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.

I’m your host Tec Clark and welcome to the very first episode of The Dive Locker podcast. I am so excited to be here and I’m so excited that you are here. Welcome. You know it was put on my heart to create a podcast that was dedicated to dive professionals, divemasters, assistant instructors, instructors, instructor trainers, course directors, faculty. It can be also for dive center owners and managers and operators of dive boats and vessels. Look, if you’re in the diving industry as a leader or a professional, this podcast is for you. Now, what is it that makes this special and why is it relevant to you? It’s because we are going to go over news and information that is for you. Now I’m not talking press releases. There will be some press releases because there are some things that are really good to know in our industry, but not every press release is going to make it onto this podcast.

Why? Because frankly, there are some things that just really don’t need to be expressed to you as a dive professional. It’s need to know, and so if you don’t need to know it, it’s not going to be on here. What we want to do is focus on things that are going to make you better at what you do, and so in this pursuit of excellence, we are going to bring on all kinds of news information and cutting edge topics. We’re going to talk about what is the latest and greatest, but look back at history. What were things that we learned from the past. We’re going to get into even controversial topics at times, things that can be debated and argued and hey look, we’re going to go over that balancing act of the good and the bad of things as well. We’re going to talk to guests and have them come from different agencies, organizations, manufacturers, different businesses.

We’re going to have experts on. They’re giving you their best practices because that is how we are all going to flourish in many, many different areas of what we do in this profession, in this industry, is to hear the best practices and to learn that from the people that are doing it well. And Hey, we may even bring in people from outside the diving industry. If maybe you had expertise in business and it’s a recreational pursuit or whatnot. Hey, we can learn, right? So here’s another thing that’s going to be a unique about this podcast. It’s going to be agency neutral. Now we get really worked up in our industry about our training agencies, right? And we’ve got all this affiliation to one agency or another, or maybe you’ve got a couple under your belt or so forth. The deal is if you’re basing your view on another agency because of, let’s say the dive shop down the road, and the dive shop owner that you don’t particularly care for, or the way that they’re doing things, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s an agency issue, right?

So what we want to do here is we want to bring agencies to the table so that you’ll hear from training directors, from different agencies that will say, “Hey, here’s what we got going on new”. And you can make your opinions and judgments and get information right from the agency’s mouth. And so that is a really great thing to do. We need to avoid some of the rumor mill that goes on in our industry, right? And you know what I’m talking about? So to hear it in this podcast, from the best of the best in our industry and of the agencies and organizations and manufacturers driving the industry is going to be a really key component of this podcast. So what is the episode’s format’s going to be like, well, what we’re going to do is give this to you every week. So every week you’re going to get a 30 minute episode, approximately 30 minutes so that it is timely and it is bite size and to the point, so you’re on your two mile walk or run or whatever.

You can listen to a 30 minute segment on your two mile walk or at the gym or in your car commute to work or wherever it is that you listen to podcasts. So again, every week we’re going to be launching and it will be 30 minute episodes. We’re going to have different segments. And those segments are going to be all kinds of topics within our industry that relate to you as a dive pro. We’re going to talk about training, we’re going to talk about teaching, we’re going to talk about risk management, and of course the business of diving. We’ll bring in travel. We’re in everything that really does matter to you. And those segments are going to be such a vital part of this. And guess what? Some of those things we’re going to wind up hearing from you. And I’m going to tell you about that in a moment, what that means for you to be involved in these.

But there will be segments that come from you that you have suggested to us and so forth. So I’ll, I’ll talk about that later. And then finally, you’ll also hear from sponsors. You know, it costs money to put on a podcast. And to do that we need sponsors. So you will hear from sponsors that we have occasionally and episodes and that is a really appreciated thing to keep us live and going strong for years to come.

So let’s talk about why this show. Well, I absolutely love our industry. I’ve made it a career. I’ve been a pro for 30 years. The thing is that as an industry we are competing with other outdoor recreations and as the consumer gets to be a little bit more finicky about all the different things that they can do and with health being at an all time high and the abilities of people, they are exploring more options than ever for outdoor recreation, we need to be competitive in that market.

Underwater exploration is awesome, but we need to make it better. And how we do that is located in the way that we teach, the way that we conduct ourselves in business practices, the way that we handle risk. All of these things are going to be so important to how we flourish as an industry. And that starts with the frontline people. So what do I mean by frontline? Well, that’s going to be you, the dive pro, our retailers, our dive operators. And here’s something to think about. According to DEMA, recreational scuba diving and snorkeling contribute about $11 billion to the US Gross Domestic Product. Now that’s a big industry, but our frontline forces, those retailers and dive operators I have been talking about, you professionals rarely have any business training whatsoever. And so you hear that our sport comes from one that is kind of a grassroots and organically built industry where you have people that are so passionate about sharing the underwater world with others that they become a pro.

And they do that in a supervisory capacity like divemasters or an instructional capacity like instructors. And then what they rise up into saying, “hey, let’s look at doing this full time”. And so that might be as a full time independent instructor or hang a shingle and get a dive shop or a dive boat or a shop with a boat, a dive center. And so when we start to look at how these businesses grow, our frontline folks are the ones that are putting this all out there to the consumer. And as my friend Darcy Kieran says, having a dive center is like having six businesses in one. And if you think about it, it’s very true because we have to be able to serve the needs of diving and we have to do that in so many facets. And so how do we do that? Well is going to be one of the keys to the show.

We’re also going to talk about the risk management side of our industry. Now let’s think about this. Our professional liability insurance is rising every year. The cost of teaching and supervising scuba impacts all of us. Now, why is this? Well, frankly it’s because there are claims and these claims are getting paid out and these payouts are affecting the bottom line of the insurance companies that we do our business with. And so as claims arise, the cost of our professional liability policies is rising. So what does that mean folks? It’s simple. It means tightening up on risk management principles and techniques that will make diving safe and will make training safe and dive supervision safe. Most dive professionals think they are doing good at risk management principles, but obviously there are issues. So what we want to do is uncover some of the best practices of risk management so that we not only can be better ourselves, but if we see things that are just going a little wonky out there with other people, hey look, we need to bring that up.

If we don’t police ourselves, then someone will, or teaching scuba in this industry is just going to be cost prohibitive. Again, we can do better and we will through strategies in this podcast and also we can be better at our teaching techniques. A new diver thinks their instructor hung the moon, but how many times have we seen that a new diver that can’t equalize or they have no neutral buoyancy whatsoever or they are 10 pounds over-weighted come on, we can do better than this! You see, we need to share the best practices that make students great products of our services (teaching). So how we can do it better is going to be a big part of this podcast. Not only is it in the pool, it’s in the open water, it’s on the dive boat and it’s in the dive shop, on the show floor. These are the many things that are going to be a part of this podcast.

So who am I the one that’s leading this as your host? Well, many of you know me from the diving industry. Many of you know me from the League of Extraordinary Divers Podcast and for those that I don’t know, I’m pleased to meet you. Tec is my nickname. Thomas E. Clark, Tec has nothing to do with technical diving or technology or anything like that. It’s just my nickname. And I began diving here in Lauderdale by the Sea at the age of 12. Then I went on to get my PADI open water and advanced open water certifications and promptly went to the University of Florida. And in my sophomore year I had to drop a golf class. There was a table, a drop-add table. And there were some instructors there and they said, “hey, are you to diver?

I said, “yes, I am”. They said, “what level of diver are you?” I said, “I’m an advanced diver”, and they said, “all right, well we’ve got a course that’s called assistant instructor. It’s your next level up. Why don’t you take it and it’s two credit hours.” So sure enough, I joined up, took the class and I joined the University of Florida Academic Diving Program and that semester I learned all there was about academic diving and being an assistant instructor. Loved it and promptly went onto my instructor training course. I became a NAUI instructor, a YMCA instructor, a CMAS instructor, and a PADI instructor all at the University of Florida Academic Diving Program. And that was 1988, a long time ago. And so I was able to teach in auditoriums. I spoke at YMCA conventions, NAUI events, I began writing for Currents – that’s the YMCA’s publication and Sources.  NAUI’s publication.  And that really got me to a point where we started to realize as young men and women at the University of Florida that we were doing some special things and we really were passionate about teaching.

Well, my mom got cancer and I decided to move back home to be with her. When I was back home in Fort Lauderdale, I joined up with a local dive shop called Orbit Marine Sports in Pompano Beach. I was divemastering and I was instructing and working the dive shop, but there was more that I wanted. I was giving up cave diving, I couldn’t cave dive anymore. So I was kinda missing my adrenaline and cool stuff to do. So I joined up with the Broward Sheriff’s Office Dive Rescue Team as a volunteer. And so with that I was able to experience the challenging side of public safety diving, but it was also absolutely fascinating, especially for a 21 year old kid.

And so I did that for a couple of years and my mom got good. She was all better with her cancer and I got an invite from the University of Florida to come back and be the managing director of the Academic Diving Program. So I did that and finished my time there while I graduated spent many years at the University of Florida Academic Diving Program and then I received an internship to the YMCA Scuba Program and I moved to Atlanta and went to the headquarters of YMCA Scuba. And there I was able to be an intern, then roll into a consultant, then roll into the assistant director, then roll into the national director all within a two year period. And that was a rich time being with the YMCA allowed me to go to dive centers all over the country, even internationally and teach and learn from others and visit dive centers as well as YMCAs and colleges and universities and their different dive programs.

I was also able to be a part of the RSTC the Recreational Scuba Training Council. That is the organization that’s a secretary of ANSI. You’ve heard of ANSI before, American National Standards Institute. That’s, you know, you see an ANSI sticker on a bike helmet, right? That’s because there are standards in these type of recreational pursuits. And so the RSTC is who creates the minimum standards in our diving industry. So I was able to serve alongside of SSI, PADI, IDEA, and PDIC. It was a fantastic, fantastic way to see the industry from kind of one of the highest levels of gathering together and creating industry standards. At that same time, I got into freediving. Now I always had been a freediver. But at this time it was really neat because we were with CMAS not only at University of Florida, but also YMCA. The YMCA Scuba program was a sanctioning body for CMAS here in the United States.

And with that, CMAS was also doing records for freediving. So I became a freediving judge with CMAS. And my passion just exploded as I was being a judge for record competitions for people like Tanya Streeter and Mehgan Heaney-Grier and Alejandro Ravello and really great upcoming freedivers at the time that were setting national and world records. Well that led to creating the US  Freediving Team. So Mehgan Heaney-Grier and I in 1996 created the first United States Freediving Team and it was great to see that team flourish, especially the women getting a Gold at the Pacific Cup of freediving in the early 2000’s. I also had a passion for safety and so teaming up with Divers Alert Network and becoming a trainer with them was really important to the mission of dive safety and educating others and higher level areas of rescue and risk management and first aid and treatment.

Well that passion rolled into me moving back down to South Florida and becoming a forensic dive accident investigator once my time was done with the YMCA. This was a unique area to be a part of. Yes, this is the CSI of the underwater world. So forensic dive accident investigators work with the insurance companies and attorneys with the insurance companies to process claims and to investigate those claims and to see what can be done and should be done with the dive professionals in the payouts and the claims and potential litigation that goes with that. A really interesting, sometimes very dark side of our sport. Then I was able to join up with Pro Dive, one of the legendary instructor training institutions in the United States and I was able to be a part of a couple of different ownerships of Pro Dive and really look at that company as it grew into a new era.

At that same time, I also was able to launch a ministry in diving. Reef Ministries is a ministry that lookes at the underwater world as the handiwork of God. And so growing up I really had not much of a faith, but getting older and having a wife and kids and just looking at the blessings and the beauty of the underwater world. All of that together just really touched me. And yes, I had a conversion experience and just really resonated with my life as a Christian became something really, really big and important to me. So my faith rose and I decided to turn the gifts that God had given me and diving and kind of help others with that. So I was able to take out church groups and homeschoolers and really explore the underwater world as the handiwork of God. And that was with Reef Ministries and reefministries.com is still going well today.

And then I was able to join up with Nova Southeastern University. Now I took a small gig with them to teach some lessons on the side and all of a sudden the President of the University, Dr. George Hanbury, needed a refresher. So I gave him a refresher and at in his early seventies Dr. Hanbury, I put him through the paces and at the end of our refresher he said, “I learned more in my refresher with you than I learned in my beginning courses. What is that about?” I said, “it’s academic diving and that’s what I did for 10 years at the University of Florida Academic Diving Program. And by the way, Nova Southeastern University with their brilliant oceanographic center should also have an academic diving program too. He said, “write me a proposal.” And seven months later we launched the Nova Southeastern University Academic Diving Program. And that’s what I also do to this day.

Now I don’t say all of this to toot my own horn, what I’m doing to kind of give you my background is to share with you the great experience that I have in this industry has many different legs to it. And seeing the industry from that view allowed me to see what was going on in many corners of the industry, not only the challenges that we constantly hear about, but also the best practices. And so what I want to do is bring the connections and experiences that I’ve made over a 30 year career in this industry and bring this to you in a podcast that highlights the best practices in our industry and that will make all of us better. That will rise the tide which rises all ships. And so that is one of the big, big, big things about this podcast is how we can do best practices.

So I’m going to invite many people that I’ve had the blessing and honor of working with through the years and being in, in different organizations with, and being on different committees with, and they are also going to be a part of this show. So that’s what this is all about. Best Practices. And by being an active listener yourself, you are part of The Dive Locker Nation. You will be a better dive pro. You’ll be better at teaching techniques, better at risk management and better at dive business. Now remember what I said earlier about how you can be involved? Well, this is where you can simply go to www.scubaguru.com and at scubaguru.com you will find the section for The Dive Locker podcast. When you get onto that page for the dive locker podcast, you’re going to see a microphone icon. Those microphones will be different topics. They could be things that are just about a tip or a technique on a certain area.

It could be on what you want to hear for future episodes. It could be about encouragement for the show or what we could do to improve. Just click on the microphones and start talking. You might be on the podcast! Again, that’s over at www.scubaguru.com The Dive Locker is what you’re looking for. So again, my friends, this is the inaugural episode. I am so excited that you’re here. I’m so excited that we’re launching. There’s more great things to come. This is just the preface of what it is and what the show is about. Next episodes, you’re going to hear all kinds of things that we’ve got lined up for you to be better as a dive pro. So again, I thank you for being here. I thank you for being a part of The Dive Locker Nation and I look forward to serving you every week. So thank you everybody and we’ll see you next time. Take good care and safe diving my friends.

Hi Tec, it’s Stephen Frink. I enjoyed the podcast we worked on together for your League of Extraordinary Divers project and now very much looking forward to The Dive Locker. Good luck.

Hi, this is Dan Orr of Dan Orr Consulting and I just wanted to say best of luck to Tec Clark and his new podcast, The Dive Locker. I have no doubt that it’ll be both enjoyable and extremely informative.

Tec, it’s Mermaid Linden from Mermaids in Motion. I just want to congratulate you on the new ScubaGuru podcast. I’m very much looking forward to listening to it and I think it’s going to be “mermific”. Cheers.

This is Grant Graves of Soggy Science and Pod Aquatics. I want to wish Tec an amazing and successful run with The Dive Locker. Good luck buddy.

Hey TC. It’s Kell from Rainbow Reef. Having been shoved into a lot of lockers as a school boy I’m a little nervous about the new podcast, but I know you’re going to kick butt! Break a leg brother.

Hey there. This is Michael Feld from Oceanblue Dive in New York City, wishing Tec Clark the best of luck with his new podcast.

Hey Tec, Ryan over at Born of Water and Spirit Apparel. I just wanted to say congratulations and good luck on the new podcast and I’m looking forward to listening to the new series.

Hey Tec, this Jack Snively at NAUI headquarters in Tampa, Florida. I was really excited when I heard about your new podcast for dive professionals. I have no doubt that you’re going to touch many lives for the better. Thanks buddy. Good luck.

Hey this is Rachel Cushman, your current Scuba Queen USA and ADSO at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. I can’t wait for this new podcast and to listen in on what’s new in The Dive Locker. Good luck!

Aloha. This is Keller Laros, the Manta Man of Kona, Hawaii, and I want to wish Tec Clark great luck with his new podcast, The Dive Locker. Be sure to check it out.

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