GUE Age Requirements

[cos]

The issue is not just about "how ready" a teen diver is, but how competent they will be as a team member.

 

[b1gcountry]

I'm not sure I can separate the two.

Tom

 

[rjack321]

I'm actually a bit surprised that its 16 for Fundementals. But I'm ok with that. 18yo for Tech1/Cave1 and 21yo for Tech2/Cave2 is in line with the increasing responsibilties of those divers.

You should also remember that GUE was created (at least in part) to groom future WKPP divers. I don't seem there being alot of interest in having less than fully mature divers contributing to efforts like that. Not that they realistically could, but the age limits are in line with that.

 

[Dtaine]

The issue is not just about "how ready" a teen diver is, but how competent they will be as a team member.

I'm not sure I can separate the two.

Tom

I can see how you would differentiate the two, but you can separate skills and team competence for people of any age.

 

[RTodd]

When I used to actually teach I trained a bunch of kids. Often kids quickly pick up on the in-water skills but are completley reliant on adults for the planning parts of diving. In addiiton, kids are generally less aware buddies. While these common deficenices don't create much significant risk on 60' carribean dives and really don't cause kids to differ that much from the typical diving public, both of these traits are greatly divergent from the DIR mindset.

Plus, GUE is an agency designed for divers that seek it out. Teaching kids is a means of marketing to parents more than anything else.