Thank heavens for PADI

[MikeFerrara]

newdiverAZ once bubbled...
I like the laying down thing, but one more question. When my wife and I first tried diving, and we were first under the water she had a real problem with not breathing from her nose which created a problem at first, now kneeling on the bottom she could just stand up, laying on the bottom would be a lil different story. She eventually overcame this where the instructor took the time and had her remove her mask and hold her nose first, then once she was comfortable like this, he reintroduced the mask. If she wasn't kneeling this may have been the cause for her to not continue diving?

Maybe but keep in mind we're in three feet of water at this point. Things like this happen from time to time and you handle it a little different with every one. The first skill BTW is UW breathing. This is where student just spend some time to get used to breathing under water.

Actally I find kneeling very hard for lots of folks especially the people who aren't very active or are a little large. They float up, trip on their fins and tip over unless you really over weight them. Laying down is usually more stable and comfortable making the timid students a lot more relaxed. BTW the fact that it's more stable in the water is why we dive that way.

One more thing...This is where some of walters techniques really come in handy. They can stand or swim on the surface breathing through a reg or snorkel. Some are more comfortable in the water than others.

I've done private classes with one athletic 20 year old where I could get them diving in a couple hours. You know the type they see it and then do it with total comfort and never give it a second thought. This isn't the norm though.

 

[newdiverAZ]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...


Maybe but keep in mind we're in three feet of water at this point. Things like this happen from time to time and you handle it a little different with every one. The first skill BTW is UW breathing. This is where student just spend some time to get used to breathing under water.

Actally I find kneeling very hard for lots of folks especially the people who aren't very active or are a little large. They float up, trip on their fins and tip over unless you really over weight them. Laying down is usually more stable and comfortable making the timid students a lot more relaxed. BTW the fact that it's more stable in the water is why we dive that way.

I agree with that alot. I'm taking my DMI now and have spent a good amount of time in the pool with open water classes. While I'm in the water I try to hover as much as possible to try to be a good role model. I am gonna ask my instructor friend about tryin to incorporate this into his class.

 

[jbd]

I use Walter's method to avoid problems like you wife was having. Walter has posted this in the new to scuba section several times. The very basics are have the student stand in the water. No mask, just the snorkle. The student leans over and places their face in the water while holding the snorkle in place. The student breathes through the snorkle. Should the student become scared or overly stressed then he/she simply straightens up into a standing position. Once the student is comfortable with this you can proceed to other skills with the mask and snorkle.

 

[newdiverAZ]

I agree that some are more comfortable than others. I've seen a bit of this in the classes. There are people in some of these classes that I would recommend, getting out of the pool 5 minutes after they get in, but I've seen them improve after some time, and alot of the people have actually surprised me.

 

[jbd]

how much the students will pick up on what the DM or AI is doing. If you look like a diver to them they will automatically try to be just like you. This is an extremely powerful teaching tool if the students see the instructor and the DM or AI doing the same thing. Mike uses this concept very effectively.

 

[MikeFerrara]

newdiverAZ once bubbled...
and what happens when #6 who happened to drift 6' away from you in the 4' viz has decided he don't wanna be there anymore and bolts to the surface?

First off realize that we adjust the staff to student ratios to match the conditions. The only time we have 4 ft vis is when other classes have buggered things up.

Often on dive 1 I don't take any more than two or three students. Also I have often have no more than a two to one student to staff ratio. The instructor does need to be able to control things if they do go wrong.

Also understand though that this is exactly why I try to get them pretty good in the pool. Why does one panic? It's because they feel they have no control and they get just plain scared. It will take far more to panic a diver who can easily control their position in the water and who has good basic skills than one who doesn't. Certainly if a student gets feeling insecure while waiting for me to do skills with another student the platform and divemasters are there. They can hang on if they really need to.

But...picture this...me above the platform with say...4 student hovering in a semi ciercle with their faces a couple feet from mine. Maybe they touch the platform with a hand once in a while to keep from drifting out of position. If some one starts to drift away we try to catch it then and get settled before we restart. We don't let them just keep going. Now, when a student is clearing a mask, I'm close. I might even put a hand on the bc someplace but they likely won't know it. If they have a problem I have the same control I would if they had been planted on the bottom.

In the hundreds I've trained I've only had two of my own students panic and bolt. I was able to control the ascent of each. BTW, I got plenty of practice during my DM class because that shop had students panicing every class.

 

[jepuskar]

As a DMC,

I catch my instructor's students holding themselves in the same manner my instructor holds himself.

you know....left hand right wrist or right hand left wrist.

<ohh, and for those of you who thought something else....very cool>

 

[jepuskar]

..and the only time the viz is screwed up at Haigh is when my LDS is there with all of their students...

did i just say that?

 

[Drew Sailbum]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
In the Instructor exam all skills are demonstrated sitting on the bottom.

We had to stay off the bottom in my IE. If we hadn't the examiner never would have been able to see a thing. Such is diving in Lake Lanier.

 

[newdiverAZ]

jbd once bubbled...
how much the students will pick up on what the DM or AI is doing. If you look like a diver to them they will automatically try to be just like you. This is an extremely powerful teaching tool if the students see the instructor and the DM or AI doing the same thing. Mike uses this concept very effectively.

You see this is my point though. I am a PADI DMI and I want all these things, so Somewhere in the PADI system something must have worked. And if I can just pass it on to one of the students, wouldn't the system have worked? People say that in being a teacher if thru your career you touch 1 person in a way that changes their life for the better, then you have done your job. Not everyone can be molded into the perfect diver, but then why not help the ones that want to be, and leave the holiday divers to the holiday diving. I dive in a lake with 4' of viz every week. I know people who have no desire to do this at all.