Dive into Freedive Instruction

Text By Charl Marais and Brittnee Engelbrecht

The growing global interest in freediving and breathhold diving created the need to develop structured and endorsed courses for Instructors. This also opened new opportunities to develop courses for Freedive Instructors to grow and to train other professional freediving instructors. We asked PADI Freediver Instructor Trainer Charl Marais, what went into the new PADI Distinctive Specialty of Freediver Staff Instructor course.

The field of Scuba diving has a specific course for people that intend on assisting scuba course directors (CD) to conduct Instructor Development. This is a mandatory course before a PADI Professional could help a scuba course director during an Instructor Development Course (IDC). The purpose of the Staff Instructors course is to develop the assistant as a mentor, counsellor, and trainer that is capable of mentally, psychologically and physically working with Instructor Candidates on an IDC. The Scuba SI course is a bridge from training divers, to training instructors. It encompasses greater responsibility, takes a dive into the IDC. During this time the staff instructor (SI) candidate is groomed to assist on the development of professional dive instructors.

In freediving, the more advanced instructors are used as certified assistants on a Freediver Instructor course. For the PADI Freediver curriculum, the minimum requirement to act as a certified assistant is having the PADI Advanced Freediver Instructor certification. This standard allows the instructor to be capable of freediving deep, having taught deep freedive courses, and allow for a substantially experienced assistant. It also allows the PADI Freediver Instructor-Trainer (FD-IT) to utilize an experienced professional to assist during a course.
“I wanted to allow my assistants to develop a bit more. This course is not a prerequisite to assisting on an FD-ITC. There is a definitive difference between training a student to dive, and preparing an instructor candidate to teach diving. I wanted more for my FD-ITC assistants, thus the course was designed” said Charl
 
I designed the PADI Distinctive Speciality of Freediver Staff Instructor (FD-SI) because I wanted that mental and emotional growth that is offered to the scuba staff instructors. I want more for my staff, I want them to stand out in a classroom, and take charge confidently. I wanted the "above and beyond", this course allows for the certified assistant to be coached and groomed into a counselor, mentor and coach for instructor candidates. I wanted them to be competent in all these aspects and experienced at dealing with instructor-level candidates, since there is a large gap between the mentality of a student and that of an instructor candidate.  The development and training is also very different.

The responsibilities of a Freediver Staff Instructor
The duties or responsibilities of the FD-SI will include:
• Organizing and Preparing Candidates for the FD Instructor Training Course
• Independently upskill and mentor candidates in preparation (before) for the FD-ITC
• Assist with conducting FD-ITC training segments with PADI Freediver Instructor-Trainer present and in control
• Evaluate and critique instructor candidate knowledge development, confined and open water teaching presentations with Freediver Instructor-Trainer present and in control
• Provide counselling and remedial training for FD instructor candidates
• Observe the orientation and closing sessions of the FD-ITC Instructor Examinations

Course aspects and details

Similar to the standards for the Scuba Staff Instructor course, I ensured to adhere to every one of these in developing the freediver version.  The Distinctive FD-SI course adheres to the same principles, values, objectives and outlines as the Scuba SI course and slots right in with our PADI values and philosophy.
The course presentations, knowledge reviews, manual, exams and workshop, I developed myself, basing it on the above, but also on my experience to highlight common teaching tools and difficulties one would encounter when training freediving instructors.

The course itself entails many different aspects:
- Pre-assessment of Dive theory, skill evaluation, and a knowledge development presentation. The SI Candidate needs to have an 80% pass rate on skill demonstrations, briefings, exams and presentations.
- Attending various course presentations
- Writing and passing a standards exam for the Distinctive FD-SI
- Higher level physiology, safety and physics training
- Evaluation Training where the SI candidate is allowed to evaluate student teaching presentations and is offered feedback and critique.
- Finally when pre-requisites have been met, the SI candidate has to audit a full FD-ITC, by staffing on the course as an Advanced Instructor, and conduct one of the seven instructor development presentations themselves.

This course does not focus on developing a freediver into a PADI Instructor, but rather focuses on assisting the development of a PADI Advanced Freediver Instructor to develop their professional conduct when working with candidates undertaking instructor training. “We also focus on mental, personal, psychological and knowledge development” said Charl
The PADI Distinctive Freediver Staff Instructor is an elite, distinctive specialty. They are responsible in influencing the development of the next generation of PADI Freediver instructors,

To apply for this course, the candidate need to be a PADI Advanced Freediver instructor, that has experience in teaching PADI Advanced Freediver courses, and have assisted with PADI Master Freediver development.

Candidate’s Experience of the course

The course involved an in-depth study of teaching, collaborating with and supporting other candidates who wanted to teach freediving. A freediving Staff Instructor has relearnt the Instructor course as a supporting role – identifying areas where they can offer support to Freediving Instructor Candidates. “It has taught me to engage with my students and candidates on a much more personal level, recognizing that certain people experience different challenges/difficulties on course as well as overcome them differently says Brittnee Engelbrecht. What is nice about an IT course is that all candidates have the desire to learn and improve their skills – so a lot of the time, when a problem is encountered, there is a joint/communal effort to effectively problem solve – which has taught me different ways of teaching and problem solving on my own courses.”

To become a staff instructor you need to engage with the material, complete several presentations, and successfully complete the Staff Instructor examination.  You will also need to revise the other Freediver examinations to enhance and recap Freediver, Advanced Freediver and Master Freediver theory. The final step for my journey was to audit an Instructor Trainer Course.

Brittnee’s Future goals

I would like to continue teaching Freediving courses in and around Cape Town. I joined Charl in a business aptly named Apnea Addicts Freediving. We intend to continue training instructors not only in South Africa, but around the world – which he has already started, with a trip to the Maldives in 2022. I would like to continue my personal development and reach a 40m constant weight freedive. I believe that we need to keep growing and the only way to do that is to continue learning.

Her Advice for freedivers that want to become freediving instructors
Being a freediving instructor is very different from being a freediver. Yes, the passion, endurance and training remain. But the focus turns from yourself to whomever is you student. It is a selfless passion, as any teacher will confirm. The satisfaction of seeing physical, mental and emotional growth within a person is far beyond the self-satisfaction.  My advice to any freediver wanting to teach and instruct others is to never withhold the opportunity of experience from yourself. Every dive and every encounter is an opportunity to grow, in your own capacity and in what you can offer others.

• Freediver Staff Instructor, Brittnee Engelbrecht  - I studied Education at Stellenbosch University. I’ve always loved working with children and thought I’d become a teacher. After a few practical sessions in the classroom, I discovered this teaching environment was not ideal for me. I desired an open space – an engaging curriculum to pass my knowledge on. It seemed becoming a freediving Instructor fulfilled the teaching aspect of my degree.
• I freedive because there is no other place that I can go to where I feel so out of and in control at the same time. With each dive I feel like I meet my Maker. Whether it is diving the ocean, and seeing creation beyond my imagination, or being in the pit of the quarry with not even a shadow in sight, knowing that there is light to cover the expanses of darkness. Freediving is my personal journey of self-discovery, and has helped me to help others conquer their fears.