July 24, 1999
Exploring another world ... underwater
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
Learning was all wet this week at the Tiffin YMCA when both the instructor and class members went off "the deep end.''
Paul Grammer, who during the school year is a fourth-grade teacher at Washington Elementary, has been a scuba instructor at the YMCA for a class of 12- to 15-year-olds for four years. The week-long course serves as an introduction to the sport for these youngsters.
Gathered at the 13-foot pool, Grammer attempted to get the attention of the class as he taught them how to enter the water with their gear on their backs.
"See the two giant stripes,'' he pointed out to them. "I want you to step on the line way out there. Use your right hand to hold your mask in place. Then take a giant stride and step out. If you hop, you will go up, so we don't want to hop.''
As he illustrated by stepping off and hitting the water with a splash, Grammer told the students to use their left hand to hold on to the console, which has the gauges on it, so that it does not hit them as they are diving. Successfully jumping into the water, they use a signal, patting their head, to show that they are alright.
Most of the eight students participating this year are 12- or 13-year-olds; all but one are male. Grammer, who also teaches scuba diving privately, said that the children just need to be comfortable in the water to take advantage of the lessons.
"When I started, I thought you had to be this really good swimmer,'' Grammer said. "But for sport diving, you just need to be comfortable in the water.''
He said the youngsters are taking to the sport with surprising ease. "One of the exercises we do is being able to take your mask off and put it back on underwater,'' Grammer said. "A lot of adults have problems with it, but these kids did it without even thinking. There was no coughing or swallowing of pool water.''
The first day of class is spent familiarizing the students with the various pieces of scuba equipment, learning the parts and how to put them together. From there, they spend an hour during each of the two-hour sessions in the water.
"We start in the shallow end,'' Grammer explained. "They don't come over to the deep end until they have gained a lot of control. For every child in this class, this is the first time they have had on scuba gear.''
"They are getting familiar with being underwater and breathing,'' he added, "and they can swim back and forth under the water. If they have any trouble, they can just stand up.''
While in the shallow end, they practice safety procedures, such as taking the mouthpiece, or regulator, out of their mouths and putting it back in. "They learn how to purge it in the water, to wean them of the need to have it every moment, and to learn how to recover it,'' Grammer said. "And when they learned mask clearing, this was the first class where it was no big deal.''
They gradually progress to deeper water, building their confidence at each depth until they are comfortable in the 13-foot pool area.
And they get very comfortable swimming with the apparatus and breathing tank strapped to their backs in the pool, so much so that Grammer has difficulty at times gaining their attention. "They are in their own little world when they dive,'' Grammer said, "and you tend to block everything out.''
He also works with the students on the proper terminology for the equipment. Pointing to their web feet as they splashed, Grammer said, "For example, these are not flippers; Flipper is a dolphin. These are fins.''
The youngsters said they joined the class thinking it would be fun, and they haven't been disappointed.
Grammer, who grew up along the Atlantic Ocean in New Jersey, said he didn't learn to dive until he moved to Ohio. His diving experience has given him opportunities he would not have had otherwise. "In 1989, I took a graduate class at the Florida Keys and produced an underwater video that I have used with my teaching. And in 1991, I taught in Belize, marine science, because I was a diver; I had learned so much about marine biology.''
He also uses an instructional video that he recorded in 1984, which illustrates the adventures of a novice diver, through her eyes. Grammer hopes that the students wish to expand their learning with their scuba skills.
"I have been snorkeling before in the Bahamas,'' said Jack Weisenger, 12, a student at St. Joseph School. "I liked learning about the different equipment that you use, and I think I could use it to help other people.''
"It would probably be the jumps that we did in the water,'' David Cantley, 13, Tiffin Junior High, said, commenting on the most fun he had. "Maybe I will go diving some day.''
Ashley Metz, 13, has great plans for her new-found skills. "I want to go and get certified,'' she said. "And my mom said that she will take me to Puerto Rico.''