Underwater diving has for a long time been divided between two types of practice: training and exploration. The first serves to achieve the second which becomes the sole purpose of the diver.
However, there is a third way: animation. Through exercise and play , the diver can fully exploit - at any age - the magic of the discipline: breathing underwater, moving in three dimensions, understanding a new space... All in an ideal secure space : the pool. This equipment offers warm, clear water, a defined space and a suitable depth. All year !
Session facilitation is not opposed to training or exploration. On the contrary, it complements them, it fits together by calling itself “educational” or “continuing training”. The supervisor also retains its name because the animation is defined as “methods of supervising a group” (cf. Le Robert).
Is top-down animation really revolutionary? Obviously, no. It is difficult to quantify the number of supervisors and clubs who offer it to their members, but it is certain that its practice has continued since the emergence of our discipline. It is very likely that our pioneers realized its tremendous potential very early on, when it was necessary to complete a year of training sessions in the club.
Today, the training of supervisors is based solely on this bipolarity between training and exploration. Once his diploma is in hand, the initiator discovers the limits of swimming pool supervision when he has learned the technical gestures. Very quickly, he tried to diversify and did animation without knowing it.
A reform on youth diving is currently being considered. Its bet is to increase the training offer and lower the minimum age of supervision in order to increase the attractiveness of the discipline. It’s a shame that the “animation” dimension is not taken into account at the moment.
The diver of tomorrow is not the one we used to be. We must now show him all the possibilities of underwater diving to arouse his interest in the long term, especially if he does not wish to continue training or do exploration dives.
Thiébaud JORIS
