Becoming a pro

[sh4sta]

After starting in Asia, I plan to go to the Bahamas / Honduras / South Africa / Sansibar. Happy to exchange contacts and meetup somewhere. Hey folks,
I decided to quit my job and instead of that, getting a Master certification during the next months.

Now to my questions to experts here:
- What certification would you recommend RAID, AIDA, SSI?
- Do you have particular schools that you can recommend in Vietnam, Philippines, or Bali?
- What is the expert POV in doing a 4 weeks training, or even 2 4-weeks training in different locations (e.g. first Vietnam, then Bali)
- What training format do you recommend?
- I could not find any thread on that topic before, but assume it was posted before. Any recommendations from people who did it before?

Really appreciate your feedback & POV!

Thanks,
Martin

To my background: occasional diver, in a quite good fitness shape (triathlon training), don't have a travel itinerary yet, so also flexible in terms of timing, duration and locations, will start February 1st, After starting in Asia, I plan to go to the Bahamas / Honduras / South Africa / Sansibar. Happy to exchange contacts and meetup somewhere or to support some NGO or volunteering.

 

[Manny_OCF]

After starting in Asia, I plan to go to the Bahamas / Honduras / South Africa / Sansibar. Happy to exchange contacts and meetup somewhere. Hey folks,
I decided to quit my job and instead of that, getting a Master certification during the next months.

Now to my questions to experts here:
- What certification would you recommend RAID, AIDA, SSI?
- Do you have particular schools that you can recommend in Vietnam, Philippines, or Bali?
- What is the expert POV in doing a 4 weeks training, or even 2 4-weeks training in different locations (e.g. first Vietnam, then Bali)
- What training format do you recommend?
- I could not find any thread on that topic before, but assume it was posted before. Any recommendations from people who did it before?

Really appreciate your feedback & POV!

Thanks,
Martin

To my background: occasional diver, in a quite good fitness shape (triathlon training), don't have a travel itinerary yet, so also flexible in terms of timing, duration and locations, will start February 1st, After starting in Asia, I plan to go to the Bahamas / Honduras / South Africa / Sansibar. Happy to exchange contacts and meetup somewhere or to support some NGO or volunteering.

I personally like AIDA and am trained through AIDA. They only do freediving and they certify all the competitions. I like how they are specialised and have great training materials for their courses.
A part of me likes the smaller organisations as opposed to big scuba diving giants like PADI and SSI that offer freediving courses.

I seem to meet and know lots and lots of SSI instructors, but very few AIDA instructors. I don't know if its because SSI is bigger or because instructor level is easier to attain in SSI.

There are lots of schools in Bali that offer AIDA. I would recommend Ocean Prana in Bali, the instructor there, Yoram Zekri is great!

If you are looking to become a master level/instructor level freediver in a short time frame, think carefully. Like scuba diving, experience and time doing the sport counts a lot rather than just knowledge!

All the best with your training and travels!

 

[sh4sta]

Thanks for that!
Flights are booked now - hitting Manila on April 3rd and will be around for roughly 4 weeks.

Happy to meet up with people & do a dive.

I would also appreciate a few tips on where the best classes are.

Thanks,
Martin

 

[JPfrdvr]

I heard a lot of good things about freedive panglao (http://www.freedive-panglao.com/courses.htm).
The school is led by Stefan Randig (German National Record Holder) and offers AIDA courses. Stefan was featured on one of the episodes of the freedive café podcast by Donny Mac (highly recommended btw).

However, I have the feeling there are more opportunities to work as a SSI certified instructor. If that is what you mean by becomming a pro - or do you want to be able to compete with the elite and earn a living off of it?

Anyway, going from zero to hero in a very short amount of time can prove very tricky...mentally, physically, equalization and adaptation wise etc. But I'm sure you are well aware of that as you already seem to have quit your job for freediving!

I wish you all the best on your journey!

Best,
JP