The Infinite Game of Scuba

When I think back on my diving education, most of the classes were very short and I never once had the feeling that I might not pass this class. Especially in the early days of my recreational training. Sure my cave class and tech classes were pretty demanding but I had moved on from looking for the big name agencies and was seeking out specific instructors, whom I knew would fully challenge and test me. I wanted that. I needed that. 

The longest class I had taken was my Divemaster. Which was definitely long , over a year of internship, which was actually more like legalized slavery.  It was never a pass or fail feeling but more like a prison sentence, I just had to do my time breaking rocks. Which for a Divemaster candidate is filling tanks, cleaning wetsuits, fetching coffee, bringing the donuts, setting up the classroom and training sites. But the long term approach gave me ample time to process a way of thinking. I had plenty of opportunities to observe, learn, ask questions and then let it absorb into my own way of thinking. Weeks or maybe months later I would see myself integrating these things into my own style, as I grew into myself as  a diver. 

When I took my instructor class, I was very well prepared. I had basically become an assistant instructor over the last few months without having the actual card yet. A few of my fellow instructor candidates were nowhere near as prepared. They had been on the instructor fast path since their first Open Water certification and were being groomed to be the next, dip and dunk instructor for their shop. OW, AOW and a deep and night cert all in the next weekend, a rescue and a couple more specialties the next weekend, a weeklong Divemaster class, and BAM! Instructor Development Course. 

I remember doing skills at the Examination and there were candidates who had already been through the entire program who could not get neutrally buoyant. At all! Horizontal trim wasn’t really a concept in the mainstream community back in the late 90’s but they couldn’t do it in any position! How did they make it this far. Not to mention, they couldn’t fully flood and clear their mask without looking like they had just seen a ghost afterward. 

At the end of the day however, we all walked away as new instructors. 

At the same time I was training in martial arts. I walked into the school one day, much like many of us first walked into a dive shop. Eager to try and to learn. But the process was completely different. 

It was not a weekend of learning to punch and kick and then a weekend of advanced punch and kick takedowns.  It was monthly dues and consistent training. Trying to be a little better every time I showed up. A little smoother, a little faster, a little less energy wasted.  Along the way new weapons were shown, new styles, different instructors, different thinking. The focus was not on copying the lead instructor or completing any special level of training, but instead favored a long-term process of how to make this art unique to each of us. First you have to learn the skills of the art and then you can really start to learn the art. 

We didn’t have any belts at this school. You were either a teacher or a student. About 10 years later, I was asked to become a teacher. I learned then that as a teacher, I was always going to be a student of the long-game. It wasn’t about the belt or a certification, it was about building the best version of yourself. We just did it with an ironwood stick and a machette. 

Today I see many similarities in how I teach scuba. First you have to know how to scuba dive. Clear your mask, assemble your gear, share gas, navigate, manage a boat, etc…. But it’s after you have all of that smooth, clean and efficient that you really start to learn how to scuba dive. The advanced level is the very beginning. It’s what you have to know just to get started. 

Understanding the long-term infinite game of scuba will put you on the real path to learning. Learning to dive better yes, but just as much as learning something new about yourself. Immersing yourself in the art of scuba so you can see yourself differently. It might scare you at first. Most people rarely get a sight of their true selves. But those who seek purpose and are willing to get intimate with their diving will find a lifetime of value. 

Believing in this new purpose as a diver will let you transcend agency and certification level. Sure, you still need a tech card to get on a boat to dive a shipwreck in 180 ft of water using trimix, but this isn’t about that card. It’s about you. 

It’s about how you, do you. How you make this dive better than the last one, how you keep learning and keep improving every time.  It is not about how you quickly become the best diver with the most prestigious log book, but rather how you continue to ebb and flow, struggle and grow, plateau and then climb again as a diver. As a person. 

Becoming a better diver takes time not just a class. It takes intentional guidance that is focused on the infinite dive, not one weekend at one dive site. Long-term coaching, like a professional athlete that still listens and learns from a coach decades into their game. Long after they know the skills of their game. 

You can learn a lot of new skills by taking one class but internalizing those skills, making them your own, and integrating them into your own game is an eternal process. My reason for starting Mott Underwater was to bring this value and purpose to diving. To give meaning to being a diver, more than just a log book. 

A purpose that will move your diving from a recreation that you participate in once in awhile and make it a lifestyle that requires commitment and intentionality. The value to you is the change in who you are underwater and eventually in your daily life. How you dive but also how you think and act. When all of this starts to come together and you can correlate your underwater behavior on land, then you are on the path. Back at the beginning, to see it all over again, even clearer than the last time.