How did you get started?

[Sakutama]

Hi everyone!

I'm just starting my mermaiding journey, and I'd love to hear how you started out! How did you get interested in mermaiding? How did you learn about it? Did you have swimming/diving experience before? Or did you learn from the bottom up? Did you have a teacher/mentor, or did you have to go solo? What were some of the struggles and joys you experienced? And what sound advice would you give someone like me who's just getting started? ^_^

[MermaidCelesteFL]

I'm going to speak for solely myself here, because I'm a little -odd-. (This is going to be a little lengthy.)

So... my actual name resembles that of a very popular fictional mermaid. I have been teased endlessly about it since the movie came out (2 years after I was born), and every day since then. I LOATHE that movie, mainly for that reason. I can't actually say that popular media got me into mermaiding as much as the act of swimming itself.

I knew from a very young age that I loved swimming. My parents put me through numerous swim classes as far back as I can remember. I begged my parents to let me join a swim team as young as 10-12 years old. I wasn't the greatest, but I loved it. I also joined my high school's swim team during my sophomore and senior years. I got my first (official) lifeguard certification through Red Cross during my freshman year in college (I had another certification before that called "Water Sentry" through NASCO, but it wasn't officially a lifeguard license as much as it was a professional rescuer for amusement park ride operators). I lifeguarded from 2006 to 2011 in a number of places, including my University's rec center and the Disney Water Parks and resorts.

The one weird thing that really turned my life around was a game called Final Fantasy X. I bought it when I first moved to Florida from Ohio, and when I was in my deepest emotional hole. It helped me realize that I really enjoyed swimming, that even fictional characters have narcissistic, a-hole parents, and that not every situation works out the way we want it to. It turned me on to the idea of freediving, and opened my horizons when it came to swimming.

Since I started lifeguarding again about a few months after I finished the game, I decided that I wanted to really focus on swimming well, and work on freediving skills. I joined my university's water polo team and played the wing position for two years.

During college, I met a friend who turned me on to the idea of cosplaying. I picked it up and completely ran with it. We entered cosplay contests together and won every single skit contest we entered. One day in 2009, she asked me if I was interested in entering an anime swimsuit contest at Anime Oasis, in Boise, ID. We would enter as "Atlantica" (mermaid) versions of Sora and Kairi from Kingdom Hearts. We completely demolished the competition, as we were the only cosplayers that could swim in our anime-themed swimsuits/tails. Thus, my first fabric tail.

A special thing about Florida cons is that some of them are what we call, "show-based" conventions. Instead of focusing the entire anime convention on the special guests or panels, they put more emphasis on live-action full-length stage shows, written/directed/starring cosplayers from the community who had a decent background in theater/dancing/stage combat. They are basically live action crossover fan fics from every anime/video game genre possible. I starred in my first show at Khaotic Kon 2012, and then again at ShadoCon 2012. I landed the role of my favorite character (Tidus) from my favorite video game, Final Fantasy X. I kept offering to the director that I wanted to do underwater shoots in my outfit, but he didn't see a need for it.

Shortly after the show ended, a friend of mine from the shows told me that she had just been hired by a princess company located out of Tampa. They were looking for mermaids, and she recommended that I ask them about it. I got in touch with the business owner, and he had me go out and buy myself my first silicone tail. $1,200 and close to a year later, I got my first silicone tail- a Merman Jesse tail. It sucked. Caveat emptor, am I right?

I got my second silicone tail last year from Mernation. It was everything I ever dreamed of and then some.

So, to answer your question, I'm very much self-taught. I have a TON of background in swimming and lifeguarding, and a degree in marketing to run my business. However, this doesn't mean that I know everything. I don't. I take a lot of advice from other successful mers, and use a few strategies of theirs to pull in customers.

Some of the struggles I've experienced include: body-shaming (although, I'm pretty sure about 90% of us get that from time to time), elitism between the most well-known mermaids in the community and the drama that ensues, tail envy, hiding my self-harm scars (which is why I wear bracers), and local mermaids stealing business from other local mermaids. The whole Florida mer-community is a dog-eat-dog world, and nobody will help you get gigs. You pretty much have to fight and work hard for every single one.

The joys: performing in a tank for the first time was AMAZING!!!!, the weeki wachee auditions were probably the most fun auditions I have ever attended, little gifts from kids who truly believe that you are real, the compliments from every direction- even from people on facebook who I haven't spoken to in over a decade, attending a well-organized mermaid convention, and meeting more people who are just like me. I have been spending the past two months with an apnea trainer app and in my backyard pool, focusing on my breath hold, and now my static breath hold is around 2:45-3:00- that's a pretty thrilling feeling. When I first got my silicone tail, I took it to my first mermaid meet up in 2013 at Alexander Springs. Back then, I could dive down deep enough to touch the bottom and return immediately to the surface. With my new tail and new breath hold time, I am now able to make it to the bottom of the boil, swim in and out of the caves, and explore the entire boil in one breath. I got some epic pictures!

As for advice: hmmm... where to start. Mermaiding is what you make of it. You don't have to be an expert swimmer to be a good mermaid. Heck, you don't even have to be in shape or have a tail for that matter. It really comes down to how much you care about the environment, and what you can do for the community as a whole. Here at mernetwork, anybody that wants to be a mer can be a mer. Plain and simple. Some of the more notable mers I would like to cite would be Mermaid Kae-Leah, Little Orca, and of course, Raina. All of whom have overcome adversity to do what they love. And I love them for it.
If you are more concerned about the tail/swimming part of mermaiding, please do your research before buying and/or wearing a tail. Some tail makers are notorious for having bad customer service/bad products. Otherwise, don't go into something that you aren't prepared for. I would suggest getting a monofin first, training with that for a while, and getting your fabric tail after that. If you really want to pursue mermaiding further, then you can think about getting a silicone tail. Keep in mind, that not all mermaiding gigs will have you swimming. You can totally do 'dry' gigs where you sit in your tail and read/tell stories or play games. Yes, it does help if you are really good at swimming, but not entirely necessary.

TLDR: I'm a weird gamer girl who got into mermaiding through some roundabout fantasy based on a video game and tons of swimming experience, do your research before getting a tail, and don't do anything you aren't comfortable with. Be yourself and have fun!

[Sakutama]

Celeste - thank you so much for sharing your story! You are a real inspiration! Please never feel you are a weird gamer girl, in fact, I'm one too! I've been gaming since I was 5/6 years old, and I'm still obsessed. In fact I was just playing Mario with my hubs yesterday, I consider us a gamer family. ^_^

Back to mermaiding, sounds like it was destiny for you! I think that's fantastic, and not only that, you are working so hard at it. For me at the moment, I'm hoping mermaiding will be my way of staying fit for life. In general I hate exercise, and I've never liked sports. But I have done things that would have been grueling if I wasn't having so much fun! So I know if I love what I'm doing, I'll get that much needed exercise in skipping. And I know getting in shape isn't a one time thing, it's a lifetime change you have to stick to. I'm not sure about the demand for mermaids here in Japan is, but I do hope once I skill up a quite a bit mermaiding, I might look into getting a silicone tail and putting myself out there. In the mean time, I'm looking for a pool where I can teach myself the dolphin kick. I'm not holding out much hope for fins being allowed, so I'll probably need to go to Tokyo for that. But hey! It's a start, right?

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