PADI IDC - day 3 report (not a good day)
Firstly, I’ve got to start with a correction. My Course Director confirmed today the reason why I lost marks in my confined water presentation. I wasn’t marked down because I couldn’t work out what a student had done wrong; I lost a mark because I didn’t tell a student to remember not to make the same mistake after shaking their hand. Now that all that’s cleared up, onto today’s events.
Well, to describe today you can probably just insert your own expletive, but make sure it’s a strong one. Yesterday was a nice confidence builder, yet I’ve come home today feeling pretty dejected and disappointed in myself. This afternoon I was given the Alternate Air Source confined water skill from Confined Water dive 1. Yesterday one of my friends did the skill and she made a mistake and ended up getting only 1 point for it - a mistake I was determined not to make. Instead of going last this time, I volunteered to go first and try to set the standard pretty high. Just as I was about to begin I turned to my certified assistant and said “I’m the receiver (of the AAS), right?”. He replied with “No. Other way around”. That completely threw me and just as he said it the Course Director told me to start the presentation. Doubts came into my mind about my demonstration of the skill, so I performed it being the donor of air, but still explaining what the students should do. Did the same underwater and then did student evaluations. I managed to spot their problems, correct them etc, and did the debriefing pretty much perfectly. Then it was time to receive my review.
I was told that because I wasn’t the receiver of the air supply, it constituted me not being able to perform the skill at all and therefore I could only get a 1 out of 5, regardless of how good everything else was. I was absolutely gutted and annoyed with myself. It was a stupid mistake I made because I wasn’t 100% sure of my ability and trusted someone else. If I make a mistake like that in the Instructor Exam then I can kiss my chances of becoming an instructor goodbye. It was a simple thing, but I messed it up and failed that evaluation because of it. I know it’s easy to say that I should learn from it (which I certainly will do), but I only really have 1 chance in the IE. So for the rest of the pool session I was just fuming about what I’d done. I’ve got to get these mistakes out of my system, and think I’m going to try and get access to a pool during my day off (the day after tomorrow). Then I can rent a tank, get in, and spend the day going over skills again and again until they are so ingrained, I will be pretty much flawless. I’ve put too much money and effort into this to fail at the final hurdle.
The morning’s presentation on Decompression Sickness went quite well, with me getting 5 out of 5. I feel like I’ve got a pretty solid lesson plan template in place, and will just change it slightly depending on what topic I’ve got to talk about. So I’m not too worried about those presentations any more - they are my speciality, after all. But I do have renewed nerves about doing my open water presentations tomorrow, and we’ve got 2 of them to do. First of all, I’ve no real idea what to expect regarding the visibility/current etc. Plus this afternoon’s events have put a big dent in my confidence, but not my determination. I’ve got to pick mysef up from today and come back stronger tomorrow. If I can’t do that then I may as well go home now. I’ve also got my 4 diving theory exams tomorrow morning, which I really need to pass to put me back on track with everything in my head.
Not too much else to report for today. Tonight’s going to be an evening of study and reflection about what’s happened. Tomorrow’s a new day with new challenges, and I’ve got to be ready for them. Thanks for reading this entry. Take care and dive safely.
or Discuss this Article
