ACTION, ADVENTURE AND AQUAMISSIONSPADI Seal Team is a new pool scuba program designed for kids eight and older. This elite, distinctive diving team provides participants with all kinds of challenges and learning opportunities. This is a specialized scuba program that builds individual confidence and skill, while kids make friends and share underwater diving adventures and experiences. When your child becomes involved in this learning oriented activity, they will learn many valuable lessons and sharpen skills that will help them in their school and family interactions as well. As a pre-requisite to enrolling in the Seal Team Program, each student should plan to attend one session of our Bubble maker Program. This program is designed to teach and allow practice of basic scuba skills. This is an important step in that it will help estimate the child’s interest, confirm their overall comfort level in the water, and gauge their ability to listen to and follow directions. During the Bubble maker experience each child will be able to put on scuba gear, swim, breath, and play in the shallow end of the pool under the direct supervision of an Easy Divers staff member. Bubble maker experiences last approximately 90 minutes with at least 45 minutes of that time spent in the water with snorkeling and scuba equipment. Participants must complete a medical statement, and may be asked to seek the permission of a physician if they are on daily medication, under continuous, regular care of a doctor, or have a history of certain medical conditions that might contraindicate diving safety. Once the student has completed all paperwork, all that is needed to participate is a bathing suit and towel. Some student divers enjoy the carefree play that is the backbone of the Bubble maker program, and continue to log Bubble maker pool dives long after the first experience. For others though, the Bubble maker experience becomes a stepping stone towards a more active and independent scuba program. Seal Team fills an important void by creating a step between the Bubble maker experience and enrollment in a Junior Open Water Certification course. Students who are ready to take this next step in diving will need to have their own mask, fins & snorkel and gear bag. Not only is it important to have gear that suits each student’s individual needs, but taking care of, and keeping up with this gear is the first step towards diving responsibility. We will teach parents and kids how to select the proper equipment during Seal Team pre-registration. Once outfitted in the personal snorkeling gear, kids may become a Seal Team candidate by purchasing their Seal Team Student Crew Pak and completing the registration paperwork. This educational package contains: the Aqua mission Activity Book, learning video, logbook, membership card application, certificate and decal. Each student will need to complete the self-study text and view the accompanying video prior to each pool mission. When they have completed missions one through five, each student will have mastered the following basic scuba skills. Student skills include:
Friends and family are invited and encouraged to attend Aqua mission Five so that the kids can showcase all of the great diving skills they have mastered. There will be a ceremony inducting each participant into the PADI Seal Team as a full-fledged member. The fun doesn’t stop here! As qualified Seals, the kids may now continue to participate in Aqua missions that focus on navigation, search and recovery, wreck diving, underwater photography, pollution research, aquatic life identification and other topics. Each of these Aqua missions revolve around interactive discussions and developing individual, specialized skills. The skills are then applied in the context of a game purely for fun or with a broader instructional context in mind. What looks like a game of catch with an underwater toypedo, is actually an opportunity to use buoyancy and breathe control, in addition to general coordination, in a weightless environment. Search and recovery for ‘buried treasure’ is actually an exercised in planning and communication. Every game, every skill, every challenge, has a multitude of benefits as the students learn to think, reason, and follow the rules to facilitate a desired outcome. As students work through their texts, their pool challenges, and their logbooks, they have the opportunity to set and achieve measurable goals. The positive reinforcement of earning the logbook completion decals and certification cards gives them something lasting to be proud of, and to remind them that right action leads to right results and accomplishment. At Easy Divers we have a dedicated and experienced staff that is looking forward to coaching and encouraging the Seal Team kids and their families. Call us today at 901-753-2926 to request a Seal Team schedule and brochure and view our program on the web at: www.padisealteam.com. We want to make you part of our adventure! |