Scuba diving draws 42 participants at Slippery Rock University
Forty-two people signed up to learn how to scuba drive with Scott’s Scuba Service on Saturday, Jan. 10, at the Aebersold Recreation Center on Slippery Rock University’s campus.
“It’s like everything goes in slow motion,” said Clinton Weirich, a Slippery Rock resident who tried scuba for the first time.
He described the feeling as relaxing and free-floating when slowly diving down into the deep end of the pool. Most swimmers take time to get used to breathing through the mask, but Weirich was familiar with the feeling due to his family’s background in the fire service.
The familiarity helps since the first rule of scuba diving is to never hold your breath, according to David Holder, the owner of Scott’s Scuba Service. He’s been teaching professionally for about four years.
New scuba divers are also taught early how to move up and down in the water and equalize the pressure.
“As a swimmer, when you dive in the deep end and feel that pressure on your head, we teach you how to handle that,” Holder said. “Because you go down a lot deeper when you’re actually scuba diving.”
His favorite aspect of teaching new divers is when he sees their eyes get big as they take their first breath underwater.
“We are in an environment that we weren’t meant to be in,” Holder said.
Baden Bobic and his father traveled from Poland, Ohio, to try scuba diving for the first time. He said he was nervous at first but eased into the experience with games like diving to catch rings.
“Going deep was unusual,” Bobic said, having only snorkeled prior to the scuba session.
Bobic and Weirich said they would try the experience again.
“We just want people to come out and try scuba,” Holder said. “Even if its not for you, you’ll never know if it’s something you want to try until you try it.”
The experience Saturday was for beginners, with a 30-minute session costing $25, but Holden said Scott’s Scuba Service can also help with certifications.
Holden said there are three steps to earning a scuba certification — knowledge development, confined water environment and open water environment.
Knowledge development involves a mix of self-paced and classroom learning that ends with an exam. In the confined water phase, divers demonstrate 24 dive skills in a pool, which can take up to six hours. Holden said the skills are normally completed in two- to three-hour sessions.
The confined water phase also includes a swimming test. Holden said he has had many people tell him they’re not good at swimming, but he’s never had anyone fail a certification because of the swimming test.
In the final open water phase, divers practice in a lake or ocean and complete four dives over two days. Scott’s Scuba Service trains in a nine-acre lake in the area of Grove City for this.
Scott’s Scuba Service also has upcoming sessions at the ARC, the Butler County Family YMCA, the Richard G. Snyder YMCA in Kittanning and at Westminster College. The next session is scheduled to take place from 10:30 to 11 a.m. Jan. 31 at the ARC.
“We go wherever people want to learn,” Holden said. “We don’t want to make them drive all the way out to us.”
