Quote Originally Posted by AniaR View Post
So I have been researching this as a guy reached out to me a few provinces over who is apparently the only SSI certified mermaid instructor in Canada. As I understand it they approached a few well known pro mermaids and basically took their curriculum they used for their own mermaid school programs. As I chatted back and forth trying to research myself, it seems like my team still have far better qualifications in their freediving and swim instructor courses, than what SSI is currently offering. In my country SSI only has a small bit of the market and aren't as recognized at PADI are.

On the one hand, I think having something like this widespread would be a good thing and help mermaids all around. Bans are starting to roll out again in different parts of my country and the main thing they cite is no regulatory body that can vouch for people's skill. So at least if someone passes a course and gets a certificate, it may satisfy that end of things. In the long run, it could lead to less bans and possibly lower insurance or even insurance that is specific to mermaid swimming (not just performing or business owning). I also think anyone giving mermaid lessons or running a mermaid school needs some sort of proof they are qualified to do so.

But on the other hand, it sounds like SSI has very little experience in mermaiding at all and the way they created their course basically stole from others, and even despite that, isn't really all that great for mermaids. I think anyone with freediving should be considered vastly qualified. It seems to be a bit more of a money grab considering no one really recognizes them as an authority (e.g. life saving society, st john ambulance and other regulatory bodies for swimming/water safety) PADI has a few mermaid specialty courses which no one seems to recognize as having any authority either.

That being said, if it becomes more of a thing I probably will obtain it just to say I have it.
100% this, Raina. That is what I thought when reading the course objectives and standards (which unfortunately was very vague what the pass criteria really are, they referred to the actual training materials, which made me *very* suspicious).

I expected to read something like "be able to swim 100m in a tail, demonstrate how to take off a tail in water too deep to stand, demonstrate a duck dive, explain why equalization is necessary, explain the risks of mermaiding, demonstrate how to handle a leg cramp...", but found nothing such like. And as the courses are filed under "swimming", I too think that a proper freediving course would make one more than qualified. That they do not offer equivalency lists, like they do for SCUBA, even not for their own freediving courses, is another red flag for me.

I would maybe like to see some kind of "mermaiding badge" to proof to the pools that you know what you are doing, but am very, very weary of them being tied to commercial organizations.

Here in Germany we have a kind of badge system for swimming (youth swimming badge, level bronze, silver and gold, also for adults, but lesser known), which are nationwide regulated by the swimming association and, I belive, the lifesaving organization. They can be issued by every "Schwimmeister", essential the pool chief lifeguard, for a really small administrative fee (5-10€, I believe, which includes a certificate and a stitched badge for the swimsuit). You do not need to take an official course, you just pop up, ask the lifeguard to watch you, and the guard issues it when you meet the criteria, easy as that. And that badge is accepted in every pool and even, to a certain extent, outside of Germany (sometimes there is a higher level than the basic bronze reqired).

I could imagine someting like this, not associated with a commercial organization, but there one would have to reach out to the pools, lifeguards, swimming organizations etc.
Maybe something like that is indeed easier to do in Germany, with the club system and a tendency for red tape and affinity to badges deeply embedded in society.

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