Divemaster Course - anything to watch out for?

[DiverBuoy]

Practice, rehearse, until the rescue unconscious diver at the surface routine is embedded as a pattern in your brain. No thinking - auto-pilot. You'll have to do this dozens of times to get it down to this level - You'll be thankful too, if you ever take the IE!

 

[Vyper]

tip-top physical condition, good comprehension, composure under extreme pressure, thoroughness and proper mental attitude. combination of these things (and probably more) should come in handy when going through the dm course. i've seen mentally sharp dm candidates fail in some areas like timed-swim tests and leadership skills.

good luck on this pursuit louie!


=-)

 

[Louie]

I am grateful for all the contributions you've made.

It looks like I'm in for an interesting three weeks.

 

[SARmedic]

You have the right idea, read all you can (and know it) before the class starts.

The other thing that really helped me is that I sat in and assisted with 5-6 OW classes with different instructors. That really helps because you pick up little things from all of them.

Good luck.

 

[alcina]

An important thing to keep in mind about doing the DM course is something you need to consider before you join a course - will you get to work with real people - not just other dm trainees/students simulating things? As has been gone over in the other posts - the baseline training/knowledge isn't especially difficult. And as in other posts, the instructors (hopefully more than one!) are extremely important in helping you acheive real dive master status. They need to be enthusiastic and respond to you...you might not want to do things exactly as they do, but it is good to see a variety of styles and to recognize that individual styles can still meet a wide variety of client/diver needs if done in a professional way. Good instructors will encourage you to find your own style, to always practice that rescue until you could do it in a coma and to always keep asking questions and practicing/learning.

You need to make sure you are getting experience with all sorts of divers, students, non-divers; make sure you are getting in water with them, on the boats/shore dive prep, dealing with logistics. As a DM you will be expected to be able to spot potential problems and deal with them, spot nervousness and overconfidence, offer appropriate help/advice/encouragement to others.

IMHO the only DM courses worth anything are those that get you working with people from the beginning and don't just tack it on at the end for a few dives or part of an Open Water Course.

 

[annie]

I think it's hard for DM trainees like I was who just don't know the criteria they should use in picking a course, because they don't know anything about DMing.
If you are doing the course with a view to working - find out what the set up is where you plan to work and make sure you get the training that fits that. If you want to work on boats, make sure your training gives you lots of opportunity to be on boats. Think a lot about what the job involves and make sure you'll be qualified for it.
That's where the training with real people comes in. Plenty of OW courses with different instructors is a must as well, even if you'll be working on boats with certified divers. Plenty of them will be beginners and will need nearly as much assistance as a student would.
Make sure your training includes plenty of safety and emergency stuff. Drills on what to do in bad situations. Best practice. Real life stuff even (which you only get by being there with real people and watching how DMs/INstructors deal with it). That way you'll be aware of any omissions or bad practices in places where you go working.

good luck.