【Why I Went to Israel for Instructor Training】
Why Israel?
This is the question almost everyone asks when they hear I went to Israel to learn freediving. The answer to this question is a name: Aharon Solomons. He is my instructor in Israel, the oldest living freediving master of our time, known in the Chinese-speaking world as “Grandpa Frenzel” because he became famous for a Frenzel equalization tutorial video he made on YouTube.
I learned about Aharon in September 2022 when I was doing a work exchange in Orchid Island. I took an AIDA 3 freediving course from an instructor who had also “studied in Israel” and returned. During the course, whether in theory classes or sea training, the richness of content and quality of instruction amazed me. The instructor’s teaching was detailed and rigorous, able to pinpoint every problem precisely, with high standards yet maintaining humor. Throughout the course, he also passed on many of Aharon’s unique theories and training methods for freediving.
Grandpa Aharon’s unique perspectives on freediving include “only one dive session per day, only 3-4 dives per session,” “no CO2 tables,” “absolutely no packing,” “no full lung stretching,” “no warm-up dives,” “if you’re not training the diving reflex, you’re not really training,” “rest is part of training,” “let your body mind guide your diving,” and so on. Of course, these technical terms were beyond my complete understanding at just an A3 level.
What made me even more fascinated was Grandpa Frenzel’s story. He was immersed in freediving long before systems like AIDA were established, and he has been the coach and mentor to many world-class athletes. Despite being a heavyweight figure in the freediving world, he never wanted to use his reputation to gain more wealth. He’s content living in Eilat, the southernmost city in Israel, in a rented small apartment. He’d rather sacrifice material comforts to live freely than do anything he doesn’t like for money. His attitude toward freediving is both humble and stubborn.
So on a night when I was quarantined with COVID in Orchid Island, I thought to myself: since diving makes me so happy, and compared to other sports I seem to be naturally good at it, why not make a trip to Israel? If I’m going to learn, I should learn from the best, and treat it as a chance for a grand adventure after years of being a corporate slave.
A week after recovering from COVID, confirming that my brain wasn’t fried (or maybe it actually was), I contacted Grandpa Aharon from Orchid Island, explaining that I wanted to come to Israel to get my freediving instructor certification with him. Aharon immediately agreed and told me he very much welcomed students from Taiwan. This began a profound journey that would change my life.
The photo shows me with Grandpa on the beach after completing the depth assessment for instructor training in January 2023.
