• After successful completion of the Ocean Diver course new divers can continue on with the BSAC Sports Diver Course.

    This course aims to produce a diver who has gained open water diving and diver rescue experience and may conduct dives with another diver of the same level up to a maximum depth of 35 metres.

    Depth progression to this depth from the 20M limit for Ocean Divers will be done as part of a plan agreed with the Diving Officer and will be done with a diver already experienced at operating at the depths to be reached.

    The course has four main elements.

    1. Six theory lessons including :-
      • Diver rescue
      • Equipment and techniques
      • Deeper diving including decompression planning
      • Dive planning

      The lessons are followed by a theory assessment.

    2. Sheltered water lessons that focus on diver rescue skills.
    3. Five open water dives that focus on:
      • Rescue skills
      • Use of specialist equipment
      • DSMB deployment
      • Underwater navigation
      • Simulated decompression stops
      • Dive planning and leading
    4. A dry practical lesson dealing with dive management.

    Once the Sports Diver qualification has been awarded there are three supervised depth progression dives:

    • Dive to 25 metres
    • Dive to 30 metres
    • Dive to 35 metres
       

    Course costs include the use of cylinders and air fills for the pool session and Open Water Rescue skills. Students at this stage will be expected to have their own equipment although those who don’t can hire equipment from Bedsac at low rates.

    Qualified Sports Divers can dive buddied with another Sports Diver, in familiar locations and conditions, allowing you more freedom to explore. You can also support a Dive Manager as a competent assistant, the first step on the road to helping to organise diving within your club.
    You can extend your experience by diving with someone qualified as a Dive Leader or above, under the supervision of a Dive Manager. You can also dive with an Ocean Diver, so long as you stay within conditions they have already encountered.

    What you’ll qualify to do 

    Your qualification will be recognised worldwide and you will be certified to use breathing gas mixtures of up to 36 per cent nitrox to increase your dive times.

    What diving experiences will this open up for me?

    Being competent to dive to 35m allows most divers to do all the diving they want in the UK and abroad. At these depths you can access the majority of UK wreck diving, and with Sport Diver skills you can extend your dive times safely and relax to take in your surroundings and any wildlife you encounter.


    Qualifying as a Sport Diver will also enable you to take part in a wider variety of BSAC Skill Development Courses to increase your diving skills.

    Your next steps – developing your skills 

    After completing Sport Diver training and consolidating your skills, your options for diving significantly expand.

    • You could learn to plan and lead dives by doing the Dive Leader course, which is the next grade in BSAC’s Diver Training Programme, and takes you further on the path to helping organise dives and expeditions.
    • You could develop specific skills to expand your diving interests further. There are more than 30 BSAC Skill Development Courses (SDCs) open to Sports Divers from Ice Diving or Underwater Photography, to Closed Circuit Rebreather Diver and Sports Mixed Gas Diver training. 
    • You could start on the road to instructing by signing up for BSAC’s Instructor Foundation Course (IFC) to become an Assistant Diving Instructor.