation, economic realities, and the needs of practitioners are evolving, AIDA Belgium is engaging in a deep modernization built around several pillars:
• inclusive and democratic governance
• accessibility for all, regardless of age, gender, disability, or language
• the creation of innovative and accessible competitions
• strengthened safety, protocols, training, and prevention initiatives
• increased collaboration between clubs and federations to bridge linguistic divides
• promoting freediving to the general public
• connecting Belgian freedivers to reinforce community cohesion
AIDA Belgium aims to enter an era of transparency and support freediving as a holistic way of life, where competition, leisure, health, pleasure, and ecology nourish one another.
AIDA Belgium – Tomorrow
We believe that freediving is much more than a sport.
It is a way of inhabiting space, the body, the mind, and nature.
A way to regenerate, to maintain or recover balance.
A way to suspend the frenzy of the world and return to what matters.
Freediving opens a path toward a form of “blue health,” where physical well‑being, emotional balance, and our relationship with aquatic environments reinforce one another.
It invites a more attentive presence, a gentler relationship with living beings, an ecology of movement and of the mind.
Tomorrow, AIDA Belgium wishes to carry this vision:
• a freediving that soothes and heals
• a freediving that brings people together
• a freediving that encourages caring for oneself as much as for nature
• a freediving that reminds us that water is a space of transformation, encounter, and respect
We will continue building a community where everyone finds their place, where we learn together, progress together, and share those suspended moments that belong only to those who dive in silence.
Marie‑Lorraine Weiss
