ITC Evaluation

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Written by Annelle Geldenhuys

Instructor Training Course

Our newest Instructor is Lynn Erasmus.  Congratulations Lynn, we are looking forward to having you on board!

The purpose of an Instructor Training Course (ITC) is to prepare candidates who are experienced and knowledgeable in SCUBA Diving, to train Open Water Diver Students.  As many of you are well aware, Lynn has proved herself over and over, being very involved wherever possible and attaining every qualification and doing every dive she had time for in her otherwise very busy schedule.

On this course, candidates are tested in every possible area of SCUBA Diver Training.  Briefings have to be spot-on, all information has to be safe and correct, lessons have to be fun and skills have to be perfect.  Once the course is complete, candidates are sent for an external evaluation by an Instructor Certifier.  This ensures that no short cuts are taken and that the Instructor Trainer has done the right stuff.  Not wanting to miss out on anything, we joined in on the evaluation, Lynn needed the moral support and hey, I couldn’t miss out on seeing her showing them how things get done!

Day 1 of 2 was very stressful.  Not knowing what to expect, Lynn tackled every task handed out to her with her usual enthusiasm.  Sergeant Major has only one rule: Perfect is not good enough.  Lynn showed her worth by giving her full attention to detail, and full dedication to doing what was expected of her, to the best of her ability.  Doing lessons on basic topics turn out to be challenging when your time limits are very strict, but Lynn just got up and shined.

Moving over to the first pool session, Lynn had her usual no-nonsense approach.  Although she was very nervous (evident in running a RED light with her Certifier with her in the vehicle), she simply did one skill after another, demonstrating the skills in such a manner that even a mask clear appeared to be the most natural thing!  After the pool sessions, we headed back to the classroom.  I was flabbergasted when Lynn got down into her knees in front of the whiteboard, explaining Boyle’s law.  It takes dedication and skill to give class to already certified Instructors, and Lynn impressed us as expected.

Day 2 was even tougher.  Knowing now that she passed her final exam with 98%, Lynn had to do Stress exercises. When one knows what to expect, it’s easy... but convincing a student dressed in neoprene, wearing no weights that he can descend to 5m is no easy task.  This was merely one of the tests Lynn passed with flying colours. 

Looking back to when Lynn started diving in the beginning of 2009, we are so proud of welcoming her as Instructor.  We expect many of our divers will join us in being truly sad seeing her off to China.  But she’ll be back briefly in April 2012 for a visit and we are surely putting a trip together so you can spend some quality time breathing compressed air with her! Let’s get a group together who can assist Lynn in doing what she does best – dive!

Well done Lynn.