After a period of consolidation, Assistant Instructors can apply to become fully fledged Club Instructors. This allows them to teach alone in the pool and give lectures to trainees. Sadly, it still doesn't allow teaching in open water.

The pre-requisites are Assistant Instructor and Dive Leader; for which, the diver has to have completed the SAA Diver Rescue course, and in the case of Maldives, a minimum of 100 dives before a diver may even be considered for becoming a dive leader. In addition, some teaching, lecturing and general assistance with training are expected.

For the lecture aspect, I gave four lectures to Alan - a qualified PADI diver, but crossing over to SAA. The first two were on a one to one basis with Steve observing and later offering constructive criticism on the delivery of the lecture. The third was given to an audience consisting of Alan, the other Assistant Instructors and a couple of Maldives Instructors.

Due to a major printing drama, the overhead slides that I prepared were not as good as I had hoped they would be and this was duly noted! The lecture itself (on navigation) went well though and was enthusiastically received, even promting a few blank faces when questions were asked!

Afterwards, comments were asked for and received prior to the final lecture which would be delivered to the same audience plus a regional instructor who would determine whether or not I was good enough to be awarded the CI qualification. Useful feedback was received which helped me in the preparation of the final lecture.

So came the assessment. It was in three parts, a lecture, a pool session and an exam - all in one evening. The lecture was to be on Boat Diving, lasting about an hour, followed by a pool skill, in this case, Controlled Buoyant Lift (CBL), and finally an exam. Interestingly, the pool skill and lecture is determined by the club, not by the regional instructor, so there is room for negotiation!

I had prepared the lecture using Powerpoint and managed to blag a laptop and projector so was well prepared for that. I was pleased with the way it went and how well it was received, the audience asking some good questions and joining in with the question and answer sessions.

Next was the pool session. This time I had Pat and Alan as volunteers for this. Having done this before I was well aware of the tricks and tips; always face your trainees away from distractions, brief them thoroughly, show the skill out of the water and in the water. Keep chatting to them, boosting their confidence as much as possible. There are many other skills of course, too numerous to mention here.

That done, it was quickly dressed and off to the exam, which was a multiple choice consisting of 30 multiple choice questions on teaching and being an instructor. One or two of the questions were, in my opinion, a little unfair in that two or more of the answers were 'correct'. Some I got right, others wrong, but eventually scored 85% so passed easily. Interestingly, the regional instructor agreed with me!

The final debrief came; my lecture was excellent, with just a hint of nervousness at the start - I didn't feel nervous but had noticed myself pacing about which may have been interpreted as nerves. There were a couple of errors in my lecture which I freely admitted to; like for instance, the idea of folding up the RIB and putting it into the boot of a car - actually, you can do that with a squidgy but not a RIB. The regional instructor said that the pool session was perfect and had no criticism and the exam was passed with flying colours.

I am now the proud possessor of a Club Instructor qualification and will be able to display the certificate once the SAA send it.

It is a good award to win, but is really a stepping stone to the Open Water Instructor which I plan to do in the near future.

I'd like to thank all those who helped me with the sessions, particulary Steve and Dave for their advice and useful comments, Alan and Pat for being willing volunteers and all the AIs and others who attended the lectures, plus Adriana who helped with the preparation and on the night with equipment, pool marshalling and just about everything else including telling me to stop pacing about whilst talking!