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| Abbreviation | AUF |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1953[1] |
| Type | NGO |
| Legal status | Incorporated association,Victoria (Australia) |
| Purpose | National Sporting Organisation forunderwater sports &recreational diving |
Region served | Australia |
President | Graham Henderson |
Key people | Richard (Dick) Charles, founder[2] Harry Howell Frank Poole Wal Williams George DaviesBEM Merv Sheehan Tony Leslie John Gillies Gordon Ward Wally Gibbons Mel Brown Toni DeFina Graham Henderson Tom Ransom Richard Lane Allen Hunt Sue Dockar Mary-Anne Stacey Dr Adam Smith Barry Andrewartha [3] |
Main organ | Board |
| Affiliations | CMAS WAA Recfish Australia |
| Website | http://auf.com.au/ |
Formerly called | Underwater Spearfishermen's Association of Australia |
TheAustralian Underwater Federation (AUF) is the governing body forunderwater sports in Australia.
The mission of the AUF is:[4]
Bringing Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World.
The AUF is a membership-based organisation whose day-to-day operations are overseen by a federal board and by a number of committees (known as commissions) for following activities –finswimming (commission known asOzfin Inc.),scuba,snorkel,spearfishing andunderwater hockey (commission known asUnderwater Hockey Australia). It also currently has state branches in New South Wales (incorporated as theUnderwater Skindivers & Fishermen's Association Inc) and Queensland, and state commissions for finswimming and underwater hockey in most states.[5][6][7][8]
The AUF is recognised by theAustralian Sports Commission as the national sporting organisation (NSO) for underwater sports in Australia.[9]It is the Australian representative toConfédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS), with full voting rights to the Sports and Technical Committees and non-voting rights to the Scientific Committee.[10]The AUF is a member of the World AquaChallenge Association (WAA) and Recfish Australia.[11][12][13] It is also one of the organisations represented on theStandards Australia's Committee CS/83, Recreational Underwater Diving.[14]
The AUF is the governing body for the following underwater sports within Australia:spearfishing,underwater hockey,finswimming andunderwater rugby.[15]
Historically, the AUF operated as adiver training organisation offering instructor training and certification, and recreational diver certification in both snorkel and scuba diving. It currently issues CMAS International Diving certificates in its capacity as a member of the CMAS Technical Committee in respect to its own training programs and those offered by FAUI (formerly the Federation of Australian Underwater Instructors and now known as the Formation of Australian Underwater Instructors) and the now-defunct Australian branch ofNAUI.[16][17]
AUF currently offers training in snorkelling (includingbreath-hold technique) foropen water andpool environments, and in coaching levels accredited with the Australian Government's National Coaching Accreditation Scheme (NCAS) for three sports. Originally launched in 1985 under the name of the School Snorkelling Programme, the openwater training stream (known as Ocean) supports both recreational diving as well as the sports of spearfishing and photofishing (a breath-hold version of the sport ofunderwater photography offered by CMAS) while the pool stream is intended to develop proficiencies in finswimming and underwater hockey. The following instructional levels are currently offered – Finswimming Coach Level 1 and 2, Ocean Coach level 1 and 2, and Underwater Hockey Coach Level 1 and 2.[18]
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