The backwards kick is arguably the greatest underwater “trick” kick to dazzle your dive buddies. Like riding a “wheelie” on a bike or a “kickflip” on a skateboard, the backwards kick can be a fancy showoff display of scuba talent.
 
Most scuba instructors today still don’t teach any specific propulsion techniques in their classes, particularly in the beginner Open Water course. If the student can wiggle their feet and get to the other side of the pool, that tends to be enough. Moreover, if that is difficult then it is usually followed up with a discussion to buy a better or more expensive fin to make swimming easier. 
 
So, with that premise it makes sense that most instruction in the 20-30 skills they teach in an Open Water program has none of them dedicated to the techniques of proper propulsion. 
 
Once a skill that was reserved for those divers who were hearty enough to pursue education like the Fundamentals and Essentials of DIR, the backwards kick has over the last 20 years permeated its way into many specialty and “into to tech” style classes. But it is still highly misunderstood by most of the scuba population. Misunderstood or mis-performed, the backwards kick is an essential tool that all well-trained divers should have ready to use.
 
Here are 5 problems the scuba community has wrong with the backwards kick. 
 
1. Divers think it is used for swimming backwards. The name of this kick has done a disservice to its early acceptance.  Although it can be used to swim backwards, that is not it’s primary use. It is primarily a “stop swimming forward kick” more than a “backwards kick.” Of course, as an instructor, you will often use it in front of your students to watch them approach and follow you. It’s an excellent way to keep your eyes on a trailing herd of new divers swimming from sight to sight. It is also a way to stay in front of your students as they perpetually crawl their way forward while trying to do skills neutrally buoyant early in their training. The well-practiced instructor or divemaster can swim backwards just as fast as a new diver tries to move forward if this kick is perfected. But again, it’s really a kick that is used to stop forward motion. To stay in one place to take a picture without having to touch or grab or kneel. The kicks biggest value is to negate the perpetual forward motion that plagues most divers. 
 
2. Divers do this kick far too dramatically. The videos you may have watched are generally done way too big and over-exaggerated. Most of the divers who demonstrate it on YouTube don’t really show the proper use and value of the kick. It is a finesse kick that will allow you to back up slowly in a cave or shipwreck. If you find yourself in the engine room of a shipwreck and hit a dead end and try to back up with the explosive full body power that you see on YouTube, you will have just blown out the entire room. Good luck seeing anything on the way out and let’s hope anyone else who was going in there did so before you entered. The exaggerated movements you see divers posting on Facebook sites and as instructional aids out in open water or the pool don’t really reflect the actual use of the kick in restricted areas. Of course, it looks cool on Instagram to see the diver powerfully swimming backwards with big full kicks moving at a steady speed out in open water, but the subtle and careful backwards kick that doesn’t disrupt the environment is the one that really needs to be practiced. 

3. Divers think it is ridiculous. Too many mossback instructors and shop owners laugh at the notion of swimming backwards. Perpetuating a cognitive dissonance that drowns out the logical voice of underwater mastery and knowledge. Why would one scoff at a diver who wants to increase their talent and ability? Why would one ridicule an advancement in underwater propulsion and control? Why would some veterans laugh it off as unnecessary and not accept its value?  New advancements in understanding and ability that will make all divers better underwater ambassadors and more ocean friendly should be celebrated. This new kick is essential for control in the water, being able to stay still in mid-water, to back away without pushing off the bottom or wildly flailing hand-swimming.
 
4. Divers get frustrated. Learning the backwards kick correctly takes training, practice and guidance by an instructor. You can get the idea by watching a video on YouTube but learning the mechanics properly and cleaning it up to precision takes work. Often divers get frustrated trying it on their own and give up. They call it dumb. They come to terms with using a crutch like a poke-stick to hold their place on the reef, using finger push-offs to back away, or ineptly standing or kneeling on the bottom to stay in one place. When they see the kick in action, they laugh it away for fear of failing at it again. Some veteran divers are willing to dismiss its value before they would admit that a diver in their expertise could possibly need to learn something “silly” like swimming backwards. The backwards kick requires dedication, determination and time to develop.
 
5. Divers make a big deal about it. Practice is important but you can’t ever forget the underlying reason we are diving, which is to have fun. Stressing about the kick, wasting away every dive struggling and missing the reason why you are there is no way to set yourself up for a lifetime of enjoyment underwater. True, once you perfect this kick your diving will exponentially increase as will your ability to take pictures, video, navigate tighter spaces on wrecks or reefs or caves. Get the training, keep practicing but remember to have fun too.
 
Don’t give up. The backwards kick is an amazing tool to have in your toolbox of propulsion techniques. For decades divers have only been taught to swim forwards, to stop and kneel, take a picture, swim forward to something else, stop and kneel and circle back to the beginning. Improving your underwater propulsion has always been answered with buying new fins. Splits, hinges, rubber bands or whatever new design comes next.
 
But you the diver can do this without a new gadget. Having multiple choices of kicking techniques to use in various environments is critical to becoming an accomplished and advanced diver. The backwards kick will be only one of the choices you have to choose from. Being able to pull it out and use it on key moments of your dive like taking pictures, posing for pictures, maintaining position on ascents and not needing to hand hold up the mooring line after every dive will make you a much more confident diver who is in control from descent to ascent. 

Few things on this planet can compare to the amazing world we get to experience underwater. One does not have to be an extreme explorer or a PhD scientist to participate in the shared existence with these spectacles that await us. A beginner diver or even anyone snorkeling at the surface could come face to face with a manta ray that stretches nearly 20 feet across. Becoming a scuba diver makes a reality out of the dreams, books and TV shows of our youth. I’ve been lucky enough to make scuba diving my full-time life for the past 25 years. I am always amazed at why anyone who was empowered with the certification to explore below the waves would lose that exhilaration. Many people I have met say that they’ve tried scuba diving once, a lot did it a few times then quit while others just stopped for random various reasons. Over these many years I have come to realize that these discouraged divers whether willing to admit it or not have a fear that makes them uncomfortable underwater. The excuses given range from finding other interests to getting bored or even that they’ve done it all. But occasionally you can get someone to admit that they felt out of control. 

What I continually see with divers looking for something different and wanting to advance their education with me is that lack of control. Erratic breathing, hand swimming, inflating/deflating BCD’s, falling feet, swimming in circles… All of these issues stem from a flawed educational platform that began with them starting their scuba training with negative buoyancy. Developing critical performance skills while kneeling on the bottom. Putting off neutral buoyancy until later is the root cause of why imperfect divers drop out. Diving is a different world and the primary characteristic that separates it from all terrestrial activities we do on land is that this three-dimensional world underwater is not controlled by gravity.

Mott Underwater is engaging students with neutral buoyancy from the beginning. It is essential that we adapt them to this three-dimensional world with which they are about to become part of. Everything they know about movement and balance no longer exists and the overwhelming majority of scuba instructors I see don’t make this a priority. They focus on skills that are albeit necessary, not applied in a practical reality. The focus is usually to get the skills done as quickly as possible and buoyancy is an afterthought. It is a specialty class that can be sold later.

Mott Underwater focuses on how to be part of the underwater world, not just visit it in scuba gear. I teach you how to find peace and balance, to attain control and confidence in a place where typical human reactions do not work. I teach you how to really breathe, how to move and how to exist in this new place. I help my students evolve back into marine mammals and how to build underwater instinct. Finally, after you have that… we move onto the necessary skills for the class.

Being underwater is a magical place. It can bring out feelings and emotions inside of us that we have sheltered away for decades. Done the right way, the experience of bettering yourself underwater can elevate your daily terrestrial life as well.
Some education focuses on getting you certified to dive as fast as possible with a need for equipment solutions. However, to really find peace underwater and within yourself, you will need a philosophy that does more than get you below the surface solely reliant on technology. By knowing who you are and why you do what you do will take you to that next place underwater, a place that is also inside of yourself.
We define ourselves with these 10 Covenants
The Unified Team. There is a big difference between having a dive buddy underwater and having a teammate. Teammates work and practice with each other, they sweat and struggle and improve together and lift each other up. Diving is no different than any other team sport in that regard and the benefits are limitless to who you become as an individual and a friend.
The Thinking Diver and teammate. The overwhelming majority of scuba education is focused on teaching you to follow the dive master and do what they say. Even at the advanced levels, it is a certification to follow the dive leader a little bit deeper. We teach a philosophical base that promotes thinking and responsibility. Every diver knows the situation, the planning, the hazards and the resources and never simply “trusts” someone else to get them home.
Rock Bottom Gas Management. Breathing underwater always has the possibility of an out-of-gas emergency. Trusting big brand names and more expensive gear will only set you up for failure at some point in diving. Starting with the assumption that this can and might happen on every dive you make will force you to start the dive with the gas needed to safely get you and a teammate home if the situation does arrive. Additional having a thinking teammate instead of an unassuming buddy, reinforces the safety of both of you involved.
Standard Gases. Breathing air underwater has physiological effects on the human body. For decades most scuba education has evolved to deal with the negative effects and reduced the time and depth limits. But today we have enough knowledge and wisdom to simply breathe the appropriate gas for any given depth to eliminate the narcosis, density and toxic reactions humans can encounter while breathing at depth. Knowing the science is essential to our philosophy.
A Consistent and Modular Equipment Configuration. The diving industry is full of trendy gadgets and new equipment designs that market themselves as easy solutions to diver shortcomings. This equipment may look and feel wonderful but often is limiting in many other ways as the diver grows more comfortable, desires change, and interests evolve. Our configuration is based around the end goals and applies a consistent template that works at every level of experience. Scaled from the beginner to the highest level of deep explorer without every having to change the foundation application of emergency procedures.
Minimalism. Diving is an equipment intensive sport. Often divers are sold all different kinds of tools to take underwater to improve skills, add safety, extend exploration. But it can be overwhelming and hazardous to take with you too much extra gear, especially if it is hard to reach, difficult to find and dangerous to deploy. We focus on only taking with you what you will need for the specific dive you are making. Cleanliness and efficiency, along with the ability to skillfully use everything you bring is more important to having a bunch of equipment that you can’t realistically use.
A Holistic Approach. Researching the best wheels and tires, the best windshield, best seats, best muffler, best transmission, best brake lights, pistons, radiator, radio, etc. might technically give you a car that cannot be built, even though each peace by itself makes sense. Having a system that all works together and a way of thinking that links everything form what you are breathing, to what you are wearing, suits and fins; along with a reason, design and placement is more valuable than just having the top brand of each individual piece.
Streamlining. Often you will see divers with an abundance of accessories clipped to their gear. Equipment clipped on to more equipment that hanging from other equipment.  This creates a sloppiness in the water and increases drag, resistance and the divers work of breathing to move through the water. Our configuration demands and expects a clean and streamlined form that is usable and accessible. All components are stowed away when not in use and easily deployed when needed.
Situational Awareness. Diving is equipment intensive. Diving requires learning new physical skills and techniques. Diving puts your human body into a new three-dimensional environment. Diving forces you to communicate with teammates without talking, raising your voice or tone. Managing all of this and being able to keep your head up and mind all-seeing are key elements to making a safe and thinking diver. This management of equipment, environment and team are the essence of situational awareness.
Training and Experience. All of our courses include experience dives where the students take control and dive to the level of their new training. Most education guides the student through new skills and leaves them on their own to really get the experience they need. This can be intimidating and counterproductive. It can also be dangerous as it may set the assuming diver up to dive beyond their ability. It is important to have the appropriate training for the planned dive and a consistent set of protocols and sills to manage hazards. Experience is the confidence builder after the training is complete.