Finding a Mentor??

[countryboy]

I read (and agree with) many threads stating to "find a mentor".

How does one go about finding the right mentor?

How did you find your mentor?

Is your mentor the same/different person than your instructor? If they are not the same person, are they "connected" (work for the same shop or dive together frequently)?

Any other comments / suggestions on the mentor relationship?

 

[Rick Inman]

I read (and agree with) many threads stating to "find a mentor".

How does one go about finding the right mentor?

How did you find your mentor?

Is your mentor the same/different person than your instructor? If they are not the same person, are they "connected" (work for the same shop or dive together frequently)?

Any other comments / suggestions on the mentor relationship?

Good question.

I started diving with everyone I could and looked for divers who had the skills I desired. I also made enough posts on ScubaBoard to reveal that I didn't know what I was talking about, and some fine divers took pity on me and invited me to dive with them.

I would look for any local dive clubs and join them. I would add my general location to your profile so other divers can know where you are located. I would look for other SB members who have real-life dive experience, and find some that you respect. Then research their answers, apply to your diving their wisdom and see if they'll dive with you.

.02

 

[nkydiver]

Countryboy,

I was certified almost 6 years ago now. I was lucky enough to have a great instructor and a wonderful LDS. He put me at ease in the water, and made me feel comfortable and secure in my training. Since then, I gone through several classes and currently DiveCon with this shop. I'm in the water almost every weekend with them, help teach classes, and now I try to help other new divers the same way the shop first helped me.

I would say if you have a shop you like, go out with them when you fun dive, and you'll find someone there that'd be happy to help you out and impart some of their knowledge to you.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

I was lucky in that when I started all my buddies were very experienced. I would suggest you attach yourself to a local dive shop and attend club meetings, maybe take advantage of their buddy board or forum, if they have one.

 

[Ken abucs]

I'm looking to three different places for mentors, my local dive club, LDS free fun dives and the Lobsta Divahs in this board.

 

[spectrum]

This is a good start and the better you profile the more interest you can generate. I met a mentor here and we get together form time to time.

Get out and join your local shop dives and as you see who is mentor material ask if you can tag along on a dive. I think it's important to do this on things like shore dives where you aren't risking someone's dive boat fee should you have a hard time. If you hit it off you may begin to dive more during the week. As you dive more you will meet more divers, be exposed more and simply learn as you go.

The other way is to ask an admired diver if they could help you with an aspect of diving. it may be your first post cert dive or a skill like shooting a SMB. The key is to be up front that this may not be a great dive but a chance to help another diver. I have had some neat exposure to technical and vintage gear in diving with more seasoned scuba enthusiasts.

I'm hardly what I'd consider mentor material yet but I'm always happy to set a dive or part of one aside to go slow with a new diver or one with some gear to shake-out. Any excuse to blow bubbles works for me.

I have made dives with one of my instructors but did not consider it a mentoring experience. Many seasoned divers have relationships with shops going back over time but are not employees.

Wanna drive up to Maine?

Pete

 

[Goose75]

Do you know someone whom you are embarrassed in front of if your dive wasn't as good as you know it should be? If so, that is probably a good candidate. When mine is subpar in front of the person I consider a mentor, I want to run off somewhere and practice.

 

[Divedoggie]

As with anything that you want to refine in life, a person gets better at diving through education, practice, repetition, observation, mimicking, conversation, visualization, and so on.

Its not always easy to find a mentor, but it seems that you may meet other divers through continuing education, organized dive trips, Scubaboard get togethers, posting ads in your LDS, etc. Someone will come along who you will recognize as the "mentor."

Look at coaching sports. No one is appointed Head Coach just because they have taken the required educational courses to be a Head Coach. They usually played the game, then became assistant coaches, and eventually, with experience and proven success, became Head coaches.

 

[TSandM]

I found my mentor here on ScubaBoard. It's absolutely the most valuable thing I've gotten from the board (and I've gotten a lot of other things as well). Although he is an instructor, he was not my OW instructor -- it was out of the goodness of his heart that he decided to spend time helping out a pretty hopeless newby! He was not associated with the shop where I got certified.

Although I'm not in any way in his class, I've tried to return the favor by making myself available to dive with some new divers looking for buddies.

You might look through the subforum that pertains to your geographical area and see if anybody whose posts you particularly like seems to be in your region.

 

[FFMDiver]

I think this is a great question.

I've been wondering about newbies (N) and dive masters (DM). From what I have heard DMs need insurance? Does this mean DMs are more inclined to stay away from Ns due to any potential insurance liability? And if so, would this actually deter the mentor process? Not sure if any of this is true, but it would be great to have feedback from any DMs on this?