Andrea Zuccari

Equalization Academy

Equalization Academy was founded in 2018 by Andrea Zuccari. “There are scuba didactics and freediving didactics, however none of them teaches equalization properly”: so Andrea decided to create the first didactic dedicated to teaching equalization to freedivers and scuba divers.

He then realized that these techniques could also help people who need medical treatment in hyperbaric chambers, and those who struggle to equalize when traveling by plane. This is how Equalization Academy was born.

Career

• 2006Andrea discovers freediving and, after a few sessions, realizes he has a natural predisposition for this sport.
• 2006 – 2008He trains with Apnea Academy and sets 5 Swiss national records.
• 2008 – 2012He becomes an Apnea Academy instructor and sets 5 more Swiss national records, the deepest being a 131 m No Limits.
• 2011First world record in Tandem No Limits MIX with Anna von Boetticher (his student, both with mask), going deeper than Patrick Musimu, the man who had introduced him to the mouthfill technique.
• Spring 2012He releases an educational DVD with an innovative approach: a series of dry exercises to develop awareness of the organs involved in equalization (translated into five languages).
• Fall 2012He opens his training center, Freediving World Apnea Centre, in Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt), where he keeps developing his approach to equalization working with many top athletes.
• January 2013First Italian record: 155 m No Limits, going deeper than his “maestro” Umberto Pelizzari. In the same days he sets his first world record in Tandem No Limits Male with the Greek Stavros Kastrinakis.
• 2013A few months later, new Italian record in Variable Weight Regulated: 135 m.
• July 2014World record for the deepest No Limits sled dive with a mask: 175 m, the 2nd deepest man of all time, just behind the Austrian Herbert Nitsch.
• July 2016Training dive in CWT to 107 m with a mask, equalizing hands free.
• August 2017No Limits sled dive to 185 m: the deepest man on earth without external equalization devices.

Today

Andrea, based in Sharm El Sheikh, continues his career as both athlete and coach. He is involved in many research projects, works with elite world-record athletes and travels the world to teach equalization and his approach to deep diving.

He is considered one of the key innovators in equalization education, having worked with more top athletes than any other coach in the sport.

Andrea Zuccari and Equalization Academy collaborate with DAN Europe on the EqualEasy project.