Sidemounting.com would like to introduce you to .. Vas Proud
“Diving is my hobby …but teaching is my passion.”
I fell in love with diving the moment I first dipped my head underwater and made a connection to the underwater world.
I started to get interested in technical diving as I was looking for something more challenging in my diver education. After some basic training, I found out about Steve and took my first Sidemount training and I worked with Steve up to entry level Trimix in multi stage sidemount technical configuration.
I don’t believe divers always fit into the fixed boxes of specific courses – each diver needs something different to help them develop and reach their goals. It is this tailored approach that I take with divers that achieves the results.
I have a science and engineering background, so the equipment and dive theory for technical diving really appeals to me. As a Sidemount instructor, I can see what configuration changes might be needed and how they will impact the diver.
I have been sharing my knowledge with others throughout my professional career and as a dive instructor I have the chance to combine my passion for teaching with my love of diving.
“I am lucky enough to combine my passion for teaching with my love of diving.”
I made my first dives in mainstream, warm water locations such as Egypt, Thailand, The Maldives and The Caribbean. I then made a conscious choice to expand my diving experience as I began my professional diver training and I spent several years diving in the colder UK waters – as a result I now prefer making dives in a Dry Suit.
I became interested in overhead environments and took further cave and wreck training enabling me to dive in even more challenging locations. I am now making my way around the caves in Europe to see different environments and how to adapt my teaching methods to changing conditions.
When teaching, I love to see students immerse themselves in the training and to watch them make improvements on every dive. I get genuine pleasure when helping a student master a difficult skill or a complex part of dive theory. I get a huge benefit from working with students and having a shared experience where we are all training together towards the same goal.
I believe my success as an instructor comes down to finding the right balance between knowing when to push, when to listen, when to empathise and when to allow self-correction and development. On a training course, I am there for the diver’s benefit – my time is focused 100% on the diver and maximising results.
“.. my time is focused 100% on the diver and maximising results.”
I am regularly diving for myself in caves as well as deeper wrecks because it is important to retain my diving enjoyment and not just “talk the talk”. My favourite dives are anything where I am happy with my performance and when the team has executed the dive as planned.
I dive almost exclusively in sidemount because I find it is the most comfortable and adaptable configuration I have used. I can also dive in twinset when required and if you look really hard online you might even catch me doing that!