Teaching an open water course at the moment has reminded me of what you need to bring with you when you want to learn how to dive. The people I’m teaching at the moment are interested, alert, and full of questions, but more importantly they have brought with them the right attitude- they want to learn. This really came through today in the pool when they put into practice what they’ve been taught and picked it all up really well.
You’d think that much would be obvious; they’ve already decided that they want to learn how to dive and have paid money to do the course, so it makes prefect sense that they should put in some effort so they can be as good divers as possible. Like anything in life, if you work to improve on something, you will improve- simple. Diving instructors can work wonders with people who are new to the underwater world, we get people who are terrified of fish, claustrophobic, agoraphobic, afraid of sharks (we don’t get them here), the list goes on. Yet we are consistently able to not only get people past their fears, they even end up falling in love with diving. We can work with you to help you through any learning difficulties you have, and show you every step of the way what you need to do to improve to the point where you are competent enough to receive your certification.
However, very very occasionally we get people starting the course that assume that they have to just go through the motions to receive their certification and make zero effort- pretty disheartening from an instructor point of view. A good example is people looking at their mobile phones when we are giving them important information. This is obviously not going to help them become good divers. Some people have a little difficulty getting to grips with some aspects of diving, perhaps in the pool, and just give up before they have really even tried. This is very frustrating for instructors as we know we could get them certified and enjoying diving. If only those people would push that little bit further to get through their initial problems. We know better than most that everyone has a different learning curve, and people pick things up in different ways. I don’t know any instructor at Big Blue that wouldn’t be prepared to spend as much time as it takes with someone to get them through to becoming confident and happy underwater, but it’s a two-way process, and it really can be fun at every stage!
At the end of the course when they’re watching themselves having a great time underwater, people often say to us “thank you for being so patient”, as by the end of the course they know what they would have missed out on if they’d just given up early on.. so don’t! When you turn up to do your open water course, have some faith and trust in your instructor (we know what we are doing), push yourself a little, and get involved in the learning process. The rewards are amazing and will last you for the rest of your life.
