The title is going to confuse some people as to my intentions but I'd like to say, that it is not another article about being "diver fit", that's not excusing the massive number of old men who huddle round the burger van, smoking a fag moaning about the weather, the entry fees or how long it takes to get an air fill! But more to tackle the issue of a suspiciously low number of young people stepping in to diving.
I'm 19 as most of you will know I love diving! I dive in British waters all year round, with many different groups of guys and girls. I am finding though that a growing number of older divers find the need to take apart every tiny movement I make whilst on a dive trip (this is not saying all people, just a select few, I have encouragement and advice from so many people). I am not complaining about the divers that know me as they know my capabilities and know that if they need help I will not only be happy to help I will also probably have the knowledge for the job (just a bit of self praise there)
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I understand there is banter on dive trips and as you can see I dish out plenty so would be totally unfair if I wasn't willing to take any. This said there seems to be an air of fear surrounding the capabilities of someone much younger in the diving fraternity. Diving is full of all sorts of egos, but there are a huge number who want to be the ones who know everything and are outraged to find something they have said questioned, even if only for curiosities sake. The thought that a 19 year old could be fairly knowledgeable scares a lot of divers and I find myself at logger heads, even with relatively new divers.
Since learning to dive 3 years ago I have seen and experienced things I would never have imagined and diving has changed me massively as a person. It has taught me when the time to be serious is and has
helped me grow out of a lot of childish traits (not to say I don't slip back in to them, now and again). I hope that people can see as much as diving is a very serious sport we have to bring fresh blood.
It is a sport dominated by older men and the older population of divers are slowly pushing out the bright eyed youngsters of the future. I don't believe it is intentional but with horror stories and over criticism the air of fun is being stolen from a hobby that is crying out for new blood. I hope people will argue with these comments and I will find there is a massive community of up and coming "young divers" but as far as I can see people want to limit what "younger divers' can achieve and keep them in the recreational window.
Thanks for reading,
Ben