Fun as a Training Standard...

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Good discussion.

Should training experience be tailored to create maximum pleasure? Or … should maximum pleasure be what students pursue after their training once a very thorough and demanding training program has been completed?

My UTD Essentials and my TDI Intro to Tech were my best investment in scuba training so far. If I ranked them purely in terms of the in-class pleasure then UTD Essentials was mostly in a pool where a lot of emphasis was on clipping and unclipping things while maintaining neutral buoyancy. It was a very humbling experience. PADI “Dolphin Diver” specialty or “Shark specialty” would be more fun than repeated bottle rotations in a swimming pool. Yet the value I took away from these courses totally changed the way I think about diving. The destinations I select now are not the ones I would have selected prior to taking these courses and the entire trajectory on which my diving now progresses has been influenced by UTD Essentials and TDI Intro to Tech. In terms of "in-class" pleasure, I have taken more entertaining courses.

 

[BoltSnap]

For me, "fun" comes after training is over. Class is for training and gaining sufficient competency to be safe diver at the respective level. This doesn't mean "hell course" or "hazing" but more emphasis on learning and increasing competency. There are also different levels and definitions of "fun" where, in more cases, the "fun" part gets in the way of learning and gaining skills required for safe diving.

 

[Cyborg Pirate]

I think many of us all have a different idea of what “fun” is.

When I went through the fire academy... I had fun there too. Learning new skills and the dangerous things we do day in and day out. Safety was number 1 priority and training was why we were there. I still had fun.

In the military.... boot camp was not fun. Focus was on training and safety there too.

Dive training.... I very much focus on safety, I train every dive still. I have come so far, have so much to learn. But I am having fun.

 

[TMHeimer]

I think many of us all have a different idea of what “fun” is.

When I went through the fire academy... I had fun there too. Learning new skills and the dangerous things we do day in and day out. Safety was number 1 priority and training was why we were there. I still had fun.

In the military.... boot camp was not fun. Focus was on training and safety there too.

Dive training.... I very much focus on safety, I train every dive still. I have come so far, have so much to learn. But I am having fun.

Another way of saying that it varies with activity. I was accepted in to a US Navy Band in 1978, but declined to enlist because basic training was required for all, including musicians. I didn't figure that would be fun (or relevant).

 

[Nick Steele]

I wish my OW was conducted in a way such as Pete’s (my was still good). Learning trim and bouyancy before the skills would have been interesting. I made my own fun during my pool work in OW. There were 4 of us and when it wasn’t my turn I was trying to hover in place and I would hold a breath float a little then exhale and sink. I also watched many of the little things floating all around the pool. Over all I had fun and even had a 1 on 1 trip for my first two open water dives because the schuduled meeting was canceled because of thunder storms and I work odd days/hours.

 

[aquacat8]

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote a book on FLOW that I read some time ago and it helped me understand why things like diving and drawing and swimming and sailing and skiing are fun.
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Basically there is a sweet spot, where you're doing something that requires your skill, and you're challenged, it's not too easy or you'd be bored, not to hard or you'd be scared or frustrated. You are able to be in mostly in control and experience mastery. You forget yourself, you lose yourself in the activity, nothing else matters, you totally concentrate, time slows down or dilates, you are in the moment, and you're doing this, maybe right on the edge, but doing it well enough to feel good. Of course this requires skill. It also works best if there is direct feedback that lets you know you're on track.

That's why games, like Pete's training games, can work well. You "score", you can tell if it's going well. Will people suffer a little to acquire skills that can get them to FLOW? You bet they will, but only after they've at least gotten a taste of it, and know it's worth it. So for OW I think designing it so students can experience bite size skill triumphs, and get to actually do a fun dive and flow in it, which means really swimming around not just kneeling, is super important to get the person to have enough fun diving to continue. Later, maybe at the tech level, a diver who already knows this may be willing to study or practice some really hard tedious stuff, because they want to flow later in a cave or a wreck or very deep, and they have that goal driving them.

But poorly trained OW students who feel out of control on their first ocean dives often quit the sport. And we need them to keep it going, so I think Pete is totally right, learning diving should be FUN, as well as challenging and interesting.

 

[The Chairman]

Should training experience be tailored to create maximum pleasure? Or … should maximum pleasure be what students pursue after their training once a very thorough and demanding training program has been completed?

Why can't they be both? Fun is not the antithesis of learning and in fact, it really enhances the process. Fun has to be challenging (demanding) for it to be truly fun and rewarding. Training needs to not only be fun, but facilitate fun after the class ends. Passing a student who cannot swim neutrally is not fun for them: in fact it's dangerous. What detracts from Scuba fun?

• Fear
  • Being out of control
  • Poor buoyancy control
  • Losing your buddy(ies)
• Fatique
  • Poor finning techniques
  • Poor trim
• Poor vis
  • Poor buoyancy control
  • Poor trim
  • Poor finning techniques
• Feeling of incompetence
  • Everything we've listed before
• Confusion
  • Not knowing what comes next
  • Inability to plan a dive
• Social Stress
  • Looking bad in the water
  • Getting chewed out for sitting/standing/lying on the reef

I'm sure that we can add a lot to this list and I might edit it to reflect that. Divers who constantly have to deal with these things will soon quit. A class that shortcuts the learning process is not fun for any of us. Classes should be taught so that it eliminates with all those detractions. With limited student time, it necessitates a better use of pool time and a real focus on those skills that promote fun. Yeah, that means they need to have great trim, buoyancy and propulsion when they finish. Anything less misses that fun mark. At least for me.

 

[aquacat8]

I totally agree. I think another thing to add would be CONFUSION, something a lot of students experience when things are either not explained well OR over explained in a way that is “over their heads” without actual physical demonstrations and easy, fun practice.

If there is an attitude of condescension involved it’s even worse, this causes another detractor: SOCIAL STRESS, which can interfere with learning and fun. And while some people may enjoy being barked at in a militaristic structure (some people are “playing” Navy Seal) most would rather have some joking and reassurance.

It is important to break things down into simple clear steps that are easy to achieve, remember, and practice. And I have to say that a certain agency that gets bashed a lot was one of the first to excell at this (“no worries!”) even though maybe they got some things wrong (kneeling). Also the Instuctor should be having fun and model having fun.

 

[The Chairman]

even though maybe they got some things wrong (kneeling).

Every agency got that wrong. NASE was the first agency to really try and correct it and I give them kudos for that. But they, along with most agencies, suck at other things, like marketing. There is no one perfect agency out there. Hell, there aren't any perfect instructors out there either. The instructor picks the agency that fits them best and the student picks the shop or instructor that suits them best. The more homework that is done, the better the outcome.

FWIW, I added Confusion and Social Stress to the list.

 

[David Wilson]

As early as 1957, Peter Small's gem of a diving book Your Guide to Underwater Adventure summed up underwater fun perfectly in the caption to the illustration below:

Peter Small and Oscar Gugen, to whom this book is dedicated, co-founded the British Sub Aqua Club in 1953. Small became one of the first two divers to reach a depth of 1000ft in the open ocean in December 1962, but did not survive the dive.