#prodiveuk

As a new Course Director, and especially a female one, I was full of enthusiasm to fulfil my role and provide all of my candidates with a unique and positive experience during their professional training to make them the best possible PADI Pros that they can be.

However, when I was contacted by Emma Hewitt from PADI about conducing an OWSI course for an out of status Course Director, my attention was instantly grabbed and I wanted to know more about this unique and rare opportunity.

Upon further discussions with PADI I was told that this was no ordinary out of status Course Director but she happened to be the first ever female Course Director not just in her town or region, but the whole of Brazil and I was completely blown away that I was asked to get her up to speed ready for her Instructor Exam so she could regain her Master Instructor status before having the opportunity to attend a CDTC to once again be a fully-fledged Course Director in her own right.

Renata and I had many conversations in the lead up to her training to arrange logistics (she was travelling from Cornwall to Hampshire for the course) and the materials that she would require as hers were now a little out of date, and in Portuguese. Once all of these details had been discussed and agreed it was time to plan the course itself and the staff needed for its completion.

I had trained two Staff Instructors since becoming a CD and as one of them is my Dive Centre Manager who was needed to look after Ocean Turtle whilst the course was being run, I asked Bettie to assist me throughout Renata’s training. It was to be an all-female OWSI course and we even ended up with two other aspiring instructors, Becks and Teresa, helping during the confined and open water sessions, making us look like the modern day, diving equivalent of the Spice Girls.

The training itself went brilliantly and myself, Bettie and Renata were all able to share our own experiences that benefited each of us. Renata was able to give us an amazing insight into the way that PADI training has evolved during her career and how it compares to now. Watching the videos within the presentations was, for Renata, like watching a group of old friends on the big screen and she was able to share some stories about the people within them!

I was able to give Renata all the latest and up to date information from PADI as I had only completed my CDTC a few months prior to her course and share with her new stories from when I had met the people that she came to know so well during her time working as a CD.

As for Bettie, she, as ever, provided us with boundless enthusiasm and her unique outlook on the world and the ways that she tries to keep all levels of training interesting and innovative for both the students and instructor teams that she works with.

Although the course took place in July, Renata wouldn’t be completing her IE until October when the whole team was reunited again at PADI HQ in Bristol. This was another really exciting and positive occasion for women in diving as the IE was conducted by two female examiners and the candidates were being supported by three female course directors! The IE was a huge success and Renata is once again an in-status Master Instructor.

The whole OWSI course was a really positive experience for all of us and, as it took place around the time of PADI Women’s Day, I hope that it can inspire a whole new generation of women in diving to strive towards the elite, whether it be as an MSD at the top of the recreational path or as a Course Director like me.

As a new instructor full of enthusiasm, I was keen from the very beginning to look at new and innovative ideas that I could implement whilst delivering training to keep things interesting, not just for the students, but for me too.

As I qualified in December, the first thing that I wanted to do was escape the cold weather so I proposed the idea to Ocean Turtle Diving of providing students with all of their confined water training in the UK and then taking them to Spain for the Open Water qualifying dives. This proved to be a success despite apocalyptic sea conditions and an idea worth exploring further.

On my return from Spain, I was keen to continue innovating ways to add maximum value to all of the students that I was to teach and mentor. One of the most satisfying courses that I coordinated was for a pair of rescue divers embarking on their PADI pro journey.

Fresh from my own IDC that linked in with the OCR Diploma in Management, I decided to add bespoke modules to their Divemaster course that introduced a lot of the business principles that I had learned during my own training to help maximise their marketability as a PADI professional. Along with Kerrie from Ocean Turtle, we also linked these into the IDC syllabus for the instructor courses that they run.

After the success of these pro courses, Kerrie and I decided to embark upon a joint venture, ProDiveUK (www.prodiveuk.com), to expand the audience for our pro level courses with the addition of the business modules that will help create and run successful dive centres. We are also going to offer this training, like my first trip as an instructor, in Span during the winter months which is an idea that is already proving popular.

Away from the trips abroad and the creation of bespoke training programmes for PADI pros I’ve also found that for each course that is being taught, you need to keep things interesting. Some of the most successful ideas that we have tried are taking a variety of food on deep dives including raw eggs which we crack open to highlight pressure changes, taking balloon animals on the same dive as an experiment as to whether it would hold its shape or sending people off in teams and making a Dive Against Debris dive a competition.

Whether it is recreational or professional level training that you are teaching, always look for something new to bring courses to life, whether it’s travel, props or experiments to keep you and your students fully engaged and enthusiastic throughout all levels of training! Any idea that you have, even if it doesn’t quite work as you’d like (tomatoes are pretty boring underwater by the way) keep you and the students interested and makes them return to your dive centre wondering what their next training dive will have in store.