Without Undue Stress
This is closely tied to being sufficiently ready to perform a skill “on command.” Sometimes students will perform skills when and where you tell them to — simply because you said so. As they do, however, you can tell they are clearly nervous, bordering perhaps on all-out panic. This is not acceptable.
A certain amount of stress is understandable. Diving is a new and dramatically different experience for most students. Additionally, students tend to feel as though they are always being evaluated (with cause). It’s unrealistic to expect all students to perform basic skills with the same level of confidence and ease we would feel in their shows.
Nevertheless, a student should never be considered to have mastered a skill if it appears to be a struggle for him to simply get through the exercise, or you find yourself expecting the student to go ballistic at any moment.
Before you decide a student is ready for certification — or just ready to progress to open-water training — he needs to reach the point where he can perform all of the required skills without significant stress.
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