Q1: How long have you been an instructor?
A1: I passed my instructor examination in December of 2015
Q2: Do you teach full or part-time?
A2: Part time. One day I’ll open a dive center in Greece and this will be my full time profession
Q3. For what agency do you teach? For what agencies have you taught before? What is the reason for changes?
A3: I first started out as a PADI instructor, and the obstacles to teaching at a higher level were too great. I also taught for SSI, which allows for instructors to teach at a higher level, but that agency requires instructors to work for a shop. I am now for SDI. I am able to provide personalized, private instruction with a focus on quality.
Q4: Please describe your philosophy for teaching?
A4: I am a progressive thinking instructor, who continues to look at ways of improving my courses. At no time in any of my courses, including open water, do I want students on their knees.
Every skill must be performed neutrally buoyant and trim (close to horizontal). The reason why this is so important, in order to place students on the bottom, they have to be overly weighted. When a diver is over-weighted, any changed in depth results in an exacerbated change in buoyancy. It takes time for students to develop awareness to proactively deal with the changes in buoyancy that occur whenever their depth changes. The amount of gas that needs to be added/removed from air spaces (BCD, dry suit) when over-weighted and changes in depth occur are increased than if properly weighted. Over-weighted divers are more likely to cork to the surface and crater at the bottom, instead of being in control of their depth.
I will admit that when I first started teaching, I was teaching on the knees as this is how I was taught to teach. Thanks to social media, I came in contact with instructors all over the world who teach at a high level in a short period of time. One of the commonalities of these instructors is that none of them teach on the knees every. I feel quite strongly from the results I’ve seen by myself and other instructors is that teaching on the knees is a huge disservice to students.
I make my open water course fun with different games where buoyancy skills are improved, from a race where students must carry a golf ball on a spoon, to picking up and dropping weights using only breath control to compensate to building “houses” with weights and seeing who can build the tallest one.
I believe that all courses are best taught in small ratios, two students, sometimes three at a maximum for certain courses like Rescue. Never more than that, even though standards allow for it. In the Puget Sound, it simply isn’t safe, and it inhibits personalized attention that students deserve.
When it comes to Continuing Education skills courses, with the exception of dry suit and deep, at the request of some of my first students, I have one day of teaching where I demonstrate all the skills and requirements and I provide feedback to my students as they attempt to execute the skill. If not done smoothly without significant changes in depth, the students will practice by themselves, and we meet again when they are ready to test. This is the way certifications are earned. In order for students to grow taking a course, they have to be genuinely challenged. For dry suit and deep courses, an instructor must simply always be present during those dives to ensure the students safety.
The course that influenced me the greatest as a diver and an instructor was GUE Fundamentals. I’ve adopted doing skills dry, so that I can walk through the skills and allow students to ask questions on my second demonstration. This makes time in the water, in either confined or open water more streamlined.
When I teach a buoyancy class, a lot of it mirrors that course. While I do not have the Hogarthian equipment requirement (I teach students in whatever equipment they dive), I do require proper propulsion techniques (frog kicks, back kicks, helicopter turns, flutter kicks, and modify flutter kicks), controlled ascents/descents (ascents include deploying a DSMB).
Students should understand why they are learning a skill, how they are to perform the skill properly, and when they would use a skill. Potential students deserve a clear explanation of what they will learn out of each course they take from me. This occurs before any money is exchanged. I am not the right instructor for everyone, but for those who want to improve their skills, awareness, and knowledge, I look forward to the opportunity to work with them to achieve their goals.
As long as a student will not quit, neither will I.
Kosta's Diving Blog 