Yesterday, I renewed my professional instructor membership with SDI/TDI. The first thing that I did after sending my credit card information was listen to the short online video greetings and updates by Brian and Sean. This was an excellent way of providing SDI/TDI/ERDI professionals with a warmer more personal touch at renewal time and also an excellent way to find out about new courses and standards changes.
However, I disagree with the decisions regarding the Intro To Tech course. In the past, the Intro To Tech course could only be taught by TDI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures instructors. Then, it became available to TDI Nitrox Instructors who hold the equivalent of Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures Instructor with another agency. That standard change is still acceptable since the equivalency of experience and skill level for technical instructors in any agency would allow them to teach a solid TDI Intro To Tech course once on board. Now, the standard has changed to allow SDI instructors who have completed Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures to teach the Intro To Tech course.
I believe this is problematic in 2 ways.
1. It reduces the quality of the Intro To Tech course
2. It takes away the revenue-generating "bread and butter" course for TDI instructors and gives it to SDI instructors who already have revenue-generating courses such as Open Water, Advanced Open Water and Nitrox.
If we look at the in-water standards of the Intro To Tech course, the student is asked to:
- Demonstrate adequate buoyancy control (ability to hover in a fixed position in the water column without moving hands or feet)
- Demonstrate adequate trim (ability to maintain horizontal during descent, bottom, and ascent portion of the dive)
- Demonstrate no-silting propulsion techniques (frog kick, modified frog kick, modified flutter kick, backwards kick)
- Demonstrate ability to perform the following exercises while maintaining trim and buoyancy in the water column:
A. Regulator exchange
B. Regulator recovery
C. Mask partial flood and clear with minimal air loss
D. Mask removal and clear with minimal air loss
E. S-drill
F. Valve drill
G. DSMB/liftbag deployment
In my experience with TDI as a diver level student, my TDI cave diving instructor possessed most every one of these tools except the backwards kick. Since we were cave diving, we never deployed a DSMB, but because my instructor was also a TDI Rebreather and Trimix instructor, I'm sure he could launch a bag proficiently based upon his skill level. I actually taught my cave instructor the backwards kick, because I had taken GUE-Fundamentals and Tech 1 and those high-quality courses honed the above skills to demonstration quality, but he taught me everything else. I have taken other cave courses with instructors from NACD, NSS-CDS, and IANTD, but none could touch my TDI cave instructor's course for the level of quality and proficiency he demanded. As we know, when it comes to trim, buoyancy and propulsion, cave training demands the highest standard of excellence from both student and instructor in comparison to all other endeavors.
Conversely, my TDI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures instructor didn't have the same level of proficiency, being a northeast wreck diver, without cave training. His trim was slightly down and he didn't have a backwards kick, but he was an excellent instructor in so many other ways. We became friends and dive buddies. His knowledge of underwater navigation was the best I've ever encountered of any instructor or diver, even outclassing a friend who had been a Naval aircrew navigator. He used to compliment me by saying that he had never seen anyone in the water with my maneuverability. He also told me and my buddy who had also taken GUE Fundies and Tech 1 that we had demonstration quality skills. My cave instructor told us the same thing since I did my cave training with the same buddy. However, both instructors told us that we took too long, since the GUE protocols we learned were elaborate, and both instructors taught us to THINK for ourselves again rather than follow dogma.
The instruction we received in the "dogma" course, did an excellent job dialing us into the skills required in Intro To Tech. At the time, GUE Fundamentals instructors had to be both Trimix and Cave trained. Because high quality isn't necessarily guaranteed by a single instructor or a single course, for SDI instructors, perhaps a better standard would be BOTH cave training, at least Intro to Cave and Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures? This would allow the chance to learn from at least 2 if not 4 different instructors.
It was TDI that turned me onto technical diving because my instructors turned technical diving into what it should be - a thinking person's sport. TDI gave me the passion for technical diving and it is one reason that I became a TDI instructor.
However, while technical diving is cerebral, it is also physical. A diver or instructor can certainly perform cave and technical dives without all the skills in the TDI Intro To Tech course, but to teach the Intro To Tech course an instructor should be able to perform every skill to demonstration quality. While the old school wreck and cave divers may not have seen a backwards kick or have been held to high trim and buoyancy standards, the landscape of technical diving is changing. Entry level technical divers should be expected to develop these skills and the instructors teaching these skills need to be fluid with them. I believe the Intro to Tech course should be taken as perhaps the most quality-defining course in SDI/TDI because it is an opportunity to impress divers previously trained by other organizations and make them very pro SDI/TDI.
The old standard for Intro To Tech instructors did not necessarily guarantee an instructor could perform all of these skills. The new standard not only doesn't guarantee the ability to perform these skills, if anything, it reduces the quality of the skills that will be demonstrated to the student taking an Intro To Tech course and possibly seeing these skills for the first time.
As a "try it before you buy it" course, an introduction to technical diving course is an excellent way to experience and be introduced to technical diving. In this capacity, divers do not need to possess an enormously high skill level. However, as a tool to either sharpen skills for recreational divers, or to prepare recreational divers for the rigors of technical diving, high skill levels for both instructors and students at the Intro To Tech level should be required. While some technically trained SDI instructors could teach an excellent Intro To Tech course, many will not have the time invested in technical diving to develop fluid, perfect or demonstration quality proficiency.
If SDI/TDI is looking for a "try it before you buy" it course to help generate revenue, I don't think sacrificing the quality program that the Intro to Tech course should be is the way to go. If anything, higher standards are warranted.
For TDI instructors, the Intro To Tech class is a lot like an OW class because it is like learning to dive all over again for the students. The student is introduced to new equipment, different procedures and greater degrees of skill difficulty as well as skills they've never seen. Like an open water class, more divers take Intro To Tech than will take Advanced Nitrox & Deco Procedures and Trimix or Cave. For a technical instructor, it is fun to teach, can be taught in shallow water so less travel or logistical problems are faced putting the class together, and it gives the technical instructor, who may be facing instructor burn-out after years of teaching recreational diving, a way of making a living teaching something he or she loves. The Intro To Tech class allows a technical instructor to fill the class with 6 students rather than being limited to 2 or 3. (When I have 6 students, I cycle them in two teams of 3. One team in the water for skills, then they exit and the second team comes in, which works great.)
Many technical instructors have jobs at dive centers just to teach the technical classes. Where I am employed, there are already other SDI, PADI, NAUI, and PDIC instructors teaching recreational courses and I was brought aboard specifically just to teach technical classes. I wasn't even allowed to teach a recreational class. I have 2 SDI certs when an SDI nitrox instructor wasn't available for two students that were scheduled. Yesterday, I saw an SDI facility that did not advertise as TDI and I phoned to ask if they would like TDI courses. They are now interested in working with me - especially for the Intro To Tech course. If the SDI instructors there can teach it, I'll be without a job there right off the bat. At my own shop, 5 SDI instructors (2 who took Advanced Nitrox/Deco with me and 3 who took it elsewhere) could now apply for Intro To Tech. 3 other students of mine who are instructors with other agencies could crossover to SDI and meet the standard. Worse, since they get many more students at the recreational level, they could end up being eligible to be Intro To Tech IT's long before I will. Currently, I have about 14 certs for SDI/TDI because of the combination of interest in technical diving, standards of quality, and the inability to teach recreational level courses where I am employed. I'm still waiting to get 50 certs so I can teach the SDI Solo course - which I cannot teach despite having taken it at the diver level with my TDI cave instructor, being an advanced nitrox & deco instructor with TDI, and being a trained trimix instructor and cave instructor with other agencies. It doesn't make sense that an OW instructor with 50 certs and 1 year of experience could be more qualified to teach a Solo course than a TDI instructor who has been cave, solo, and mixed gas trained. Yet, now, an SDI instructor will be able to teach a class that should require a great deal of technical skill development.
To foster interest in technical diving, I run evening seminars introducing divers to technical diving, wrecks, caves, equipment, battlefield nitrox calculations, and a host of other subjects for FREE. To make this available for the shop to get divers in the door, to promote the Intro To Tech class and other technical courses, I've spent a great deal of my personal finances and time to reach the level of skill and experience that allows me to promote and teach. My standards are high so when the student sees his or her name on a TDI Intro To Tech card, that student can feel a great sense of personal accomplishment and value for the quality of training provided by a TDI instructor adding value to the TDI brand in that student's eyes. How many other TDI instructors have similar employment, experience and standards and will be harmed personally and professionally by the newest standards change to the Intro To Tech course? I'm thinking more instructors will be hurt than SDI/TDI has realized and both dive centers and SDI/TDI will lose in the long run. If experienced technical instructors begin to drop out because they can't make a living, everyone loses. By the way, my TDI Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures instructor stopped teaching because he wasn't getting the numbers. I also no longer see my TDI cave instructor listed with TDI or any of his other agencies. I don't know why he isn't active.
The diving industry and the agencies through which instructors teach, need to do a better job of taking care of the instructors who have paid their dues to the sport in more ways than one and make it possible for professionals to thrive throughout theiur careers.
I honestly believe that SDI/TDI is going to become larger than PADI and is going to change the industry by appealing to both recreational and technical divers and expanding its market into regions now dominated by PADI. I also think in the process that diving will become adventurous again because the PADI model has destroyed the diving industry. As it grows, SDI/TDI has the opportunity to fix what is broken in the diving industry. I think careful decision-making and a long-term view of the diving industry is as important in tough economic times in which the industry is scrambling for cash as it is when we can afford to be more picky.
We should worry as much about retaining instructor talent as we do about retaining divers.
I decided to post this here, rather then privately express my thoughts, because I believe instructor feedback from SDI/TDI regarding the standards change for 2010 may be appreciated by the organization. By awakening others to the potential issues created by this standards change, the benefits or drawbacks can be monitored both by SDI/TDI and individual instructors this year with feedback effecting decisions for 2011.
My question for SDI/TDI HQ staff is how does the standard change benefit students and TDI instructors?
This post isn't meant as a criticism of the organization, but to create a Socratic dialogue or debate among SDI/TDI members on the merits of this change.
However, I disagree with the decisions regarding the Intro To Tech course. In the past, the Intro To Tech course could only be taught by TDI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures instructors. Then, it became available to TDI Nitrox Instructors who hold the equivalent of Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures Instructor with another agency. That standard change is still acceptable since the equivalency of experience and skill level for technical instructors in any agency would allow them to teach a solid TDI Intro To Tech course once on board. Now, the standard has changed to allow SDI instructors who have completed Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures to teach the Intro To Tech course.
I believe this is problematic in 2 ways.
1. It reduces the quality of the Intro To Tech course
2. It takes away the revenue-generating "bread and butter" course for TDI instructors and gives it to SDI instructors who already have revenue-generating courses such as Open Water, Advanced Open Water and Nitrox.
If we look at the in-water standards of the Intro To Tech course, the student is asked to:
- Demonstrate adequate buoyancy control (ability to hover in a fixed position in the water column without moving hands or feet)
- Demonstrate adequate trim (ability to maintain horizontal during descent, bottom, and ascent portion of the dive)
- Demonstrate no-silting propulsion techniques (frog kick, modified frog kick, modified flutter kick, backwards kick)
- Demonstrate ability to perform the following exercises while maintaining trim and buoyancy in the water column:
A. Regulator exchange
B. Regulator recovery
C. Mask partial flood and clear with minimal air loss
D. Mask removal and clear with minimal air loss
E. S-drill
F. Valve drill
G. DSMB/liftbag deployment
In my experience with TDI as a diver level student, my TDI cave diving instructor possessed most every one of these tools except the backwards kick. Since we were cave diving, we never deployed a DSMB, but because my instructor was also a TDI Rebreather and Trimix instructor, I'm sure he could launch a bag proficiently based upon his skill level. I actually taught my cave instructor the backwards kick, because I had taken GUE-Fundamentals and Tech 1 and those high-quality courses honed the above skills to demonstration quality, but he taught me everything else. I have taken other cave courses with instructors from NACD, NSS-CDS, and IANTD, but none could touch my TDI cave instructor's course for the level of quality and proficiency he demanded. As we know, when it comes to trim, buoyancy and propulsion, cave training demands the highest standard of excellence from both student and instructor in comparison to all other endeavors.
Conversely, my TDI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures instructor didn't have the same level of proficiency, being a northeast wreck diver, without cave training. His trim was slightly down and he didn't have a backwards kick, but he was an excellent instructor in so many other ways. We became friends and dive buddies. His knowledge of underwater navigation was the best I've ever encountered of any instructor or diver, even outclassing a friend who had been a Naval aircrew navigator. He used to compliment me by saying that he had never seen anyone in the water with my maneuverability. He also told me and my buddy who had also taken GUE Fundies and Tech 1 that we had demonstration quality skills. My cave instructor told us the same thing since I did my cave training with the same buddy. However, both instructors told us that we took too long, since the GUE protocols we learned were elaborate, and both instructors taught us to THINK for ourselves again rather than follow dogma.
The instruction we received in the "dogma" course, did an excellent job dialing us into the skills required in Intro To Tech. At the time, GUE Fundamentals instructors had to be both Trimix and Cave trained. Because high quality isn't necessarily guaranteed by a single instructor or a single course, for SDI instructors, perhaps a better standard would be BOTH cave training, at least Intro to Cave and Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures? This would allow the chance to learn from at least 2 if not 4 different instructors.
It was TDI that turned me onto technical diving because my instructors turned technical diving into what it should be - a thinking person's sport. TDI gave me the passion for technical diving and it is one reason that I became a TDI instructor.
However, while technical diving is cerebral, it is also physical. A diver or instructor can certainly perform cave and technical dives without all the skills in the TDI Intro To Tech course, but to teach the Intro To Tech course an instructor should be able to perform every skill to demonstration quality. While the old school wreck and cave divers may not have seen a backwards kick or have been held to high trim and buoyancy standards, the landscape of technical diving is changing. Entry level technical divers should be expected to develop these skills and the instructors teaching these skills need to be fluid with them. I believe the Intro to Tech course should be taken as perhaps the most quality-defining course in SDI/TDI because it is an opportunity to impress divers previously trained by other organizations and make them very pro SDI/TDI.
The old standard for Intro To Tech instructors did not necessarily guarantee an instructor could perform all of these skills. The new standard not only doesn't guarantee the ability to perform these skills, if anything, it reduces the quality of the skills that will be demonstrated to the student taking an Intro To Tech course and possibly seeing these skills for the first time.
As a "try it before you buy it" course, an introduction to technical diving course is an excellent way to experience and be introduced to technical diving. In this capacity, divers do not need to possess an enormously high skill level. However, as a tool to either sharpen skills for recreational divers, or to prepare recreational divers for the rigors of technical diving, high skill levels for both instructors and students at the Intro To Tech level should be required. While some technically trained SDI instructors could teach an excellent Intro To Tech course, many will not have the time invested in technical diving to develop fluid, perfect or demonstration quality proficiency.
If SDI/TDI is looking for a "try it before you buy" it course to help generate revenue, I don't think sacrificing the quality program that the Intro to Tech course should be is the way to go. If anything, higher standards are warranted.
For TDI instructors, the Intro To Tech class is a lot like an OW class because it is like learning to dive all over again for the students. The student is introduced to new equipment, different procedures and greater degrees of skill difficulty as well as skills they've never seen. Like an open water class, more divers take Intro To Tech than will take Advanced Nitrox & Deco Procedures and Trimix or Cave. For a technical instructor, it is fun to teach, can be taught in shallow water so less travel or logistical problems are faced putting the class together, and it gives the technical instructor, who may be facing instructor burn-out after years of teaching recreational diving, a way of making a living teaching something he or she loves. The Intro To Tech class allows a technical instructor to fill the class with 6 students rather than being limited to 2 or 3. (When I have 6 students, I cycle them in two teams of 3. One team in the water for skills, then they exit and the second team comes in, which works great.)
Many technical instructors have jobs at dive centers just to teach the technical classes. Where I am employed, there are already other SDI, PADI, NAUI, and PDIC instructors teaching recreational courses and I was brought aboard specifically just to teach technical classes. I wasn't even allowed to teach a recreational class. I have 2 SDI certs when an SDI nitrox instructor wasn't available for two students that were scheduled. Yesterday, I saw an SDI facility that did not advertise as TDI and I phoned to ask if they would like TDI courses. They are now interested in working with me - especially for the Intro To Tech course. If the SDI instructors there can teach it, I'll be without a job there right off the bat. At my own shop, 5 SDI instructors (2 who took Advanced Nitrox/Deco with me and 3 who took it elsewhere) could now apply for Intro To Tech. 3 other students of mine who are instructors with other agencies could crossover to SDI and meet the standard. Worse, since they get many more students at the recreational level, they could end up being eligible to be Intro To Tech IT's long before I will. Currently, I have about 14 certs for SDI/TDI because of the combination of interest in technical diving, standards of quality, and the inability to teach recreational level courses where I am employed. I'm still waiting to get 50 certs so I can teach the SDI Solo course - which I cannot teach despite having taken it at the diver level with my TDI cave instructor, being an advanced nitrox & deco instructor with TDI, and being a trained trimix instructor and cave instructor with other agencies. It doesn't make sense that an OW instructor with 50 certs and 1 year of experience could be more qualified to teach a Solo course than a TDI instructor who has been cave, solo, and mixed gas trained. Yet, now, an SDI instructor will be able to teach a class that should require a great deal of technical skill development.
To foster interest in technical diving, I run evening seminars introducing divers to technical diving, wrecks, caves, equipment, battlefield nitrox calculations, and a host of other subjects for FREE. To make this available for the shop to get divers in the door, to promote the Intro To Tech class and other technical courses, I've spent a great deal of my personal finances and time to reach the level of skill and experience that allows me to promote and teach. My standards are high so when the student sees his or her name on a TDI Intro To Tech card, that student can feel a great sense of personal accomplishment and value for the quality of training provided by a TDI instructor adding value to the TDI brand in that student's eyes. How many other TDI instructors have similar employment, experience and standards and will be harmed personally and professionally by the newest standards change to the Intro To Tech course? I'm thinking more instructors will be hurt than SDI/TDI has realized and both dive centers and SDI/TDI will lose in the long run. If experienced technical instructors begin to drop out because they can't make a living, everyone loses. By the way, my TDI Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures instructor stopped teaching because he wasn't getting the numbers. I also no longer see my TDI cave instructor listed with TDI or any of his other agencies. I don't know why he isn't active.
The diving industry and the agencies through which instructors teach, need to do a better job of taking care of the instructors who have paid their dues to the sport in more ways than one and make it possible for professionals to thrive throughout theiur careers.
I honestly believe that SDI/TDI is going to become larger than PADI and is going to change the industry by appealing to both recreational and technical divers and expanding its market into regions now dominated by PADI. I also think in the process that diving will become adventurous again because the PADI model has destroyed the diving industry. As it grows, SDI/TDI has the opportunity to fix what is broken in the diving industry. I think careful decision-making and a long-term view of the diving industry is as important in tough economic times in which the industry is scrambling for cash as it is when we can afford to be more picky.
We should worry as much about retaining instructor talent as we do about retaining divers.
I decided to post this here, rather then privately express my thoughts, because I believe instructor feedback from SDI/TDI regarding the standards change for 2010 may be appreciated by the organization. By awakening others to the potential issues created by this standards change, the benefits or drawbacks can be monitored both by SDI/TDI and individual instructors this year with feedback effecting decisions for 2011.
My question for SDI/TDI HQ staff is how does the standard change benefit students and TDI instructors?
This post isn't meant as a criticism of the organization, but to create a Socratic dialogue or debate among SDI/TDI members on the merits of this change.
Last edited:
