Training Officer's Report to AGM 15th October 2004

Recruitment

We recruited 21 new faces this season. This figure excludes 3 people that joined us from another club. Of the 21, 10 were completely new to diving, 2 were people who had dived with the Curragh in years gone by and the remaining 9 were cross-overs with different levels of experience.

About half of these people became regular divers with some others appearing less regularly and others hardly appearing at all. Happily all bar one are fully paid up. Assuming an attrition rate of up to 50%, I expect and estimate that at least 10 of this years recruits will still be members next year.

Pool Training

Pool training went very well. I was really delighted with the willingness of members to assist in the training of our new people. I wasn’t short of gear any evening which is a tremenduous credit to all members. My thanks to all instructors who undertook pool training and who gave lectures in the club.

Courses

I organised two courses in the club. These were Nitrox Diver and Nitrox Blender courses. The courses were well attended by mainly club members but some outside divers. Our own divers were directed to other courses that were being run within the region.

Thanks

My thanks also to all instructors who continued to make themselves available throughout the year for lecturing, supervising training, running pre-tests, doing rescue lifts etc. As I kept saying last year one person’s exam/certificate is not just an individual effort but a club effort such is the input required from others within the club. In general people were willing to help but it was frustrating sometimes when organising practices/tests to get volunteers to dry cox etc. This shouldn’t really be an issue in such a big club.

Certificates

Members of the Curragh SAC were awarded 37 certificates by CFT this year. The breakdown is as follows:

1* Certs: Brid Slattery, Kevin St. John, Colm Henessy, Barry McIntyre, Karen Kelleher, John McClaren, Orna Mc Carthy

2* Certs: Brian Holland, Ronan Kelehan, Orna McCarthy, Alan Harte, Jane Bickerstaffe

National Diver: Siobhan McGlinchey and Niall Stapleton

Nitrox: Jean Kelleher, Mark Sevrs, Gerry O Dowd, Alan O Dowd, John O Connor, Siobhan McGlinchey, Niall Stapleton

Nitrox Blenders: Paul Cullen, Roisin McArdle, John O Connor, Michael O Loughlin, Shane Tyrrell, Niall Stapleton

M1: Roisin McArdle and Kevin McFarlane

M2: Siobhan McGlinchey and Niall Stapleton

VHF: Kevin McFarlane

Cox: Mark Sevrs

Rescue: Mark Sevrs and Jean Kelleher

You can see from these results that it has been a very active year from a training point of view. Some divers received 2, 3 and 4 certificates during this season alone. I commend and congratulate all those who put the time into achieving these qualifications. Our sport is very time consuming and it takes a fair commitment to achieve anything.

Other objectives

I stated at the outset that I hoped as a club we could achieve one new qualification under each category. This was achieved bar one category – Leading Diver. The Leading Diver is a tough exam and requires a big commitment. While we definitely had suitable candidates, for one reason or another they chose not to go ahead with the exam. Looking through the membership there are some very able divers at 2* level and I hope to see a good number of these going forward next year. For two years the club had 4 new leading divers each year and now two years have slipped by with none. I am certain this will be rectified next year.

I also hoped to run a refresher course for more experienced divers to practice some rescue lifts. Unfortunately I simply didn’t get around to it. Perhaps with the permission of next years TO I will do it then.

In Conclusion

I believe that training is the engine and life blood of the club. It is vitally important to keep getting new people in to allow us to thrive and expand. It is also so important to be constantly striving to get people to progress in order to attain the highest standards of diving and safety.

I commend last year’s committee. Well done to Michael and those who worked with him. It was great to inherit their work and build on it. I perceive a great buzz around the club – one that was missing in the years previously.

I thank this year’s committee for their support for my efforts. I have avoided naming names throughout but I wish to thank the DO for his help during my term.

On the whole I enjoyed my time as training officer. Though not without its own frustrations and difficulties it proved to be a very satisfying job. It is with sincere and genuine regret that I must inform the AGM that I will not be available to fill this post for the coming year. Furthermore, I will be unable to take up any position on the committee which requires such a commitment. I cannot offer this commitment this year and do not wish to half do any job.

I wish my successor the very best in his/her efforts and assure them of my full support.

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