jkennedy
Guest
Good post Judy. Now go diving at the famous resorts and see what's out there on the dive boats and you will be amazed. Maybe even write a book about some in our sport. Your observations are appreciated........
Thoughts for instructors from a newbie
- Thread starter jstuart1
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Kriterian
Guest
You guys are too nice down there. Our instructors throw your tank in the deep end if you leave it standing up. You'll learn quick not to leave it up, I tell you that!
Thanks for a great post! As a brandy-new instructor I will make note of your observations and make sure I incorporate your comments! Welcome to the big club!
lol, they do that where i go aswell, although if they are not old enough, its a twix penalty, my brother got loads of twixes while he was helping (doing his DM)
they were really mean though, they got fined them when they called fins, flippers; and masks, goggles.
then they had penalties for not putting the dust caps on, they soon learnt, after hearing "Dustcaps or your Kneecaps" long enough
my favorite saying of one of the Instructors was (for cleaning your mask at the start...(spitting))
The Greener the Cleaner, The Whiter the Brighter
lol, our instructors are great! :laugh:
CathyI8205
Contributor
Judy, What agency are you going through? I went through PADI. We did many of the things you mentioned but I'm curious what the others cover that we didn't have time for.
Kriterian, l love what your instructors did with your tanks! Great idea!
Kriterian:
Kriterian, l love what your instructors did with your tanks! Great idea!
As a very newly certified NAUI OW diver I have to say that my instructor was AWESOME! Although at the time of the class I thought she was a royal female dog (she even told us the first day of classroom that we would think that) but once I got out into the water out of a pool I realized why she was the way that she was.
The instructor I had was very picky about the tanks. Although we didn't have a beer or Twix (but those are both really good ideas) penalty there was a large issue made out of tanks being left up. We were in a classroom 3 hours a day for 9 weeks (it was taken as a University class) and in the water for 3 hours a day for 9 weeks. Careful time was taken at all times to make sure that everyone could not only complete the skill, but felt comfortable doing it...or as comfortable as they would ever feel doing it. I, for instance, had a very hard time doing no mask work...but by the end of the class I was able to retrieve my mask and snorkel off the bottom of the pool (15 ft) and have it on my head and snorkel in my mouth. Took a lot of extra work and coaching from my instructor (and some threats to drowned me) but we got through it.
One of the last exercises we did in the pool was what they called "stress management". You and your dive buddy went down with an instructor (we had 2 and a few DM) and just swam around while the instructors and DM screwed with you. The one that we had the instructor took off my mask and while I was putting it on turned the tank off to my dive buddy. We got through it, and I think we are all better divers for it. Another exercise we did involved being basically blind. They put aluminum foil over our masks and had us search the dive well for 4 CO2 cartages. There were probably 7 dive pairs down there so it was a bit crowded. On top of that, there were other things down there....and mean instructors. They had to have their fun too, only their fun was CO2 cartages tied to a string.
Fyr
The instructor I had was very picky about the tanks. Although we didn't have a beer or Twix (but those are both really good ideas) penalty there was a large issue made out of tanks being left up. We were in a classroom 3 hours a day for 9 weeks (it was taken as a University class) and in the water for 3 hours a day for 9 weeks. Careful time was taken at all times to make sure that everyone could not only complete the skill, but felt comfortable doing it...or as comfortable as they would ever feel doing it. I, for instance, had a very hard time doing no mask work...but by the end of the class I was able to retrieve my mask and snorkel off the bottom of the pool (15 ft) and have it on my head and snorkel in my mouth. Took a lot of extra work and coaching from my instructor (and some threats to drowned me) but we got through it.
One of the last exercises we did in the pool was what they called "stress management". You and your dive buddy went down with an instructor (we had 2 and a few DM) and just swam around while the instructors and DM screwed with you. The one that we had the instructor took off my mask and while I was putting it on turned the tank off to my dive buddy. We got through it, and I think we are all better divers for it. Another exercise we did involved being basically blind. They put aluminum foil over our masks and had us search the dive well for 4 CO2 cartages. There were probably 7 dive pairs down there so it was a bit crowded. On top of that, there were other things down there....and mean instructors. They had to have their fun too, only their fun was CO2 cartages tied to a string.
Fyr
Judy,
You are right that classes need to slow down. But do to marketing, most want you to get done as soon as possible and ready for the next class. I teach a 6 to 8 week program on which I have been teaching for years. I have 2 to 4 instructors working with me for safety. If one drops alittle behind, like mask clearing, one of the instructors will work with the person until they are ready to move on.
If you ever want to dive Southern California. email me and I'll be glad to work with you to be able to dive here.
:dazzler1:
You are right that classes need to slow down. But do to marketing, most want you to get done as soon as possible and ready for the next class. I teach a 6 to 8 week program on which I have been teaching for years. I have 2 to 4 instructors working with me for safety. If one drops alittle behind, like mask clearing, one of the instructors will work with the person until they are ready to move on.
If you ever want to dive Southern California. email me and I'll be glad to work with you to be able to dive here.
:dazzler1:
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