In this episode of The Dive Locker Podcast we explore the dive pro rule never do for students what students can do for themselves.
Welcome To The Show!
Welcome to The Dive Locker Podcast, the podcast for dive professionals where we bring you the latest in diving industry resources that make you excellent at teaching techniques, risk management and dive business.
And welcome to the show everyone. Today I’m gonna share one of my favorite personal rules of being a dive pro. It is the motto “never do for students what students can do for themselves.” This is similar to a hands-off policy. Some dive centers tell their employees to avoid touching students as much as possible – well my rule covers those common reasons and more. So we’re going to dig in to how this rule actually will make you a better dive professional and it will make your students and clients, better divers.
Okay when you teach and supervise by this rule a whole new experience opens up for you and your students. It’s called empowerment. Here’s how it works. Let’s say your standing in shallow water teaching students how to put on the scuba unit at the surface. A student put on her BC and her shoulder strap is twisted.
Now there is a tendency of many dive pro’s to help the student by untwisting it for her. EEEHHH The pro has just removed the ability for the student to solve her own problem by doing it himself. Now, when this is done numerous times, the pro has now diminished the training experience by repeatedly stepping in when the student could have been taught to fix the situations themselves.
So aren’t we issuing certifications because we feel comfortable and confident that the diver can be a good, safe and responsible diver? Yes, that’s why I sleep good at night.
Four Areas to Consider
Let’s break this down into some areas of consideration here.
- skill development
- psychological development
- personal space
- buddies
- emergencies
Emergencies
I’m gonna start with emergencies. Look if you need to put your hands on a student because there is imminent harm to your student or diver, then do it. If you see your student floating uncontrollably to the surface you don’t just point to their inflator with some hand signals and hope they resolve it. No! In that situation obviously you need to make contact. So whenever the student or diver is clearly in a situation where harm is potential – by all means go hands on and correct the situation. Right? Okay, enough said about emergency situations.
Skill Development
Let’s look at skill development. In my scenario with the BC strap, instead of doing it for the student, just simply point out the problem and let the student correct it. If you’re out of the water you can talk them through it. Or if underwater, get their attention, point out the problem then hand signal the solution.
Or, give them the stop signal and watch you signal, then you demonstrate how to correct the problem. I do that quite a bit. And guess what after the in water session I debrief and talk about how great he or she did with stopping, breathing and figuring out the problem. Sound familiar? It is because it is in most training agency course materials.
So what are we talking about? Everything. Obviously everything non safety threatening. But, undone straps, or buckles, twisted hoses, octopus coming out of configuration, hair in masks, weight pouch replacement, tons of things where YOU could easily solve the situation – but – so can they.
Remember, they will be a better diver if you’re not groveling all over them and helping them with every issue. Let them do what what it takes to problem solve. They will be better divers in the long run for it. Otherwise you’re creating divers who are dependent on dive supervisors – uh no – that’s not what we want out of divers.
Buddies
We also have buddies to consider here. As you know, sometimes we see one buddy who is overzealous in “assisting” the other buddy. This is often a parent child or a husband wife, boyfriend girlfriend, and much of the time it’s the guy doing everything for the girl. That’s not me being sexist that’s what we all see – I can hear you nodding your head right now.
So in this we also have the opportunity for buddies to adopt this same mantra and that they don’t have to rush in and save the day unless it’s an emergency. They too learn to point out a problem to their buddy and let the other diver resolve it. Now everyone’s on the same page. Also, when talking can take place teach your buddies to ask the other buddy if they want help. Simple as that.
Let’s say one buddy puts the BC on but the cummerbund was velcroed and its behind the back. You’ve seen this before, now that buddy is struggling to get the velcro undone and back to the front. Well, the other buddy could say to him – Hey your cummerbund is behind your back, that might be tricky to get. Reach back and … blah blah blah, if the other buddy gets it great, he just saved the day. However if not, then this buddy can ask Would you like me to help you? Then he can say yes or no to the help.
Personal Space
If the buddy says no, that could be because he wants to work it out himself OR the buddy may have an issue with our next point – personal space. What we must remember is that our life support equipment in diving is worn on the torso and most of the component parts are on the front of the torso. This is a very vulnerable area for most people and when you add the inability to explain ones actions underwater. Also with the limited field of vision wearing a mask, it’s quite unsettling when someone rushes in and starts touching and grabbing in this area.
Now add to that with girls and women – the breasts are a particularly sensitive area – i mean culturally, yes physically too, but you get what Im saying. And when dive pro’s or buddies start playing with houses and straps in that region of the chest it can be very uncomfortable for a woman – even when wearing a wetsuit or drysuit.
For this reason when I have to perform the CESA drill I am very open and communicative about how my left hand will come under the right shoulder strap of the student. I tell that to the whole class, and then I remind the person of that before we do the actual skill. This puts your divers at ease with all the announcing and accountability for where exactly my hand will go.
Psychological Development
And finally let’s consider that this rule helps in the psychological development of divers. First, technology and techniques are the only things keeping divers alive underwater. So when there is a minor problem, the mind recognizes this and it seems the deeper the diver is underwater, the mind perceives a greater threat when a problem arises.
So, if in your class you repeatedly stay hands off and let the diver solve his or her problems, then that diver has been enabled to play into his or her situations and gives them greater skills and confidence when the need arises. Brilliant isn’t it? This works folks. I have watched students do their equipment removal and replacement underwater and in neutral buoyancy – because that is how I teach it – then they have an issue with the reg, a hose, a strap, and they just simply stay neutral, slow down, and work it out. I’m right there ready if they get into an issue but I’m so impressed with how they respond because I never do for the student what the student can do for himself or herself.
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Thanks For Listening!
That’s it for today, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. Remember to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, that way you’ll be notified of new episodes as soon as they go live and please leave a rating. Items talked about in this episode can be found on the show notes Page at scubaguru.com . There you can also click the microphone and leave us a comment. Thanks again. We’ll see you in the next episode. Safe diving and take good care of my friends.
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