I can’t get used to the air conditioning here! It drives me bonkers! At least I get to go into a heated pool later so that kinda makes up for it I guess. We are over half way through with the PADI IDC here ay Adventure Sports scuba in Kansas and it has been going great. We are off to the pool again this afternoon and with the students already doing a great job on their confined presentations we are going to work this evening on skill circuits and rescue demonstrations. We are lucky enough here to have a pool that is 4ft at one end and 12ft at the other which means that practicing skills in the pool is relatively straight forward and gives everyone a good chance to perfect their scuba demonstration skills.
Demonstration of scuba skills is important when you are working as a dive instructor, you want to clearly explain to your students what they need to do, and obviously underwater this is not so easy as you can’t talk. Some of the criteria for this is to make sure your movements and skill demos are exaggerated, fluid and "easy" to follow. This way, once underwater, your students will be clear on what they are trying to accomplish.
The purpose of the PADI IDC is to train you to become a "real world" instructor. Passing the IE is obviously part of this process but is merely a step in the whole ladder of becoming a scuba instructor. If you are trained to tackle real world problems and scenarios then passing the IE will be relatively straight forward, plus a few additional nerves.
I am so used to running my PADI training courses in a resort environment whereas this dive store is a landlocked diver resort. Completely the other end of the spectrum here, no daily access to ocean, but plenty of inland lakes. A large part of the PADI IDC is understanding the scuba business, as if you want to be a great instructor, and forge a career in the scuba diving business, then you need to understand, not just how to teach, but how all aspects of the scuba diving industry works, well....not completely but have a good understanding at least. Here in Kansas, the underlying concepts are the same as in Costa Rica but I am working with a different audience of divers. For example, here, I may be looking at promoting a scuba travel trip, but in costa rica...I am on the receiving end of that, and maybe trying to forge relationships with scuba clubs in other places. Tomorrow evening we are going to be discussing some different marketing ideas here as we are trying to revitalize and inspire a new generation of scuba instructors. onwards and upwards!!! As of right now....here we go to the pool to polish of our skills!