Back To Current TopicsEDUCATION VERSUS CERTIFICATION
For some time now there seems to have been confusion in US Diving between the two words in the title of this article. By definition education is the imparting or acquisition of knowledge, skill etc. I believe that this was the original intention of US Diving and the direction it wanted to go. Somewhere along the line that focus has shifted to certifications. Being certified means to guarantee or be reliably endorsed.
My main complaint has been with the certifications because I feel that they are unnecessary. I do not want to be reliably endorsed or guaranteed by the Red Cross. None of these certifications help me to be a better coach. How can they, when their not even diving related? This is the reason why the organization is losing many of its coaches and/or potential coaches. It's too much trouble and the price is too prohibitive to be involved.
US Diving has spent a lot of money trying to improve their Olympic Medal count. It is my understanding that since 1996, they spent over a million dollars on that, as yet, unsuccessful venture. This does not include money for televised events or advertising. It was money directed for the sole purpose of winning medals. Obviously throwing money at the problem did not solve it.
I have always contended that education is the key to success. My idea of education does not include certifications. Setting up clinics or forums where I can listen, learn and ask questions to a Hobie Billingsley, Dick Kimball or Ron O'Brien while they discuss coaching as both the art of and the science behind it. To watch them teach kids to dive, that's the education I would gladly be a part of. That would make me a better coach. Coaching clinics do not have to be mandatory. If they are informative and teach coaches to coach, people will take part voluntarily. This would be a very effective time to disseminate any new information that comes from biomechanical research. The reason for our less than admirable medal showing is coaching. It's not necessarily the divers or the certification of the coaches. Remember all of the US Diving coaches must be certified and have been certified for a while now. Better coaching will produce better divers. When we were Internationally successful for all of those years, there were well attended clinics directed by some of the above coaches. Those veterans were giving their expertise and knowledge to those of us with less of both. Everyone came out of those clinics learning something. My suggestion has always been spend more time teaching coaches to coach rather than taking their extra time and requiring them to be certified.
If US Diving is determined to cling to its certifications, then they should be mandatory for those coaches that utilize hand and belt spotting, tramps, sparger systems and dry land boards with port-a-pits. If I use this equipment, then I should be trained, audited and certified to make sure my skills meet a minimum standard to assure the safety of the athletes I physically manipulate. When a coach can manipulate the diver in any way that may affect the outcome of certain skills with these systems then his/her skills had better be endorsed or guaranteed by US Diving. Coaches like myself are less of a liability to US Diving just because we can't use all of the above equipment. Most grass root coaches can not utilize any of that equipment because risk management at their facilities will not allow it on the premises. My divers may not progress as fast as others who have this equipment but they will progress just the same.
Review:
Maybe it is time to Educate the Diving community and see if that works.