Divers down, enthusiasm up

Twelve students from West Island College senior class say that their special Phys. Ed. curriculum is helping them build team skills and get ahead in science.

Their teacher, Dave Bélanger, said his special high-school scuba course encourages students to work hard, because enrolment is limited and competitive, and because it offers something different that kids can engage in. “When I taught this in the public system I actually had kids tell me it was the only reason they came to school that day,” said Bélanger, a math teacher who started the scuba program in 1983 at McDonald Cartier High School on the south shore, and had the curriculum approved by the ministry of education.

The province expects Phys. Ed. courses to develop student’s willingness to engage in activities by themselves and to play with others, and to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Once a course has been approved for credit at one school, any school can adopt the curriculum.

Bélanger taught the course at several public schools before retiring in June 2007. The following September he was invited out of retirement to teach math at WIC, and sold the private Dollard des Ormeaux high school’s administration on offering scuba to the senior class as one option for their compulsory Life Sports course. “I was glad to have it because the other sports are all boring,” says 16-year-old Orly Rosenzweig from Dollard. Among choices offered to fulfill the requirement are basketball, tennis and health and fitness.

But not so many students were eager to take the plunge at first. Bélanger says the first year it was hard to fill even eight places in the class, because many students were hesitant about the possible risks associated with diving.

While there has been some controversy over the diving industry’s recent move to lower the minimum age - now 12 years if accompanied by a certified adult diver - kids over 15 have long been able to get licensed. But instructors always reserve the right to refuse a student whom they don’t find serious enough.

And Bélanger is serious about safety. “I tell the kids, if you break the safety rules, you pay the price. I tell them about all the accidents that have happened and show them the coroner’s report. In class, it’s three strikes you’re out.”

The yearlong curriculum begins with swimming lengths to improve skills and stamina, covers all the theory and physiology of diving (including pressure laws, which are covered in less depth in science class), and teaches lifesaving techniques for diving situations. The students perform tests and play games underwater to assure their ability to cope with dynamic situations. “We learn progressively and have heaps of time to learn all the equipment thoroughly,” said Kendra Pomerantz, 16, from Beaconsfield.

After learning basic skills in the Dollard Civic Centre pool, they go deep at the Olympic Stadium’s 50-foot dive pool, put on a wet suit to run the rapids at Chambly, and complete three exercises on the wreck of the Conestoga in Ontario’s Gallop Canal. Graduates qualify for an internationally recognised Open Water Diver certification.

This year’s class, dubbed the ‘Scuba Squad,’ all agree when 17-year-old Alex Antoniazzi from Dollard says a dive career is “tempting,” but mostly they enjoy the challenge and are happy to make friends with whom they can continue to dive in the future. Mission accomplished for a ministry-approved gym course. <@Cp>Chronicle, Jacques Pharand<@$p>