A 19 year old scuba instructor?

[ZoCrowes255]

I am just curious:

How comfortable would you be with a 19 year old Instructor? I ask because I just recieved my Divemaster Cert after 2 years of Assisting with O/W classes, 7 years of diving experience, lifetime around diving (my father has been a Scuba Instructor for 30+ years) and working at a dive shop almost full time for the past 3 years. The shop I work for is very good (I am biased though) and has been in business since 78 so I hope they know what they are doing by now.

Anyway in the spring I will be going through my ITC and right now people have a students and customers have a tendency to listen to and respect me because I show the same courtesy as them. How many will be willing to listen to me though when I don't have an Instructor over me? I am afraid they will view me as a punk kid who is trying to tell them what to do and as such will ignore my advice and go to the Divemaster or Training Assistant who will most likely be older than me.

My goal is too make GOOD and most importantly SAFE divers but I don't think I could do that very well if people don't listen. Think about it: if you were an accomplished attorney or doctor and had some kid trying to tell you what to do would you listen?

I know that after I get my Instructor card I will continue to assist for a while because "a certified instructor does not mean they are a qualified instructor" as my dad would say.

Wow is that rambling but I think you all get what I am trying to say.

My other big problem: I am a BABYFACE I look younger than my actual age! So what do you all think

(Would you trust this face to teach you to dive?)

 

[ZoCrowes255]

Posted the wrong damn picture sorry about that

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Every instructor must develop a style of teaching which engages students and instills trust. I have found that if you exude confidence and control without seeming too cocky, students will listen. Attitude is everything.

 

[jbd]

were all 20 to 25 years younger than me. My initial scuba instructor was many years younger than me also. Most adults will over look the age thing as long as the "youngster" doesn't act childish and immature.

Don't try to impress people with what you think you know; rather demonstrate through your actions that you actually know and understand diving. Pretty much all students will respond positively to that.

Good luck with your ITC!!

BTW will you be doing your ITC locally or travelling to some other place?

 

[ZoCrowes255]

jbd once bubbled...
were all 20 to 25 years younger than me. My initial scuba instructor was many years younger than me also. Most adults will over look the age thing as long as the "youngster" doesn't act childish and immature.

Don't try to impress people with what you think you know; rather demonstrate through your actions that you actually know and understand diving. Pretty much all students will respond positively to that.

Good luck with your ITC!!

BTW will you be doing your ITC locally or travelling to some other place?

Thanks! I plan on doing it locally along with a few other people.

Thanks for the advice Drew and JBD.

 

[chickdiver]

GO FOR IT!!! I did my ITC as a 21 yr old FEMALE, and spent my first years teaching in the W. Pacific- mainly Japanese students. My first class on my own was all male, it was intimidating, but I learned to be an effective instructor in spite of the intimidation. My students have always respected my knowledge and abilities (at least, I THINK so ) . Point is, it CAN be done, and you may find that you are MORE effective and empathetic to your students as a result of your age!

 

[WillAbbott]

Just my humble .2 cents.

But I think it will be difficult at times, and you will have some people who don't think you know it, and others who will. If memory serves I starte helping my dad teach at his school (not SCUBA) when I was about 19 or 20 (not sure if I look older than I am or younger) but people would come and ask me what I thought about things, and most people I corrected or helped seemed to take the advice seriously. A lot of your "knowing what your talking about stature" will come from people knowing your experience level. Start off EVERY class with an introduction. I'm so and so your instructor, I started diving when I was x years old, I've grown up with diving... blah blah blah. Establish in thier minds that though you may be young you've been around a while. Many people will trust that you know your stuff just because of your status as an instructor. Many of the remaining few will begin to trust you as they hear about your expericne level and such. But don't be surprised as there will undoubtably be a few who don't trust your judgement or what not. I was once handed a store manager position over 2 other employees both of which were older (1 by a year or so, the other by 10+ years) it was difficult to get the older one to do what I said, but after some work between the 2 of us, we got it all worked out and I didn't even have to tell him what to do. But at the same time I had 2 temp employees come in who were 16 or so and WERE punks. They didn't do what I said, failed to acknowledge my authority and in the end got away with screwing up many things in the store, because my boss demmed to not even chat to them about it... Anyways.

Good luck becoming and instructor (I can't wait to make asst/instructor myself, I cant decide, either way I won't teach on my own most likely, I prefer helping as to leading ) Just remember there will be thoose who don't have faith in you, and those who will.

Something else that might help would to have DM's who understand what troubles you might have, and who maybe play a role, such as if a student comes to them, and it wasn't because you were just too darn busy, they could sort of sound like they don't know the answer (even though they do) to help build faith and trust in you. Just a suggestion... Anyways good luck, have fun.

 

[ZoCrowes255]

chickdiver once bubbled...
GO FOR IT!!! I did my ITC as a 21 yr old FEMALE, and spent my first years teaching in the W. Pacific- mainly Japanese students. My first class on my own was all male, it was intimidating, but I learned to be an effective instructor in spite of the intimidation. My students have always respected my knowledge and abilities (at least, I THINK so ) . Point is, it CAN be done, and you may find that you are MORE effective and empathetic to your students as a result of your age!

The empathy point is a good one. Many times if a student has a trouble studying for something they will come to me because I know what it's like to be in school. It's good to hear about someone else who went through it.

 

[MechDiver]

chickdiver once bubbled...
GO FOR IT!!! I did my ITC as a 21 yr old FEMALE, and spent my first years teaching in the W. Pacific- mainly Japanese students.

Kind of OT, but out of curiosity, do you see cultural differences in instruction between Western and Japanese students?

Phil

 

[chickdiver]

YES!! I spent severla years on Guam working as a DM and then as an Instructor. The Japanese I dealt with were all on vacation, and it could be interesting at times. I learned to accept the cultural differences pretty easily, but it was difficult at times. Other cultures have quite a different view of what type of behaviors are acceptable in different situations, and I learned to be much more open minded.