Scuba Diving Merit Badge

[divermann]

I concur with Paul with 2 small additional details. The Scout must have Swimming MB in hand before he starts on the SCUBA Diving MB #4 Open Water diving certification requirement and the certifying agency's "Junior" Open Water certification must be registered with and recognized by the World Recreational Scuba Training Council (WRSTC). Then the different certifying agency's (PADI, NAUI, SSI, etc) each set up their own max depths, dive partner requirements, etc.

[FrankJ]

So you are saying that a scout that has his dive certification before he joins scouting will have to be re-certified after he gets his swimming merit badge to earn the Scuba merit badge?

[wagionvigil]

If it says you must have swimming Merit Badge before being certified then Yes. But again it would be up to the Counselor.

[smtroop168]

So you are saying that a scout that has his dive certification before he joins scouting will have to be re-certified after he gets his swimming merit badge to earn the Scuba merit badge?

Yes because you have to be a Boy Scout to earn a MB.

Is there a timeframe that Scuba Certs are good for?

[divermann]

Open Water Certs (and higher) do not expire. You are encouraged to earn (PADI Terminology) Advanced OW, Rescue Diver, and Master Scuba Diver Certs as you log more dives. All during this transition you can (and will) take Specialty Courses. Also, once you are a Rescue Diver, you can start taking Professional Level Courses. This is typically for people interested in a possible Diving Instructor career path.

So once a Scout has his OW certification finished, pre-starting the SD MB, he would not have to earn it again. If he had his Junior OW Diver Cert completed, I might try to encourage him to finish his full OW Cert, but I could not mandate it (not in the requirements). I hope this helps.

[smtroop168]

Open Water Certs (and higher) do not expire. You are encouraged to earn (PADI Terminology) Advanced OW, Rescue Diver, and Master Scuba Diver Certs as you log more dives. All during this transition you can (and will) take Specialty Courses. Also, once you are a Rescue Diver, you can start taking Professional Level Courses. This is typically for people interested in a possible Diving Instructor career path.

So once a Scout has his OW certification finished, pre-starting the SD MB, he would not have to earn it again. If he had his Junior OW Diver Cert completed, I might try to encourage him to finish his full OW Cert, but I could not mandate it (not in the requirements). I hope this helps.

Thanks..the operative word here is "scout". Frank was referring to a youth who earned his cert prior to becoming a Boy Scout.

[alex gregory]

If it says you must have swimming Merit Badge before being certified then Yes. But again it would be up to the Counselor.

I gotta disagree with you on this one. Open water certification is good for a lifetime, once certified always certified.

Scuba requirement 2 says "Before completing requirements 3 through 6, earn the Swimming merit badge." It does not say "before starting requirements 3 through 6", or use the same language as Whitewater which says "Before doing requirements 4 through 13 earn . . .."

I agree that a Scout who is already open water certified still has to earn the Swimming merit badge to earn the Scuba merit badge, but he does not also have to retake the open water certification course. Lest we forget, open water certification costs $300 to $350.

By the way, the swimming fitness and emergency procedure requirements my son recently had to complete for his SSI certification course are actually more demanding then what he had to do to get the swimming merit badge.

[PaulSWolf]

Open Water Certs (and higher) do not expire. You are encouraged to earn (PADI Terminology) Advanced OW, Rescue Diver, and Master Scuba Diver Certs as you log more dives. All during this transition you can (and will) take Specialty Courses. Also, once you are a Rescue Diver, you can start taking Professional Level Courses. This is typically for people interested in a possible Diving Instructor career path.

So once a Scout has his OW certification finished, pre-starting the SD MB, he would not have to earn it again. If he had his Junior OW Diver Cert completed, I might try to encourage him to finish his full OW Cert, but I could not mandate it (not in the requirements). I hope this helps.

Thanks..the operative word here is "scout". Frank was referring to a youth who earned his cert prior to becoming a Boy Scout.

No Matt. If a Scout has an OW Cert, or a Junior OW Cert, no matter when he earned it, he has met the intent of requirement 4. Once he has earned Swimming MB and completed requirements 1, 3, 5, & 6, he has met all requirements for the Scuba Diving MB.

[smtroop168]

Paul..so work done before a boy is a boy scout can count for MBs and rank advancement? One of out posts says a boy can earn a Junior cert at age 10. I thought we just discussed this in another topic area.

[cballman]

There are some exceptions to most rules. This is one of then once you are certified you are certified. No matter what age as I am reading which I dont know for younger students. As a MBC for other badges I would make the student do the requirments as listed. As for Req. Number 4, He must show me proof that he earned the Open Water Cert. I have not known many people that have the Open water Cert. but one of my scouts earned his at 15 a few years ago. He is the youngest so far. I would not press the issue with any parent or scout leader as long as they could show me the log books and the card. Beside that The Minimum age is 12 but could take private lessons at 10 and 11. So the age can still be classified as scout age. Just a little note I am NOTa certified diver but I used the internet for the ages. But IMHO I would not worry about a younger that scout age child trying to earn the C-Card unless the parents are divers themselves.

[PaulSWolf]

Paul..so work done before a boy is a boy scout can count for MBs and rank advancement? One of out posts says a boy can earn a Junior cert at age 10. I thought we just discussed this in another topic area.

Sure. No different than a Scout with a stamp or coin collection. Would you require a Scout with a preexisting coin collection from before he joined a troop to use it to meet this requirement?

Do ONE of the following:
1. Collect and identify 50 foreign coins from at least 10 different countries.
2. Collect and identify 20 bank notes from at least five different countries.
3. Collect and identify 15 different tokens or medals.
4. For each year since the year of your birth, collect a date set of a single type of coin

or one with a stamp collection to use it for this?

Mount and show, in a purchased or homemade album, ONE of the following:
1. A collection of 250 or more different stamps from at least 15 countries.
2. A collection of a stamp from each of 50 different countries, mounted on maps to show the location of each.
3. A collection of 100 or more different stamps from either one country or a group of closely related countries.
4. A collection of 75 or more different stamps on a single topic. (Some interesting topics are Scouting, birds, insects, the Olympics, sports, flowers, animals, ships, holidays, trains, famous people, space, and medicine). Stamps may be from different countries.

Having an OW Certification would be in the same category.

Are there items the Scout must do after he joins, YES, of course. All of the other SCUBA requirements fall into that category. But re-earning a certification he already has is not one of them.

[smtroop168]

I guess technically the boy doesn't earn the MB until he is a Boy Scout so you can count stuff he did as a Tiger Cub if the MBC wants to. You can use your Stamp and Coin Collection examples for a huge number of other MB requirements. A lot of Stamp and Coin Collections I've seen look like "inherited" ones.

More interesting to me is that this new Scuba MB is one of only a few examples where a scout has to obtain an outside certification to complete the badge. I would think it rare to find a 10 year old with a cert.

Motorboating 4A requires you to have a permit which is controled by the state certification or USCG standards

Archery and Rifle have official Targets

And Even Golf requires you to play a round using the USGA "Rules of Golf" - No foot wedges allowed

[FrankJ]

More interesting to me is that this new Scuba MB is one of only a few examples where a scout has to obtain an outside certification to complete the badge. I would think it rare to find a 10 year old with a cert.

As other have stated, if a 10 yr old has a cert, some one in his family is into diving. I expect that they would also be able to easily do the physical requirements of the swimming merit badge.

At least the would not be looking for a waiver of the 1st swimming requirements.

We also need remember that MBs are suppose to spark an interest in a subject, not to be a PIA. The point behind the requirement is that the scout need to know how to swim before really getting started on this merit badge. I expect the dive instructor would insist on this anyway.

[alex gregory]

The point behind the requirement is that the scout need to know how to swim before really getting started on this merit badge. I expect the dive instructor would insist on this anyway.

The first pool session of an open water cert class is designed to confirm that each participant is a minimally qualified swimmer. SSI requires a 200 yard swim test, treading water for 15 minutes, and an underwater swim; all that before you start learning how to use basic snorkeling equipment or scuba gear.

[deweylure]

I was checking out lessons for my son at the dive center . I had a question regarding swimming ability . The salesman told me they did not have to swim a lot. their requirement was less than 100 yds. In your opinion if it is a scouting activity does the scout requirements prevail? I think it does.

Dewey

[cballman]

Req. #2 Before completing requirements 3 through 6, EARN the SWIMMING MERIT BADGE. So if a child wants to earn this badge then yes BSA requirements overrule the swimming requirements of the the dive training.


P.S. If you read the Merit Badge Pamphlet there is a yellow highlighted area on page 4 that explains the questions that have been asked on this thread.

P.S.S. I hate to be the bad person to bring this up but before starting a merit badge or to counsel one. That scout or counsler should have a copy of the pamphlet and read it.

[smtroop168]

P.S.S. I hate to be the bad person to bring this up but before starting a merit badge or to counsel one. That scout or counsler should have a copy of the pamphlet and read it.

I'm with you on that so why does the BSA do things like release the Geocaching MB requirements without a pamphlet or even a MB patch?

[FrankJ]

Req. #2 Before completing requirements 3 through 6, EARN the SWIMMING MERIT BADGE. So if a child wants to earn this badge then yes BSA requirements overrule the swimming requirements of the the dive training.

Playing boy scout lawyer (or devil's advocate), it says before completing, not starting. So it is not against the requirements to have the scuba certification prior to starting the merit badge.

The certification process is minimally $350. For most people it is probably $500+. You can only get it through a pro that has overhead they have to cover. (They also have to eat.) I not would make somebody redo this for a little round patch. Mute point really because I will never be a scuba merit badge counselor.

I am with Paul completely on this one.

BTW this is from the requirements page scouting.org

Scouts who have already earned an Open Water Diver Certification outside of a BSA activity from a scuba agency recognized by the Boy Scouts of America scuba policy may still earn the Scuba Diving merit badge by earning the Swimming merit badge and completing all other listed requirements.

[cballman]

Deweylure ask the question about swimming ability. To clarify my statements above that do the BSA override the diving standerds. Hsaid the salesman told him they do not have to swim even 100 yardsfor the scuba cert. Now to pass the swimming merit badge you have to pass the swimmers test. Now if the BSA test is for 100 yards and the scuba test is for 95 yards then yes the BSA must also be used. Now for the Geocaching badge, this thread is for the Scuba Diving merit badge so I will ask you to post in that badge thread. I wish I could help you on that badge but I havent learned to use a GPS so the point is mute.

[FrankJ]

Oh I missed Deweylure's question. Yes you have to meet the boy scout requirements for swimming before you do anything in the water as a boy scout. You also have to do the requirements of the swimming merit badge, regardless of how good a swimmer you are.