ideas for pool fun?

[Bowers]

Just to give some background, I'm working on my instructor cert and have been teaching under supervision several OW classes. After the lesson each session we have some time left over to let students have fun and get more comfortable in their new environment/gear. To make things more entertaining we have a toypedo to throw around but often students just sit on there knees and toss it back and forth the whole time. I know other divers who mentioned other activities (making mason jars neutrally bouyant or playing with toddler toys) during their OW class.
I'd just like to see if any of you guys have ideas for activities that I could incorperate just to change things up and give them more options.
thanks in advance!

 

[tbone1004]

well anything that encourages kneeling is REALLY bad because all it does is reinforce kneeling any time they have to do anything.

have them play tic tac toe or hangman on slates while hovering. Gets them passing it back and forth and focusing on something while having to hover. It's regular behavior when we are bored on deco as well so it has some practical applications.

teach them to shoot DSMB's, practice whatever skills they have while hovering, etc.

have them practice putting on and taking off an 8lb weight belt while hovering and not touching the bottom or going more than an arms length from the bottom of the pool

 

[northernone]

I've rarely seen a pool session long enough where there's time for non dive ability development 'goofing off' free time. The magic of diving is sufficient to taskload the beginner. Kneeling underwater playing with a toddler toy is embarrassing if this is suppose to be training. I'm surprised when diving has been presented so boring that toys need to be introduced immediately to be interesting. Divers get better at diving, by diving, using diving techniques. That's not sitting around killing time.

"The floor is lava" makes a great game.

 

[tbone1004]

@northernone we make time for "play time" as it lets the students get themselves a bit sorted out and is immensely valuable, arguably more so then just mindless repetition of skills. We do the same in open water as well

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Tie weights to hula hoops and have divers practice different fin kicks and buoyancy control while swimming through the hoops, kind of like the Operation Game.

 

[ps444mike]

not sure about mason jars in the pool if one gets broke.. ?? how about hula hoops at different depths an have the students try to scuba thur them..i had to do it in my perfect buoyancy class.. or just have them work there way around the pool about a foot off the bottom with out touching there bc

 

[ps444mike]

man you guys are fast.. I just typed in my reply..lol

 

[outofofficebrb]

I was also going to suggest the hoops. And yes, floor is lava, a la elementary school.

A game without anything is who can hover motionless without skulling the longest. Have a prize! Something novelty or simple is fine.

 

[shurite7]

Second the hula hoops. I've found toypedos work fine if there are hula hoops (odd shaped ones from pvc work well too) to throw them through.

To encourage students to use their fins bring a rope and have a tug-a-war. Or, have two students face each other in a horizontal position with their hands placed on the opposite person's shoulders and have them kick to see who can push the other. It helps if the two divers are close in size.

 

[Sam Miller III]

In 1954 the first and foremost civilian diving program was established as the LA County UW Instructors Program to train people to become divers rather what is so common to day "people who dive." The early program as well as a number of the programs that followed attracted water people who rapidly adapted to the underwater environment

Lectures and water work training was long and involved - especially the lectures-- new and exciting ! The water work was boring and easy for them to master since most had been water people- skin divers, body surfers, board surfers, and just plain beach people.

I recognized that safe effective water challenges needed to be created, so I began collecting other instructors ideas as well as creating my own new and exciting water challenges.
~~ Dave Bunch, LA Co UW instructor, used webbing material to create "artificial kelp"
~~Fred Roberts, author "Basic SCUBA" suggested "stations" SCUBA tanks placed on the bottom at several feet intervals with air off-- diver begins at deep end, approaches first tank turns of air takes a hit, turns off air and on to next tank each time exhaling between tanks- I had access to a large pool so used 5-6 tanks
*** Miller variation #1 - student line up and rapidly follow one after another to all the tanks to the end of the pool
*** Miller variation #2 (advanced ) place tanks on each side of the pool at intervals - diver swims from one side to another making a round trip retuning to starting point
~~~Miller six shooter, on tank 2-3-4-5-6 or more divers setting in a circle passing the SCUBA mouth piece around taking a hit of air
~~~Zero visibility- (I) cut wet suit material into ovals etc to place in mask to black out mask create zero visibility - divers
swim and experience zero visibility diving (also can use tape to black out mask)
~~~ equipment recovery - Diver has a mask -- all the other equipment is tossed in to the pool - diver dives and retrieves all equipment with out surfacing.
~~~ Bail out (LA Co standard) jumps in to pool with all equipment in hand submerges and replaces all equipment with out surfacing
~~~ Ditch and recovery aka in east Doff and Don also (LA Co standard)
etc etc
As the progress make the LA Co Greenstone pipe puzzle from PVC and have the divers assemble first top side and then UW.
SDM .​