UBUC

Training Officer's Guide

I’m sure many people will have many different views about the role of the Training Officer within the University Of Bristol Underwater Club. This document is intended to be nothing more than a personal opinion about the best way to go about things after two years of being involved in the organisation of training within UBUC. Though this will relate mainly to the role of the Training Officer (in the sense of organising Ocean Diver and Sports Diver courses) there will also be points that are equally pertinent to the role of the Extended Training Officer in organising the Dive Leader and Advanced Diver Courses.

This is not intended to be a comment on good practice in diver training, but on how to go about organising others to do the training for you! Don’t think of it as a rigid structure that must be kept to at all times, it is just a guide to when you need to be thinking about what. I’m sure you realise that it is a list made mostly with hindsight and a little ‘I wish I’d done that a bit sooner!’

A Calendar of things to do

May/June

One Thursday morning in May you will have woken up and found yourself elected to the position of T.O. If you are new to the committee it is important to get involved in the running of the club as soon as possible. There’s not much to do in the way of training during this part of the university year but it is a good chance to establish a good working relationship with the other members of the committee and the training set-up of the club. · Liase with the outgoing T.O. to ensure that there are the required training materials (see appendix 1, below) available for the Skomer trip beginning on the last week of the summer term. The middle of June comes around very quickly so it’s best to think about these ASAP. · At some time early in June, the FRESH booking form will appear in the club pigeonhole in the AU office (3rd floor, Union building). Make sure someone on the committee gets this handed in to the FRESH organiser before the deadline or it is likely that we will have no one to train come October! · At around the same time, the union room booking form for the autumn term will also appear in the pigeonhole. They don’t give you much time to get this back so you will need to get together with the new ETO and decide what rooms you will want in October/November. Make sure the outgoing T.O. helps you with this (and see appendix 2 below).

July/August

It’s the summer! Relax, dive if you can and enjoy yourself… You’ve got a busy couple of months ahead of you. If you are around others on the committee (like the DO/ETO) or other instructors in the club don’t be afraid to ask them for their opinions or thoughts about training in the coming year. The more planning you do the easier it will be later.

September

This is where things start to err... hot up. As T.O. you have joint responsibility with the DO and ETO to produce all of the information that trainees and those crossing over to OD/SD will require to get them started training (see appendix 1, below). When People sign up at FRESH they will need information in paper format telling them exactly what they need to attend in the run up to the start of lectures/ pool training as well as a timetable of lectures for at least the autumn term. · It is vital that you meet with the ETO and DO and decide which lectures will take place in which weeks and then get the relevant information produced and printed well before FRESH. The Union print shop takes about two weeks to print club stuff for FRESH so you will need to get it in early (See Appendix 3, below). · The previous years forms and documents will usually be fine for re-use with some re-jigging of dates and venues. Look at them and then decide if you think they need to be revised. · Also, prepare skill sheets and put them into instructor’s folders for pool training in the stores. The current ones are based on the skills identified from the sheltered water lessons in the BS-AC syllabus. · Get in touch with the instructors via the instructors mailing list and ask/encourage/force people to volunteer for lectures, CPR training and pool training. Make a list of who wants to do what and then get together with the DO to decide who should give each lecture. · Also decide which lecture should be given when. Most lectures will need a slot of their own. Tell the instructor volunteers when they will be giving their individual lectures and make sure they write it in their diaries!

University of Bristol Room Bookings 0117 954 5868 roombookings-ubu@bristol.ac.uk

digital projectors John Skehens (John.Skehens@bristol.ac.uk) in 2006 hire was £20 all inclusive

October (the big one!)

FRESH is usually held in the first week of October and is our one chance to get the club noticed amongst the university population at a time that is convenient for people to sign up and join the training programme. For this reason it is vital that we can sign up as many people as possible. To aid this it is important that new members are provided with all the information that they need to start training. This will include written information as outlined above, and verbal information provided by those manning the stall. · In the week before FRESH, (with the DO and ETO) organise a meeting for all those who are going to help out on the stall. · Prepare resources for them to use and outline the structure of the training programme within the BS-AC. · Tell them what they need to tell people who may want to join: such as the number of lectures they will need to attend, how long they will likely have to spend pool training and the cost of it all (determined by the whole committee).

After FRESH and the intro meeting you will have a large number of names on a list and a huge amount of information from the membership forms. Concern yourself only with the names of those that need to complete elements of the Sports Diver and Ocean Diver courses and their qualifications: Beginners, current OD’s and crossovers to OD. Let the DO and President worry about all the rest of the information! · From the list of names prepare a register for the swim test (believe me, it’s easier than trying to write down all their names at the pool side). · Divide the list into Tuesday and Friday pool sessions as stated in the preference section of the sign up sheet. · Divide each session’s trainees/crossovers between the instructor groups · Prepare registers of the names for the theory lectures and individual group registers for the pool instructors to go in the pool training packs. · Divide the names up into CPR training groups of about six and allocate a CPR training week for them. It’s best to send people from the same pool groups at the same time (that way their assistant instructors can go along and help out). · Keep in e-mail contact with the training list. Send endless reminders. · E-mail the group lists to the training list including instructor contact info. · E-mail the groups to the instructors including details of how to contact the trainees for the instructors heading the groups.

It may be good to have an instructors meeting (if there is enough interest) before pool training begins. This is best for the DO to organise and is a forum where you both can outline your plans for training and others can air their views.

Now that everyone knows where to be and when you will need to make sure that the instructors giving theory lessons have the materials relevant to their lectures. · Photocopy the lecture notes from the instructors’ manual and give them, along with the overheads and a register, to the lecturers. You don’t have to do all of them now but make sure you give each lecturer plenty of time to look over the notes and prepare the lecture. · Make sure that there are enough copies of the BS-AC deco tables in stores for everyone at the lectures to have a copy. It’s quite difficult to teach this subject unless the trainees can see a copy and work through the examples with us.

Once the first couple of weeks are over with it all gets a bit easier. People will join and need to be accommodated all through the term but this isn’t really a problem at this stage – it’s just a case of adding names to lists. It’s really important that you keep the training list well informed via e-mail. It will save you repeating the same answers to the same questions over and over.

Now… Go to PK Piss Up, get drunk, and don’t think about it all weekend.

November/December

The worst is now over! From now on it is just a case of keeping things ticking over. There will still be a few people wanting to join the training scheme but whether or not we can accommodate them will depend on the level of training they already have and how far into the OD course we have got. · Keep giving the lecturers the notes, overheads and registers in plenty of time for their lectures · Keep collecting the registers and look out for those not attending the lectures, chase them up · At some point the OD course will end and the SD course will start (theory lectures). You will need to make sure everyone knows this is happening and get all the new members with an Ocean Diver or equivalent qualification to come along to the SD lectures. · At the end of November sometime, the room booking for will appear in the pigeonhole. Get together with the ETO and decide what rooms you want for the next term and get the form in on time! (See appendix 2)

Now that people have had a few weeks to assess whether or not they are going to stick around for the whole course, it is time to think about the BS-AC training materials they will need. You can order the training packs by phone or over the internet but for the volume you want it is generally best to do it by post. · You will need to order the Trainee pack and the SD notes for all of the trainees and the relevant crossover packs for those joining with a different qualification. · Give people a deadline for paying you the money and then order only for those who have paid. · Get them to make cheques out to BS-AC. That way nothing has to go through the club and it makes things a lot easier. · Explain that there is no point in avoiding buying the pack as they get all of the qualification certificates and record book with the pack. · You will probably have to order a few times.

January/February

Much the same as before Christmas, it’s just a case of keeping things ticking over at this time of year. Keep giving the lecturers the materials they need in plenty of time for the lectures. Make sure everyone in the pool is still happy with their groups and everything will be just fine!

Towards the end of the Sport Diver lecture course you will need to start thinking about having a Deco Workshop. · E-mail the instructors a few weeks before to request as much help as you can get. · Dig out the deco workshop questions. There are two sets, one with questions about table level 1 and one with questions about levels 2 to 4. There are also answer sheets for the instructors. · Ensure that there are enough copies of the tables and questions for everyone to have one. · Make sure the instructors know that it is vital to get people understanding the level 2 to 4 questions otherwise the have no hope of passing the theory test

At some point this time of year you will need to organise the theory tests for the Ocean Diver and Sports Diver grades. · Organise them weeks in advance and tell the trainees about them in plenty of time. · Keep sending reminders and encourage them to read the training materials that they have bought! · Make sure there are enough copies of the tables for everyone to have a copy for the exams · You will need to dedicate a number of weeks to theory tests as some people take several attempts to pass them

March

Things will start to build up again now as the Porthkerris trip is in sight. People will have been passing their pool tests for a few weeks so it starts to be important to keep them interested now that they don’t have to come to the pool and lectures every week. · Keep Good Records of who has passed their theory / pool tests. This will enable you to target people who you think should be coming to PK and encourage them to get on with things, be it passing the tests or paying the deposit for PK. · You need to produce skill sheets for OD and SD grades to take to PK. These are just a breakdown of the skills that trainees are required to perform in the open water part of the current BS-AC syllabus. · Organise the training materials you need to take well in advance (see appendix 1). Believe me when I say that it is more than a little annoying to get to PK after 6 months of training and realise you have forgotten to bring something vital! · The room booking for will appear in the pigeonhole. Get together with the ETO and decide what rooms you want for the next term and get the form in on time! (See appendix 2)

April / May

Sometime at the end of March or beginning of April the PK week will take place. It’s good to go to this as training officer because… · You get to see all your hard work for the previous few months pay off with a great sense of achievement and relief. · You don’t have to do a thing while you’re there…except dive!

When Easter is over and everyone is back in Bristol, some people will still want to come and do the pool test even if they didn’t make it to PK. We usually have the pool for about a month after Easter and it is good to try and use it as much as possible. Some may also want to take further attempts at the theory test. It’s best to assess demand and try and arrange something for when one of the rooms at the union is booked for us.

Appendix 1

Things that you will need for FRESH 1. Membership Forms 2. Time tables for the lectures/exams etc for each diver grade 3. An explanation of the BSAC grades for crossover divers 4. Information about the welcome meeting 5. Information about the kit sale 6. Something about the club, who we are and what we do 7. Information about upcoming trips and how to get on them

Things that you should take to (make available for) Porthkerris and Skomer 1. Photocopies of the open water parts of the Instructors Manual (OD/SD sections) 2. OD/SD Skill Sheets (See separate document)

Appendix 2

Room Booking Make sure you read the instructions that come with the room booking form. The procedure changes from time to time. Space at the Union is keenly fought over by all the clubs and societies and so you have to do everything they ask in order to get all the rooms you can. Be nice to the ladies in the office and they will be nice to you! Most importantly – get the form in ON TIME!

Autumn Term/Spring Term – On Tuesdays you will need a room for Ocean Diver/Sports Diver Lectures from 7pm to 8.30pm and a room for Dive Leader/Advanced Lectures, also from 7pm to 8.30pm. In addition to these you will need a room for CPR training for an hour from 6pm to 7pm.

The CPR training room doesn’t need to be big – MR6 small will do as the optimal group size is six, but it is quite useful if the CPR is held in the same room as the OD/SD lectures. It saves running about and you don’t loose lecture attendees if the CPR session runs a bit late!

Good rooms to have are the Large Study Room on the fourth floor (LSR4) and Committee Room 4 (CR4) as these are next to each other. Be careful with bookings though as LSR4 often has a priority booking on it. If you try and book it at the same time your request will not be considered!

Alternative rooms are the Art Room (be sure to book a screen with the OHP) MR1, MR4, MR5d and we have even had lectures in the Mandela Bar.

Though you may not plan to use both rooms every week it is best to book them in advance and then cancel them if you don’t need them. Make sure you cancel them if you are not using them, as it is not only courteous to other clubs who may want to use them but it also means we don’t get penalised for not using rooms in the next round of bookings.

Summer Term – There’s not much going on in this term but the ETO will still have use for the rooms some weeks so it’s best to keep one of the weekly Tuesday slots going – you can always cancel it if you don’t want it.

In addition to the weekly bookings you will need to consider when you are going to hold SDC’s throughout the Term in question. These usually take a whole day on a weekend or a whole evening in the week and so it is very difficult to book rooms for these during the term itself.

Finally, think about other things that may be coming up in the term such as kit sales and special interest lectures.