Doing It Right: The Fundamentals of Better Diving

[RichLockyer]

in case I feel like dropping into deep depression...

Whoever said that you are your own worst critic never took a GUE class

 

[jagfish]

Whoever said that you are your own worst critic never took a GUE class

You get lots of help...LOL!

 

[O-ring]

FWIW, I think the easiest thing for the people in our area has been diving with other GUE trained divers and practicing in shallow/confined water. That way, they can see what the skills look like and can at least get some pointers prior to class. The drawback is that all the previously trained GUE divers are merely students, so they can't guarantee they are passing on good information! The upside is that just hanging out with people who worry about things like buoyancy and trim naturally seems to help the newer people along and get them at least noticing and thinking about things like that and they seem to do well in the class.

 

[crpntr133]

So who wants to sell their GUE book so I can read it? Like others here I am curious about DIR.

 

[Wreck]

Thanks for your thoughts, and I'm aware that we constantly struggle to balance the book content and the course.

Thanks

Why balance, why not make them mirrors of each other? Is your book a preparation tool or just an advertisement? I realize that you can't cover everything in a book, but the college classes I took were rarely ever tested on material that you couldn't find in your text book. I thought I remembered one post that some basic drills are not covered in the text(?)

I know you can't learn/prepare for everything by a book (that's where video and/or hands-on take up the slack) but it can at least describe how it will happen. Many years ago I took a class in jiu jitsu. As luck would have it, the grand master of the particular style we were learning happened to be in town and paid a visit to one of our classes. He was there to make sure that our teachers still had the exacting movements correct and that they were passing this knowledge on to the students. There were a few subtle corrections to be made that my untrained eyes could not detect or appreciate since I had not had enough practice beforehand. Had I had this practice, I would have learned something valuable, like some of the more advanced students did that day.

From what I have read, DIR-F is a crash course with very high standards. I cite the example I gave above with my martial arts class when I say that I don't see how I could get the maximum benefit out of the course by going in unprepared and coming out less than understanding exactly what is separating my skill levels from perfection. Skills take practice unless you are superhuman. So my question is this: why not do show/tell all your potential students exactly what will be expected of them so that they can maximize the amount of high-level refinement that it seems you require them to demonstrate? This could be done by giving detail in your books, video, etc. By doing this, you probably would have more passing students and they would take with them some refinements to their skills that they might not have learn had they been more preoccupied trying to get the basics learned, that could have been done before they even took your course. In a sense, why have a PHD teach a child how to do basic things when he/she could instead be imparting valuable knowledge to PHD students that they couldn't get anywhere else? This would be a more productive use of this scholar's talents.


My apologies for not even giving you the benefit of the doubt - I'm just reading what everyone here has had to say about your course materials. I would like to take the course myself some day, but I want to be sure I've had some time to practice with everything that you can help me improve on before I waste your's and my time fiddling with new skills that shouldn't require an expert to teach beforehand

 

[MASS-Diver]

One reason I was told that there is limited skills stuff in the book is that you really can't teach yourself these skills, doing so will probably result in bad habits that the instructor will then have to break during the course.

 

[Wreck]

One reason I was told that there is limited skills stuff in the book is that you really can't teach yourself these skills, doing so will probably result in bad habits that the instructor will then have to break during the course.

I can understand that with some things, but I wouldn't think valve drills fall under that categorization do they? They could always shoot some video on how NOT to do things and what can happen if do

 

[jagfish]

I can understand that with some things, but I wouldn't think valve drills fall under that categorization do they? They could always shoot some video on how NOT to do things and what can happen if do

I totally agree with you...
I think that some do's and don'ts of skills should be covered in the video and/or book. I don't fall for that "you could learn it wrong" blanket explanation. Even a demonstration of the horizontal trim aspect would be tremendously helpful to students.

For a class that seems to be notorious for a low passing rate and scarcity of instructors, why not give students as many tools as possible to be comfortable with the skills coming into the class...

JAG

 

[headhunter]

I can understand that with some things, but I wouldn't think valve drills fall under that categorization do they? They could always shoot some video on how NOT to do things and what can happen if do

I have not taken the class yet and don't want to put words into MHK's mouth, but that is what I understand the "struggle to balance the book content and the course" to be about.

It sounds like they err on the side of caution when they publish information about the actual skills. That having been said, I think that it would be nice to have a text available as a supplement to those that have already taken the class. It is nice to review things later.

To use your martial arts analogy, I have found it helpful to read about martial arts movements or watch videos about martial arts "after" I was taught the correct way of performing the movement by one of my instructors. I believe it is more difficult to re-learn something that is done incorrectly once your body has memorized how to perform a skill the wrong way. Of course, I have still needed to have my skills refined by a Grand Master after learning them from one of his Masters. I expect that perfection of skills is a life long pursuit that we seek, but never really achieve. The more you strive, the better you get. But... the learning never stops.

Christian

 

[MASS-Diver]

I can understand that with some things, but I wouldn't think valve drills fall under that categorization do they? They could always shoot some video on how NOT to do things and what can happen if do

Well, I see your point to an extent, but even with a valve drill the hard part isn't just turning on/off your valves it's maintain your trim, awarness, etc while you are doing the drill. That's hard to teach in a book.

BTW, there's tons of video (on the 5th-d for example) of all the dir-f skill out there. I know SB memeber seajay has a ton of stuff on his site as well.