jadairiii
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The “ideal” training agency would look a lot like GUE, Rec 1 course. And I have taken classes and/or taught PADI, NAUI, IANTD (IAND) and GUE. That said, its not about creating the perfect agency, it is about finding the student. There is an old Buddhist (I think?) saying that states, “when the student is ready the teacher will appear”. What does that mean? Read on.
I see SCUBA and Snow skiing much the same, somewhat gear intensive, requires skill and can be a tad pricey. But where it diverts is that entry level skier can visually see the difference between the bunny slope and the Black diamond. They can see the skills required to become a black diamond skier and observe their instructor ski. No faking going down the black diamond. Would anyone take skiing lessons from some 300 lb, out of shape instructor that can barely ski down a blue diamond and is constantly falling? And it does not take much imagination to know “doing it wrong” will hurt. Most new skiers know they are not ready for the Black Diamond run after their first ski lesson on the bunny slope.
But SCUBA you cant “see” immediately the bunny slope from the black diamond. It all seems “easy” and fun. And you have no way to actually gauge your instructor’s ability, all you see is his/her patches on their jacket and what he/she tells the new student. Worse, the new student can go from “bunny slope to black diamond” without even realizing it. The new student does not see the value in a 7 day, $1000 entry level SCUBA class vs the $200 weekend course. And so you have a lot of people leave the sport early on because the scare the (you know what) out themselves and see diving as no longer fun without realizing that it was the substandard instruction that was the root cause of their problem.
I see SCUBA and Snow skiing much the same, somewhat gear intensive, requires skill and can be a tad pricey. But where it diverts is that entry level skier can visually see the difference between the bunny slope and the Black diamond. They can see the skills required to become a black diamond skier and observe their instructor ski. No faking going down the black diamond. Would anyone take skiing lessons from some 300 lb, out of shape instructor that can barely ski down a blue diamond and is constantly falling? And it does not take much imagination to know “doing it wrong” will hurt. Most new skiers know they are not ready for the Black Diamond run after their first ski lesson on the bunny slope.
But SCUBA you cant “see” immediately the bunny slope from the black diamond. It all seems “easy” and fun. And you have no way to actually gauge your instructor’s ability, all you see is his/her patches on their jacket and what he/she tells the new student. Worse, the new student can go from “bunny slope to black diamond” without even realizing it. The new student does not see the value in a 7 day, $1000 entry level SCUBA class vs the $200 weekend course. And so you have a lot of people leave the sport early on because the scare the (you know what) out themselves and see diving as no longer fun without realizing that it was the substandard instruction that was the root cause of their problem.