Does the idea of a horde of Divemasters becoming Open Water SCUBA Instructors frighten you more than a gory zombie flick? Do new SCUBA divers saying they want to “go pro” creep you out more than Pee Wee Herman?
SCUBA Dive Center Owners Fear Con Ed More Than Frankenstein*
If there are more SCUBA diving professionals, there’s more competition, right? Competition is both scary and bad, so continuing education should not be encouraged! Forget that a larger staff means more word of mouth marketing, bigger classes and more SCUBA diving equipment and SCUBA vacations can be sold. Nevermind that you could be employing more people and sharing the underwater world with new SCUBA divers.
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.”
Fearing competition stifles innovation. Most dive centers I walk into look like a set out of Sea Hunt. Most dive center web sites look like they were designed by a fifth grader (back in 1995). Is this marketing to a modern SCUBA diver? I certainly hope not.
So give it a thought, what is it really that frightens you so much about promoting Continuing Education for your SCUBA divers?
*not an actual statistic
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{ 8 comments }
I say bring on the new students who want to share in our great experiences as instructors. It is up to us, the instructors to train them well, teach them safety, our responsibility as instructors to teach others as we would want to be taught. Our opinion is , the more people that are interested in scuba as a profession the more people they will bring into the sport! Our experience has been that more mature professionals are looking to become instructors and bring a wealth of experience outside of the scuba industry into diving, which only helps to promote, secure, and advance the sport! Hail hail to new DM's and people who share their love of diving and teaching.
I love your enthusiasm! I think you're dead-on in your comment about mature professionals bringing outside experiences into the SCUBA industry. We need to RELATE to others OUTSIDE our industry, and recruiting those experienced people is an incredible way to do that. If you'll take a PADI diver, I'd love to come get my cave certification
At the end of the day it's up to the LDS (Local Dive Shop) and what their practices are that influence new instructors. I was fortunate enough to have to team teach for quite a while when I was an OWSI.
After that it was store policy to have a 4 to 1 ratio in the pool and pretty much 2 to 1 in open water to not break standards by the letter of the law (CESA and Alt Air Ascent).
"Quote – Co-teaching is a joke"
Ha…not where I grew up in scuba…and worked as an MI. If I didn't tell the owner that the new OWSI was "Good to Go" he/she wasn't teaching. Guess that's why he's now the DEMA Pres.
Don't get me wrong, I have no disillusions of grandeur about this..it was for insurance liability and self preservation, but isn't that a good thing for divers as well?
As for not wanting new instructors…I can only say that unless you're of the age of Cousteau then you're newer than the "old core" and just trying to hold on to using a J-Valve! But that's just my two cents.
Additionally, I was never so proud as when one of my former IDC candidates was selected for course director. How's that for "snapping in" new instructors?
Safe Diving,
Rich
It sounds like you and I have had similar experiences regarding co-teaching, "enhanced" standards and a pro-advancement mentality. I may have to do some research to see what this philosophy has on the long term success of an LDS.
I think you said it perfectly. I learned from a shop that trained all of our local law enforcement dive teams, which may have contributed to our higher quality standards. It sounds like you are fortunate to have a great instructor. Best of luck on your AI program and continuing on as a SCUBA professional!
If you fear the new SCUBA instructors because of safety concerns then you should look at the instructors doing the teaching. All of my training has centered around safety and on many occasions have been sent information where instructors have killed their students and was asked to give my thoughts of what safety concerns there were that the instructor didn’t pick up on or caused the ending. My instructor is always keeping me thinking about the what if and how to solve it. I am working on my assistant instructor and I feel that i am getting ready for that next step because of the great training that I have received. I feel that I will be a topnotch instructor. I have personally witnessed “seasoned” instructors do things that were so unsafe that it made me grateful that I have the instructor that I have because I know in confidence that he will not get me killed and likewise I will not kill anyone else. There are so many different variations to SCUBA training and there is no true standards among all training agencies which leaves a vacuum for crappy instructors to hide in.
It comes down to the CRAP training you get is the CRAP training you put out and it all starts with the instructor.
This is silly. I fear new instructors for safety concerns. There is no program that requires or compensates new instructors. Co-teaching is a joke. Becoming a DM or Dive Con is a joke. Most folks who are DM's have none of the skills needed to help out. Most instructors PAY for specialties rather than actually learning. There is no refresh or expiration for scuba to begin with. If you want to discuss this in depth – contact me.
I'm a little confused:
"I fear new instructors for safety concerns." Aren't all instructors "new instructors" at some point?
"There is no program that requires or compensates new instructors." This just doesn't make any sense to me, could you please elaborate?
"Co-teaching is a joke. Becoming a DM or Dive Con is a joke. " Are you suggesting becoming a dive professional is not a worthwhile endeavor?
"There is no refresh or expiration for scuba to begin with." I completely agree with this statement which is why I strongly push for all of my students to go through a refresher if they haven't been diving for 6 months or more, especially if planning to go on a dive excursion.
I'll email you also so we can discuss further.
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