Some years ago, I was congratulating a passionate diver friend (I’ll call him “Harold”) for successfully completing the PADI Instructor Development Course (IDC) and Instructor Examination (IE). Since he’d told me sometime earlier that he didn’t want to be an instructor, I asked him why he changed his mind.
“I didn’t,” said Harold. “I still don’t want to be an instructor. I love assisting instructors because I love mentoring less experienced divers. It’s really rewarding to guide someone who’s having trouble learning something and watch them turn a weakness into a strength. I love sharing my passion for diving and the oceans. But teaching isn’t my thing.”
Seeing my puzzled expression, he went on, explaining he’d become a PADI Divemaster so he could go on dive trips to assist during training and guide certified divers. He found great joy and took immense satisfaction in this, he said.
“And then one day, a beginning diver – not yet certified – needed some extra practice in the ocean. But I couldn’t help.”
“Why?”
“Because I wasn’t an instructor. The instructor had to move on with the other students, but that student hadn’t progressed enough for me to supervise alone. I get it – at that point, for safety and teaching, it made total sense that I’d have had to be a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor – but I was frustrated because I knew I could have gotten that student caught up.”
Harold went on, relating numerous similar instances when he could have “assisted” more effectively as a fully qualified PADI Instructor – independently working with beginners on skill development, teaching diver specialties, stepping in when an instructor was sick and so on.
“So really, I became a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor so I can be a better assistant, mentor, and all-around dive buddy,” he concluded.
I bring up this story because in my interactions with divers from around the world, I’ve found that Harold is hardly unique. Many dedicated Ocean Torchbearers and keen divers don’t see themselves as instructors, yet encourage almost everyone they meet to become divers and help protect the ocean. Some of them become PADI Divemasters with no intention of going farther, like Harold did. And like Harold, they often find themselves frustrated because they can only go so far, after which one must be a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. What makes Harold different is that he realized that he didn’t have to be “the” instructor, but could “assist” even better as a PADI Instructor.
If you think along the same lines – don’t think you want to teach, but like to go on dive shop outings to help out, mentor, guide, etc. – talk to your PADI Dive Center or Resort about becoming a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor anyway. Making yourself an “assistant on steroids” opens a lot of doors so you can help, mentor, guide etc., more often and more effectively. But let me finish the story.
A few months after becoming a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor, divers who he’d helped during training started asking if he’d do PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, Rescue Diver, and other courses for them. At first, he politely declined and referred them to other instructors at the dive center, but finally relented for three who he’d become closer with. That worked out, so he did it again. To make a long story short, he became one of the dive center’s most popular, most asked-for instructors, and genuinely enjoyed teaching diving.
Yet if you’d have asked him, Harold would’ve said he still didn’t “teach” diving. Rather, he just used the PADI System as the best way to share really cool stuff about seeking adventure and saving the ocean. He has made a big difference in a lot of people’s lives, and as far as I’m concerned, he can call it anything he wants.
Seek adventure. Save the ocean.
Dr. Drew Richardson
PADI President & CEO
