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Junior Divers – Getting Your Kids to Dive
08/25/2008 - By Melissa E. Malka
A 9-year old training in a pool
If you’re diving on a regular basis and coming home gushing about the gorgeous fish you saw, your kids might be getting the taste to try scuba diving. Here's what's available to them.
Most kids love to follow in their parents’ footsteps and if you’re diving on a regular basis and coming home gushing about the gorgeous fish you saw, your kids might be getting the taste to try scuba diving.
Of course, all of the rules and regulations that adult Open Water divers have to abide by are applicable to kids as well, but I got some info on two of the bigger certifying agencies and their kids’ programs.
PADI offers a Junior Open Water Diver available to kids ages ten to fourteen. At ten and eleven, Junior Divers may only dive with a PADI Professional or a certified parent/guardian over the age of eighteen. There are limitations, kids up to age eleven are not certified to go deeper than forty feet, twelve to fourteen year olds can go down to sixty feet, just like the general Open Water Diver. Surprisingly, PADI offers Junior Advanced Open Water courses, certifying twelve to fourteen year olds to a max depth of seventy feet.
PADI also offer a Junior Adventure Diver, and a Junior Rescue Diver Course. Once a child is certified at a Junior level, their certification automatically upgrades to Open Water Diver on their fifteenth birthday, with no need for additional certification.
The course is designed just like the Open Water course for adults.
First, the child must perform a swim test that includes treading water for ten minutes and swimming continuously and unassisted for 200 metres. They can choose to wear a mask, snorkel, and fins but they would have to swim continuously for 300 metres. After they succesfully pass the swim test, the classroom portion as well as the confined dives teach the same content as the general course. The four open water dives will also be similar, but only go down to a depth of forty feet max.
NAUI also offer a Junior Scuba Diver course but children must be older than twelve.
Here’s an interesting kid – Cody Brown , a twelve-year old boy from Idaho became the youngest ever Master Scuba Diver. He got his Open Water C-card at eleven years old and went on to log over fifty dives in a year from locations all over the world. He also completed more advanced courses and ultimately – his Master Scuba Diver certification. Cody had to complete five areas of specialization including Rescue Diver; he’s even certified in adminstering pure oxygen in case of emergencies. As of today, Cody is working on an underwater high-def videotaping service, which you can read about at www.scubacody.com (under construction as of publishing date).
----Mel
