OW pool training

[AquaDez]

Hey all,

I was just wondering that if when you did your pool training was it at a location where the pool was ONLY occupied by you and your class? Or was it at a community pool open to the neighborhood where you had kids jumping off the diving board above your head while you were doing your certification skills tests? I just went through the pool class this past weekend and found it odd that I was kicked a few times by a kid jumping in the deep end... Is that normal?

 

[boulderjohn]

Never seen it.

I have worked for a scuba shop that had its own pool, so that was obviously not going on. I currently work for a shop that uses a recreational center pool. They rent lanes in the pool, with the number of lanes they rent depending upon the number of students in the class. When they do so, they have exclusive rights to those lanes.

 

[Mcote]

My classes were held in the dive shop in their own pool. Approx 4ft at the shallow end and approx 10-12 ft at the deep end. Not a very big pool, but plenty big enough. And no kids jumping off a diving board on your head!

I should add that since I certified through the shop, on Sunday afternoons, for $10, I can go to the shop, grab all of the class gear I need and use the pool for a few hours. Certainly is a good deal here in the KC area where there isn't any open water to dive in.

 

[pasley]

I have used public pools when dive shops have brought me in to teach a paralyzed or blind student. In all cases we had sections of the pool that were our alone. That said, it is hard to stop a snot nosed kid who runs and despite the lifeguard saying not to, jumps into the deep end of the pool. But no, if they are teaching there should not be anything overhead such as swimmers or divers to avoid injury to them or you and to have a clear path if somone bolts to the surface.

 

[AquaDez]

The lifeguard did not say anything as to keeping them away from where we were training. When doing the 200m swim part we were told to take 1 lane and have all 12 people in the class circle up and back in that lane together. When we were doing the 10 min floating portion there were kids doing laps in between us. The lifeguard was sitting in their chair not saying anything. If this is any indiction of what's to come, I am seriously considering not going into the OW with this dive group...

 

[boulderjohn]

Wow!

The shop I use now has different number of lanes dedicated to it based upon the number of students in the class. It is the shop decision how many lanes are needed, and they pay accordingly. I wonder if something like that is going on in your case. I don't blame you for being concerned.

 

[TMHeimer]

When I took OW and Rescue the shop used (rented) the big community (city) pool. We had a certain area (which was big enough and had shallow and deep end). There were others using other areas of the pool. No problem. In recent years we have used a pool owned by a "Survival Systems" organisation. They let us use it for classes free of charge and at times hire divers to work during their survival tests. We are always alone in the pool, though it is only about 8 by 11 meters in size (making swim tests interesting).

 

[DukeAMO]

Our pool training was in a large crowded city pool. We usually had our own lane, but at one point we had 3 dive classes sharing one lane for about an hour; about 18-20 divers (Discover Scuba, Open Water, and a refresher). It was annoying, but since it was only for a short time it was OK.

More annoying were the swim meets that were constantly going on. Man are they loud!

Funny story - one time I accidentally strayed out of my lane while underwater. I started to surface and heard screaming above me. I was surfacing under a 7-year-old girl, and she probably thought I was some sort of sea monster. Her Dad was right there to calm her down, so I just went back to the bottom and snuck away. Oops.

 

[Specswimmer]

This is good to know most shops either rent or own their pools.

 

[tstormdiver]

When our shop rents the local YMCA pool, it is after hours & we are typically alone. The hours are not always optimum, but we make due & we occasionally have to share the pool with another class ( adult swim lessons, life guard classes,....), we just work around each other & all is peachy. We also invite customers & former students to just get in the water & get wet during the classes.