Advancing your scuba diving qualifications to become a Sports Diver gives you the opportunity to perform longer, deeper dives with decompression stops, as well as learning rescue skills.
If you already have some diving experience with an entry-level qualification and want to take your underwater adventures to the next level, Sports Diver is your next step in BSAC’s Diver Training Programme.
Our experienced and certified dive instructors are passionate about sharing their love for diving while ensuring your safety at all times.
Advancing your scuba diving qualifications to become a Sports Diver gives you the opportunity to perform longer, deeper dives with decompression stops, as well as learning rescue skills.
Being a Sports Diver allows most people to do all the diving they want in the UK and abroad.
Skills that make Sports Divers stand out from the crowd include doing longer deeper dives, with decompression stops if needed.
The Sports Diver course includes, six theory modules, two dry practical sessions, sheltered water rescue skills session and six open water dives.
It’s a continually assessed qualification, so after your in-water training and a short theory exam, you’ll be competent to complete a series of depth progression dives – at increments of 5m – enabling you to dive down to a maximum of 40m.
There are two routes to becoming a Sports Diver – either from Advanced Ocean Diver, or directly from Ocean Diver. You will broaden your experience in a variety of challenging open-water conditions and learn essential techniques to prepare you for diving to a maximum of 40 metres.
To become a Sports Diver, you must have successfully completed an Ocean Diver or Advanced Ocean Diver course (or have equivalent certification from another recognised training agency) and be aged 12 or older, but you need to be 14 or older to progress to depths greater than 20m post qualification.
After completing this course, you will know how to:
If you want to expand your experience by exploring different locations and conditions, you can easily do this accompanied by a Dive Leader or higher-grade diver. Your open water diver certification will be recognised worldwide.
That means you will be qualified to use breathing gas mixtures of up to 36 per cent Nitrox to increase your safety on dives (you’ll learn all about Nitrox on the course). Many ‘learn to dive’ courses don’t teach Nitrox or rescue skills, but at BSAC we believe they are important skills to start learning from the start of your scuba journey.
As a qualified Ocean Diver, you can dive buddied with another Ocean Diver, under the supervision of a Dive Manager – so long as you stick to familiar locations and conditions you have encountered during your training.
At depths of down to 20m, Ocean Divers have plenty of chances to encounter a fascinating variety of wildlife and shipwrecks in seas, rivers, quarries, lochs and lakes. Imagine finning over a rocky reef teeming with fish and covered in sessile life such as seasquirts, sponges and brightly coloured anemones, spending precious moments watching grey seals at play, or exploring a historic wreck.
This course is perfect for BSAC members who want to take a more active role in their club and/or become an Open Water Instructor.
Dive Leaders are key members of their BSAC clubs who are able to lead inexperienced and experienced divers to gain new experiences. They are also able to organise dives and have the skills to deal with situations where something unexpected may have occurred.
