I started playing underwater rugby in college, back in 1997. Goalie was a position that came naturally to me. Our team was part of a league, and we also attended several tournaments. Some of the more senior players played at the national level, so I was fortunate enough to be challenged by some of the best, and picked up tricks along the way.
I learned scuba diving at the same club over a year later. Having felt the limitations of a single breath when swimming underwater, it was like a door to another world opened, and I was hooked. I was still a student, so finances were limited, but time was available: Have gear, will dive! From the cold dark lakes in Germany to the warm clear waters of the red sea, I spent as much time blowing bubbles as possible. When not underwater, I started reading anything diving-related I could get my hands on, attended medical symposiums, and, of course, listened to people’s stories. Along the way I discovered the underwater caves in Florida, which, long story short, ultimately lead me to doing a research project regarding the absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2) in rebreathers, a dive apparatus which recycles the gas supply without expelling it into the surrounding environment – NASA level stuff. It was nothing short of a miracle to get the US Navy, Florida State University and my hometown university to agree to this project. I cannot take any credit for pulling this project off the ground, but I put all my focus into making it succeed. I was definitely at the right spot at the right time, and was fortunate to be working with some amazing people who had quite literally written history.
A short, simplified explanation of CO2 in rebreathers: when we breathe, we inhale oxygen, which gets metabolized by our tissues with the carbon from our food into carbon dioxide, which is then exhaled. The rebreather, in turn, scrubs that carbon dioxide from our breath using a chemical compound, and replenishes the oxygen from a tank. In effect, a rebreather does the opposite of what we do – a more correct term would be “counter-breather”.
The content of the project required me to look into, and formulate, aspects of chemistry, physiology, anatomy, flow simulation, and thermodynamics, among quite a number of other disciplines (such as psychology, believe it or not). As a diver, I was in research heaven! What I found, however, was quite surprising: Even basic aspects of breathing, something we do millions of times during our life, is very poorly understood, to say the least. As part of my research, as well as personal fascination, I delved deep into the matter. In order to simulate the process, I had to be able to codify it, which requires detailed understanding. As an example, the mechanics of taking a breath, although superficially quite simple, is rather complicated, and I could not find two experts to agree on a single detail. Carbonic acid, a rather basic compound of life as we know it, and something we enjoy every time we consume a fizzy drink, was argued to not actually exist until proven by an Austrian researcher in 2000. Mind blowing! Based on this research I gained some insights into our breathing physiology that lead directly back into playing underwater rugby, and tied together different aspects of it. I am mentioning this, as several of my future blog posts will cover aspects of breathing.
Going back to underwater rugby: I left Germany after only a couple of years of playing, and I had been looking to find a local rugby team ever since. It was by mere chance that I met Mischa and Maria in 2019. They had played UWR in Austria. We each had considered starting a rugby team in Tallahassee, and now found that, if we combined our skills and efforts, we might have a chance to pull it off – and here we are!
