Blog guest: Goran Dimitrić

What is the best time for your kid to start an underwater adventure, to go SCUBA diving? What are the preconditions for SCUBA diving? Is it recommended to have an ad hoc diving course on a beach, or a ship while you’re at the seaside? What training is recommended for kids? The explanations are given for the Swimming Dad by our #Blog guest, Professor Dr Goran Dimitrić, a swimming professor at Novi Sad University. Apart from swimming, Mr Goran has been a diving lover for decades, a PSS instructor #A04DG1081, at the TIMSCUBA DIVING club, Novi Sad, Serbia, giving trainings on diving in line with the PSS standards.

What age is the best for kids to start SCUBA diving?

The best time for kids to start SCUBA diving is when they are around 14 years of age, due to safety reasons. Apart from being physically able then, they are also mentally stronger, not enough though to react in some accidental situations. It would be good, to make them interested, or to “keep” those who are interested, not to reject them, to have them attend a freediving course as a good preparation of SCUBA diving.

Are there any preconditions for diving?

The most important one is a medical examination, with the accent on the diver’s examination. Abroad, you just need a signed statement on the health condition of the student, which I personally think is not good. Of course, the desire is also important and the fearlessness or absence of prejudice (sharks, whales..).

Is it necessary to take a diving course or is it enough to have a short training on a ship or a beach just before you dive?

Of course, the best option is to take an entire course in your mother tongue. There are a lot of safety-related things which are necessary to understand well so that you could avoid the unwanted situations. Short courses on a beach are a good introduction i.e. they’re enough to satisfy the curiosity of an individual and to see if he/she can do it or not. When it comes to kids, I recommend the entire course. After the training on a beach or a ship, it is mandatory to have an experienced instructor or a divemaster diving together with the kid or the person who has taken that short diving course, with respecting the diving depth for that particular level of skills. However, … we don’t have to go deep to have a diving incident.

When is the best time of a year for diving beginners? What is the best place for beginners to do their first diving, according to you?

The best time of a year to start diving is in the period September – April (when you don’t have the sea)… as later on, we have the course in the open waters and we go to dive in the sea. The best place is a warm sea with a good visibility, since the conditions are the best for learning and diving, and once you get some experience, you can dive at any time of a year and in waters of different temperatures.