Instructor Foundation Course - 2005

Held at Exeter on 26 - 27 November 2005

Bright and early on Saturday morning I arrived in the car park at the venue for the IFC course. I was expecting some kind of direction from here to the actual location of the course – but there wasn’t anything or anyone around. Then I saw a guy unloading a diving cylinder from his car! Aha, I thought, I’ll follow him! It was a long way from the car park to the classroom and it was up a couple of flights of stairs!! You need to be fit for this Instructor lark, obviously.

The first morning was spent on the theory of how we learn, together with a practical demonstration of the ‘perfect’ lesson, courtesy of Sophie Rennie.

Then after lunch it was on to a practical session in the pool. Each instructor (ours was Sophie) had four pupils and she took us through a variety of pool drills, giving us a practical demonstration of how it should be done. Sophie made it look easy as she gave us our poolside briefing and then broke each lesson down into easy steps. The rest of the day was spent preparing for our own theory and practical lesson thefollowing day.

First thing on Sunday we all had to give a (strictly timed) 10 minute lesson on a subject we had prepared the night before. Each presentation was followed up by feedback and constructive criticism from our instructor and the other trainees. Then, with hardly a pause, it was into the pool as we each gave our 20-minute pool lesson. It had been stressed the previous day how important it is to keep briefings concise and to the point as pool time is precious. I think all of us found it amazing how quickly 20 minutes goes….

For trained divers of some experience, it is very easy to overlook a basic step that you take for granted but which the trainee just doesn’t know to do unless you tell them. One of the guys in my training group gave a great poolside briefing, then turned to his trainees and said “Right, OK, let’s get kitted up”. As new trainees, we all duly stood round looking dumb (not all that hard to do!) until he realised his mistake and took us through ‘how to kit up’.

The IFC is a great introduction to instructing. The focus of the course is extremely hands-on. There’s no exam at the end of it but it’s still a bit nerve-racking giving presentations and lessons, especially in front of the SW area coach!! However, the emphasis was firmly on passing on tips and helping us all start out on our journey up the instructing ladder. It was a full-on weekend but all the trainees helped each other out and the instructors gave freely of their vast collective experience.

I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to building on my new skills with some real trainees!!