Poll: Where were you (first) introduced to the frog kick (mastery not required)?

[Crush]

In a few current threads I have noticed experienced divers complaining about apparently poorly-trained divers silting up an open water dive sites with non-non-silting kicks (is that a good term?) and disturbing coral and other marine life as a result of poor buoyancy control. Is such criticism fair if the diver was never taught non-silting kicks and/or was awarded their dive certification with only modest or even poor buoyancy control? Here I assuming that the problem is with training, not with gear selection.

In order to simplify this poll I will ask only one question - where were you (first) introduced to the frog kick - and assume that if you were introduced to the frog kick (note: introduced to, not mastered) then you were also introduced to paddle kicks, helicopter turns, back kicks, horizontal trim and good buoyancy control.

You will note that I have singled out GUE training in a separate category. That is because: (1) there are many GUE divers on this board; (2) Any GUE course will introduce a person to these skills; and (3) If this distinction were not made those who took GUE Rec I would artificially skew the results in favour of "Basic Open Water."

 

[JamesK]

Basic Open Water.

I started diving just to cave dive. I took a private class with on OW instructor who was a cave diver. His AI was a cave diver. I had my then girlfriends father, who was a cave diver as well and got me in to it, there at all times. Another cave diving friend of ours was there at all times as well. I was taught during pool work to be in good trim at all times. Before we got in the water I was laying on a bench so I could see what I should be like under water. I basically learned how to scuba dive from 4 cave divers. I still suck at a flutter kick!

 

[Hawkwood]

"Other"

Figured out the frog kick on my own...seemed to make sense...from watching others. Was shown how to do helicopter turns and back up during my Deep Dive class while waiting during the 8 minute safety stop. For me, it came relatively easily.

Bill

 

[fjpatrum]

I thought frog kicks were a normal part of growing up near a swimming hole or swimming pool. I did have a DM/guide tell me I might want to get smaller/shorter fins if I was going to frog kick so much, though. That was my first post-OW dive.

I still use too much leg in my frog kicks so they need work but that can be said about a lot of my skills...

 

[Crush]

At this point the "self taught/YouTube" category is leading! I should have broken these into two separate categories. I'd laugh if YouTube ended up being more popular that basic OW.

 

[Drx6x]

BSA swimming mert badge

 

[TSandM]

After reading your entire first post, I think I voted wrong. I was INTRODUCED to the frog kick when I saw NW Grateful Diver doing it. Nobody TAUGHT me how to do it until I took Fundies. So I marked "GUE" on the poll, which I guess isn't totally wrong, since that's where BOB learned it.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I was first introduced to it in OW ... a YMCA class that covered a number of different kick styles. However, the frog kick was introduced as a "specialized" kick that had little application in real-world diving ... it even said so in the manual we were using "Jepperson's Basic Open Water". So I didn't use it much until a year or so later, when I started diving with some people who dressed oddly and used these convoluted regulators with really long hoses on them. Even then wasn't all that interested until one night dive when we were going down to an octopus den to look at her and her eggs. There were eight of us, and the dive leader looked at me and my dive buddy and said "you go last, you kick up too much silt". So as we were descending to the den, I had the opportunity to look at the three dive teams in front of me and how they were moving through the water without stirring up the bottom. Then I looked behind me and realized how much I was. I immediately tried imitating what they were doing ... and eventually figured out how to do it with the fins I was wearing (Apollo Biofins). After that, it pretty much became my preferred kick ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

---------- Post added April 18th, 2012 at 08:33 AM ----------

After reading your entire first post, I think I voted wrong. I was INTRODUCED to the frog kick when I saw NW Grateful Diver doing it. Nobody TAUGHT me how to do it until I took Fundies. So I marked "GUE" on the poll, which I guess isn't totally wrong, since that's where BOB learned it.

... not exactly ... I'd been frog-kicking for about three years prior to that ... in splits. Fundies is where I learned to do it in blade fins, which is somewhat different than doing it in splits ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[ScubaSteve]

"Other"

One long winter's eve, I was dying to get wet so I grabbed my gear and joined a dive club in an Olympic size pool in Toronto (with my buddy). There were several students doing their thing with Instructors and DM's/AI etc., but this was a large pool so we had a portion of the 18' deep end to ourselves as certified divers. I descended to the bottom and saw this diver dressed all in black, hovering a couple inches off the bottom in perfect trim and in an apparent ZEN like state. I watched this diver kick forward and do some helicopter spins before going about my business of playing around and working on some things.

From that point on, I wanted to have the control that that diver had. I started to focus more on my position in the water and my "shape" in the water and how I propelled myself. My buddy and I came a long way very quickly diving with each other. I will always have a long way to go, but thanks to that unknown diver, I have come closer to reaching my goal.

 

[ScubaSam]

Intro to Tech class.

It wasn't until I took Fundies a few months later that I became very comfortable with my frog kick, and learned all the other kicks as well.