ANTONIO DEL DUCA
Antonio Del Duca is an instructor who graduated from the Apnea International Academy. He has been practicing apnea since the end of 2003; and has participated in more than 14 world championships, more than 8 international championships and around 50 national check-outs and championships. He is founder of the American School of Apnea Freedive Gravedad Cero (GO) and author of the book The Apneist. He studied biology at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello; and worked as a manager of a shoe factory for 15 years. His favorite activities include reading as well as studying and training aspects related to psychology, power of the mind, hypnosis and relaxation, among others.
In 2008 he travelled for the 4th time to the Red Sea in Egypt where he took an Apnea Instructor course with the multiple world champion Umberto Pelizzari at the Apnea Academy, in that year he graduated as an International Apnea Instructor and dreamt of founding a school at American level; since he considered that in America there was a vacuum in the field of training-instruction in this discipline. In 2008, he founded the Freedive Gravedad Cero School (FDGC) with the help of fellow students, and began teaching courses at the Simon Bolívar University in Caracas, in the Chacao Police, and became an official Apnea Instructor of the School of Special Operations of the Venezuelan Navy. In 2010 he designed the amphibious reconnaissance pensum of this elite group of the Navy. During this time he managed to graduate more than 300 apneists nationally and internationally.
In 2014 he wanted to go a little further but he realized that he would not be able to consolidate his expectations alone; so he asked for help from his fellows from The National Apnea Team: Luis Arismendi, Amber Peralta and Karla Méndez to support him and to be part of the American Apnea School and in this way to work with the diversity of experiences of each one, In order to promote this discipline at the American Level and project to other international horizons.
Del Duca has several records to his credit. Nevertheless, he considers that the most important thing is to increase in number and quality the training of trainers and instructors of Apnea.
Main Achievements:
- National Apnea Selection Venezuela
- Apnea Instructor in Apnea Academy and Freedive Gravedad Cero (FGC)
- 2006-2016
- Pan American DWF Record and Continental Record DNF 2011 – 2016
- National Record in Constant Weight without fins 2012 -2013
