Does Diving Need a Minimum Fitness Standard For Dive Pros?

This is an opinion piece, the views expressed are solely those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of the views of SEADUCTION.com or its principles.

This debate pops up occasionally, but unfortunately never seriously, within the diving industry. Should diving professionals, (divemasters, dive cons, assistant instructors, instructors and instructor trainers) be required to maintain some minimal level of fitness? This issue is not a cosmetic one, though granted, it is less than appealing to see 300 pounds of quivering flesh wrapped in a Speedo or sealed in a dive skin. Rather, it is a matter of safety. Can an overweight and out-of-shape diving professional respond to an emergency in a safe and effective manner?

Although this seems to be a “largely” an American problem, it is not a problem without recognition in the rest of the world. Take for example the program being conducted at the German Sports University in Cologne, Germany. My friend and former colleague, Professor Tobias Dräger, and his team have taken a scientific approach to quantifying how poor fitness contributes to dive accidents and injuries. The study results are interesting and have led to the development of a fitness-testing program that researchers would like to see implemented as a minimum standard for certification in Europe.

That’s right: they are talking about a minimum fitness standard for divers. Yet currently in the U.S. and in many other places around the world, we do not even have a minimum fitness standard for diving instructors. So I have to ask: Why don’t we have a recertification process that would require every instructor to complete a swim test either annually or at least every two years? Every time the idea of a fitness standard comes up, training agencies are resistant to it because they are convinced that a lazy multitude of instructors will defect. If a fitness standard has any hope of taking hold, all major agencies would have to adopt it (otherwise all the instructors would migrate to the agency(ies) more focused on an easy buck).  But to the best of my knowledge, there is only one U.S. training agency that has moved in this direction by providing a specific fitness level standard, IANTD, and even that is a pretty basic standard. In lieu of annual testing by another dive professional, IANTD instructors can be certified fit by a physician or provide an affidavit of a regular fitness program.  Perhaps they have not yet gone far enough, but they certainly have made a step in the right direction.

The need for a fitness standard should be apparent to anyone who spends time near a training pool. I personally have seen an instructor trainer from the Midwest who, even though he had been recently certified as an instructor trainer (less than 6 weeks prior) could not swim one lap in the swimming pool and literally had to be rescued. I recently saw another instructor who required assistance from the boat’s divemaster to walk with a single scuba tank the grueling 10 feet to the back of the boat! The same instructor had to stop to catch her breath three times between her car and the boat; a trip she made four times in order to avoid carrying all of her dive gear at once. (Note: this was regular recreational gear and the gear package did not include scuba tanks, which were provided by the charter operator. However, I do think she had about 50 pounds of lead on her belt.)

Almost as bad as the grossly obese dive pro is the instructor whose proper height-to-weight ratio allows him or her to masquerades as a diver with a level of basic fitness that he or she simply does not possess. I note the fit looking instructor I assisted two weeks ago getting back to a boat in the grueling 0-knot current of the flat calm waters in Crystal River, Florida. I simply advised him to stand up.

Whether you do it as a hobby or a full-time profession, teaching or supervising divers carries with it the responsibility to maintain your physical conditioning, your water skills, and your knowledge of safe diving procedures. If you’re not willing to accept all of these responsibilities, it’s time to turn in your instructor c-card. Your disregard for safety is putting your students and divers at risk and it is hurting our industry.

I also strongly feel that it is time for the industry to step in and make basic fitness a standard, and if instructors walk – good riddance. Let’s do something as an industry that will make a real difference in safety. It’s a novel approach, doing something for our customers instead of our lawyers, but it just might make a difference!