In the same history of NAUI cited above, the section on NAUI's decision to focus on college students as its main source of students and revenue includes the competing ideas. As mentioned, when PADI split off, it focused on working with dive gear retailers for its student base, an idea that was first promoted by NASDS. NASDS was originally the National Association of Skin Diving Stores, and it changed "stores" to "schools" when it began instructing. NASDS later merged with and then took over SSI--the SSI leadership now used to be the NASDS leadership.
The club model was really the first way instruction was done throughout the United States. It was very ad hoc and local in its approach. My cousin got all of his scuba training somewhat that way, although almost all of it was actually provided by the salesman who sold him his equipment. According to that history of NAUI, the first organization to use the club method on a larger scale was the YMCA. Although the YMCA was a national organization, by using the club approach, they kept instruction local. They had no national standards then, so what you learned in one YMCA when you got your training might have been very different from another YMCA somewhere else. (That might have changed later before they went out of existence.)
The comments by Tillman in that history suggest that in retrospect he thought both the club approach and the college approach were unsuccessful.
By the time I certified as a YMCA Instructor in 2008 standards and procedures had been around for a couple + decades. My S&P from the Y has a 1st printing/copyright date of 1974 with numerous revisions. When the office was in Florida materials and standards were being produced for instructors. The accepted text was the Graver manual and up until last year was still in use.
It is still an option but SEI (successor to the YMCA program) put out their own manual within the last year. The SEI standards are essentially the same as the YMCA standards from the 70's. There have been some changes at the OW level. Mainly due to accidents happening in other agency courses that made insurance companies dictate some of them and to look at the risk management of keeping them in.
Most notably the doff and don, a fun exercise and real confidence builder was taken out of the OW course due to a death in a college pool involving NAUI trained students practicing it while not under supervision.
Instructors are still encouraged to add materials and skills based on their local conditions to produce divers prepared to dive in them and to test on those additions. This may have been the basis for the some of the differences perceived in training. The idea was to train divers to dive anywhere with a heavy emphasis on local conditions. You would not train divers in the northeast and midwest with the colder, low vis waters the same as you would in Florida.
I went inactive with SEI(YMCA) this year. There are some differences of opinion involved, mainly due to tech and solo diving, and it was not an easy decision. So I have no actual dog in the fight. Plus SDI/TDI allows me to teach essentially the same class from a classroom and pool standpoint with the same level of knowledge and skills. I was one of the last YMCA Instructors created before they closed. I may, in fact, have been in the last group of three that were issued certs so it was hard when they closed. I only had the chance to teach a few students before no more certs were issued. I was mad at the management. But the program was sound. So much so that I still teach much of what I did then with some minor changes and still put in the same amount of time in the classroom and pool.
As far as the college model not working, they should take a look at the University of Florida and Ball State in Indiana to see how well those are working. The SEI(YMCA) Ball State Program has certified over 4000 divers since the mid 70's with Tom Leaird and his shop being involved in doing this.
From the SEI Website:
"Shortly following World War II, a wide interest in skin and scuba diving developed in the United States. Small independent groups of divers sprang up in organized clubs all over the country. In 1954, a group of YMCA, Red Cross, and National Academy of Sciences experts encouraged the Council for National Cooperation in Aquatics (CNCA) to take a look at the safety aspect of this engaging and rapidly growing activity.
Material was outlined with a view toward setting up a course inclusive enough to produce capable performance in those who elect to participate in this recreational activity. Through the winter of 1954-1955 a test course was directed by Bernard E. Empleton using this outline.
The material used in the course was then published as a textbook in 1957 under the title, "The Science of Skin and Scuba Diving". This text became "The New Science of Skin and Scuba Diving" in the second edition and ultimately went through six editions used by many agencies for over 15 years.
The YMCA, through Mr. Empleton, then developed its own course of instruction and in 1959 adopted its own program and certified the first YMCA Scuba diving instructors. This program was the first nationally organized course in the field.
In 1972, the National Board of YMCAs to hired a full-time scuba director and established a national scuba headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 1976, the YMCA SCUBA Underwater Activities Program was established. This National Center for Underwater Activities was dedicated February 18, 1977 and the Center provided administrative and technical support while advancing the area of continuing education for recreational skin and scuba divers. The Center also conducted a sophisticated program of research and development and operated an underwater college for divers and those from other agencies including the U.S. Army Special Forces and the U.S. Corps of Engineers divers. Scuba instructors from all over the country participated heavily in the program.
The YMCA SCUBA Program recognized the need for a lifesaving course designed for scuba divers. In late 1977, a committee was convened to consolidate the technology for Scuba Lifesaving and Accident Management (SLAM) into a practical and concise package. The first book of this type in the scuba industry was published in November, 1978 through the combined efforts of several agencies.
In early 1980, the YMCA SCUBA Program achieved a unique status when the World Underwater Federation (CMAS - Confederation Mondiale Des Activities Subaquatiques) granted equivalency to YMCA SCUBA instructors and divers. This distinction positioned the YMCA as part of the world's diving organization composed of some 12,000 diving clubs, 65 National Federations, and 3.5 million divers.
In mid-1985, the YMCA became part of a national committee to develop Instructional Standards and Minimum Course Content for Entry-level SCUBA Certification. On September 1, 1986, the standards were finalized and approved by the major United States certification agencies. YMCA SCUBA became an active member of the Recreational Scuba Training Council (RSTC) which is the secretariat to the ANSI SCUBA Instructional Standards.
As the YMCA program approached its 50th year, YMCA of the USA made a decision to sunset the program, thus ending the involvement of YMCA in scuba.
Fact is so much less worth when someone with few dives state them. ...
