Watersport Instructor Jobs
Teaching water sports is quite different to teaching sports on dry land. You aren't just developing people's abilities in the sport or activity itself, you are also developing their confidence to do the sport in or on the water.
One of the biggest rewards when teaching water sports is seeing the confidence grow in people who have perhaps never been active on the water before. A lot of people lack confidence when they are in and around water. When you take part in sports on land, you don’t think about the land at all, whereas when it comes to watersports, as well as the activity, a lot of consideration is given to the water itself. Part of your job as a water sports instructor is building the confidence of the people you are instructing so that they become less nervous about the water, and can concentrate more on the activity itself.
Let's have a look at the types of water sports on offer. The first group of activities are more obvious and mainstream than others and a qualification in these could offer more opportunities for employment. Swimming and diving, sailing, yachting, canoeing and kayaking, rowing, windsurfing, body boarding and surfing.
Slightly more specialist watersports include jetski, waterskiing and wakeboarding, snorkeling, white water rafting, parasending and kite surfing. Specialist qualifications for these activities do exist, even for newer activities like kite surfing: britishkitesurfingassociation.co.uk
We spoke to Mark from Swansea who took a Windsurfing Trainer Course two years ago.
"I spent a couple of summers working in Greece as a holiday rep and got talking to some of the guys who were running the beach activities. They were clearly having a blast and I asked them how they got into it. My plan was to get the qualification in the UK then head out to the Med to soak up the sun, but in the end I stopped here in sunny Swansea. The centre has an AALA licence so we get groups of kids on adventure holidays coming down to the coast to learn how to windsurf and kayak. The bay has perfect conditions for windsurfing as we have beaches facing various directions so we can adapt to the wind direction."
"The training course itself lasted six days and is recognized by the Royal Yatching Association. I’d say this is the thing to look for, RYA level. I had been taught the basics before I went on the course, as some will require a basic level of competence. Some even require certificates from more basic courses. The training was probably 70% on the water and 30% theory, on land. I came out with the qualification that allows me to teach windsurfing at registered RYA centres. And that’s what I do. I love it."
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