UTD Journal Volume 1, Issue 10, December 2013 | Page 15

We started, and continue, as an inclusive training agency – a home for any instructor seeking a supportive agency that promotes a consciousness of team diving. Students and instructor candidates are welcome at their current level of training. The caveat is that you have to meet the equiviant UTD standards at that level. So if you seek to enter the UTD instructor program at the Tech level, you just have to meet the UTD standards for Tech. Those Standards and Procedures are open and available for anyone to read. You don’t have to purchase them, you don’t have to be in a leadership program. Click the link here to download the PDF of the UTD Standards and Procedures. Then there is the Instructor Playbook. Since consistancy is the mainstay of team diving, there had to be a way to keep everyone on the same page. So we wrote a couple of books. While Standards and Procedures tell you exactly what you have to teach, the Instructor Playbook tells you how we teach it. We’ve written the how’s and why’s of teaching critical skills – what level of critical skill is appropriate for what class, what order to deliver those simulated failures, what’s the best instructor position, and what is the expected student outcome. We addressed each individual class and wrote a sample teaching schedule for both classroom and water sessions. Right now the book is about 150 pages, but it’s a constant work in progress, and every instructor contributes. We also wrote the UTD Student and Diver Procedures Manual. This 200+ page book defines, in minute detail, each normal, emergency, and student procedure we teach. Step by step, we take each diver through the protocols, defining why, then how. This book is available to all divers, students, instructors, and instructor candidates. Click here for more info. To start the crossover or initial instructor training, check out the page below, then call or write to set up an interview. We look forward to talking to you about becoming a UTD Instructor. UTD Instructor Trainer Jeff Seckendorf teaching an IDC at Rivemar Dive Center in Spain.. FOR INFORMATION ON BECOMING A UTD INSTRUCTOR, CLICK HERE. TM