Safety Team
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MARCO COSENTINO
Marco Cosentino is an Italian Freediver involved in competitive freediving since 2007. Vastly experienced as both Professional Safety Freediver and Freediving Master Instructor, in the last decade he participated in some of the most important freediving competitions worldwide, to mention: Chief of Safety of Vertical Blue editions 2018-2021 and VB safety since 2009, Trainer\Supervisor of the AIDA Safety Team in the Individual Depth World Championship Cyprus 2021, Chief of Safety in the CMAS Depth 2019 World Championship, Senior Safety in the Roatan AIDA Individual Depth World Championship 2017, Chief of Safety Team in the Nirvana Ocean Quest Competition in 2015. He currently holds the position of AIDA Safety Commitee Officer and he is the founder and director of the “Professional Safety Freediver”®, a Vertical Blue Educational program. Marco trains Freediving year-round, and has personal bests below 60m in all Freediving disciplines. He is also an experienced sailor and passionate spear-fisher. Marco is based in Rome where he runs his school ASD FreeDiversItalia and teaches freediving, spear-fishing and sailing.
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ROBERTO BERTO
By Popular demand Roberto Berto returns for his 5th addition as a VB safety diver. He is a passionate waterman from the tropics of Australia and uses the Great Barrier Reef not only as his workplace but also his training ground where he strengthens his desire for a deeper experience. Roberto has completed dives in free immersion to 91 meters, constant weight with bi fins to 77 meters and constant weight no fins to 63 meters. A spearfisherman at first is what drives Roberto to pursue the depths and challenges of freediving.
From the Days of scuba instructing on the reef, he has been involved in many different facets of the marine industry, from skippering vessels, to commercial diving and guiding spearfishing adventures. Roberto currently works as an Offshore Tug Master, and choses to teach Freediving purely for the enjoyment of sharing his passion with local watermen. An avid handyman, Roberto seeks relaxation working with timber and crafting all things coastal in his spare time.
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KATHLEEN GREUBEL
Kathleen is a German Freediver, SSI and EFR Instructor and lifeguard, joining the VB Safety Team for the first time this year. She has been part of the Safety Team of the 2019 Caribbean Cup and CMAS World Championship in Roatan with Marco and Kristine as well as in the 2021 CMAS World Championship in Kas with Daniel. Last year she started to join competitions as an athlete as well and represented Germany in the AIDA World Championship in Cyprus and participated in the 2022 Caribbean Cup. Kathleen has been living, teaching, and training in Honduras, Spain, Mexico, and Germany over the last years and is moving around a lot. She is also an SSI Scuba Instructor although she is rarely seen with a tank anymore these days. Out of the water, she enjoys rock climbing and horse riding and has a history in competitive kickboxing.
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KRISTINE ZIPFEL
Originally from Norway, Kristine is based in New Zealand, where she started her freediving journey in 2014. She has been involved as a safety diver since 2018, when she worked as a safety diver in Kalamata for Freedive Club Greece. In 2019, she was on the safety team for the Caribbean Cup and the Roatan CMAS World Championship. She has also worked as a safety diver in Cyprus and New Zealand.
Apart from safetying, she is also a competitor holding several Norwegian records, an AIDA instructor, spearfisher, underwater photographer, and underwater stunt performer, having worked on movies like Alita Battle Angle and the upcoming Avatar 2.
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DANIEL ARIAS CORDOVA
As professional freediver, Daniel Arias has developed both sides of the line: athlete and safety with the same calling. Since 2013, at each competition he has been involved, he dedicated time to support and participate in safety teams. With the years, he became a passionate safety freediver with scooter experience, safety trainer and safety chief, being involved as member of safety teams in AIDA Competitions in Chile, Honduras, Mexico and Colombia, and CMAS World Championships in Turkey 2018-2021. Daniel is psychologist, Hatha Yoga instructor, Divers Alert Network Instructor, and the founder of SoloApnea Freediving School in 2011. Actually he is instructor trainer for Molchanovs and CMAS; Instructor and Judge in AIDA, but his first instructor school was Apnea Academy International. As athlete, he participated in both international competitions and world championships, setting several national and Pan-american depth records. Daniel also enjoys organizing courses, competitions, and freediving camps around south pacific cold waters and caribbean spots.
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FRANCESCO CORUCCI
Francesco Corucci is a freediving master instructor, emergency instructor and competition safety freediver. After years pursuing an academic career in computer engineering, he discovered freediving in 2015, and instantly fell in love with this sport and lifestyle. Francesco has been into freediving safety since 2019. In 2021 he was part of the safety team for the outdoor world championships organized by both AIDA and CMAS, respectively in Cyprus and Turkey. In 2022 he was part of the staff of the Vertical Blue Professional Safety Freediver Workshop run by Marco Cosentino at Y-40, and will be joining Vertical Blue’s safety team for the first time this year. Born in Pisa (Italy) in 1988, he now lives in Livorno (Tuscany), where he has established a freediving school called Deep Instinct Freediving. He practices all the main freediving disciplines and has personal bests below 70m. Most of the times you will find him along the rocky coast of Livorno, teaching and living by the sea in his old Westfalia van for extensive periods of time.
Medical Team
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Jamie Juliano
Jamie is a registered nurse/paramedic living in Florida. She became familiar with the sport of freediving after a brush with cancer left her with only one lung. After her surgery and lung removal, she quickly began looking at ways to get herself back to "normal" capacity. It was then that she came across the sport of freediving. Since then, she has become a level I Freediver through PFI and has been a part of the medical team at Vertical Blue 2021, the Caribbean Cup in Roatan 2022, and several local pools competitions in the Tampa Bay area. She has been working in healthcare for 17 years with experience in emergency medicine, critical care transport, and flight nursing. She also recently started an educational company that includes teaching CPR, first aid, and first response to freediving and scuba diving incidents.
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Daniel Alvear
Daniel is a United States Army Veteran with significant combat and medical experience. He has been a paramedic for over 12 years and with experience in pre-hospital care, critical care transport, and flight paramedicine. He specializes in creating solutions to less than desirable circumstances and thrives under pressure. In his spare time, Daniel enjoys days at the pool, beach, hiking, spending time with his son, staying fit, reading, and working on business ventures. He has a passion for education and helping others.He recently discovered the world of Freediving and has since become a certified Freediver. He hopes to learn all he can from the professionals.
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Wendy Ross
Born and raised in South Africa, Dr Wendy Ross grew up spending her free time in the ocean there. She completed medical school in Australia and has subsequently worked in Emergency medicine, Rural and Remote medicine, and Oncology in Canada. She is now a passionate advocate for preventative health and is a keynote speaker on this subject.
Her first freediving course in Dean's Blue Hole reignited her love of the ocean and she is hoping to improve on her modest PB of 30m at this year's Deep Week in the Bahamas.