UTD Team Builder

The UTD TEAM BUILDER Program

Beyond Buddies is the "Thinking Team."

The UTD Team Builder program is designed to encourage you to learn to dive in 3-person teams by offering a discount in your training, allowing you to formally learn how to dive in a team of 3 in any class.

We've found that divers trained in a 3-person team are generally more well-rounded divers, able to recognize and adapt to the dynamics of a team of 3, while also enjoying the strengths and benefits an efficient 3-person team offers.

The goal of this program is not only to teach the mechanics, skills, and knowledge of a paticular class, but to also expose you to learning the skills and knowledge while diving within a 3-person thinking team. You'll benefit by learning how to dive in this dynamic environment, in a formal class setting, making the transition to "real world" 3-person team diving much smoother.

Dive as a Team of 3, Save as a Team of 3

Many divers feel at home diving in 2-person teams, but are a bit intimidated by, or unsure how, to dive efficiently in a 3-person team, causing them to be slightly less comfortable when diving in a team of 3. This program is designed to teach how to maximize the real benefit of a 3-person team, from planning and logistics to working cohesively as a team, to post-dive debriefing. The Team Builder program works at all skill levels.

To facilitate this, and offer an incentive, many UTD instructors are offering 15% off any class to each member of a team of 3 divers who organize their own team and take a class (details and restrictions below).

Why a Team of 3?

Dive teams consist of 2 or 3 divers. A group of 4 divers diving together will break into two teams of 2. A group of 5 will break into a team of 2 and a team of 3. And a group of 6 will break into two teams of 3 or three teams of 2, depending on the dive objective. This keeps the teams small, manageable and efficient. While the entire group may dive together, each team operates independently of the other(s).

Two person teams offer a degree of simplicity in communication, team awareness, positioning and roles/responsibilities. However, an efficient 2-person team cannot compare to the strength and resources of an efficient 3-person team.

A 3-person team presents a different dynamic than a 2-person team and does require a broader awareness, attention to positioning, and more communication responsibilities to operate at full efficiency. However, a properly trained and efficient 3-person team has more resources (equipment, eyes, brains and awareness) which is a significant benefit to exploration projects or more aggressive dives and the overall enjoyment of the dive.

In short, if you train in a 3-person team, you will typically be a more well-rounded diver, able to function efficiently in either a 2-person or 3-person team dynamic. Additionally, we feel the diver who is proficient in a 3-person team has a more developed, broader awareness due to the increased demands of diving in a 3-person team.

Details

The Team Builder Program is designed to give you an incentive in training with a 3-person team, for several reasons:

• You are not only trained in the curriculum of the class you are taking, but are also experiencing the 3-person team dynamic while training, which adds to your training experience.
• It builds the local pool of like-minded and similarly trained divers from which to choose from when planning dives, who are also trained in diving within a 3-person thinking team.
• By forming your own team for the class, it eases our efforts of searching for teammates to fill a class or having a staff member "pretend" to be a teammate in order to simulate a 3-person team dynamic, leaving us more time to spend with you.

Restrictions/Rules of the Team Builder Program

• The class must consist of a team of 3, organized by the students. You must find your own teammates to receive the discount. Each student will receive the discount when all tuitions are paid.
• The Team Builder program applies to any UTD class other than Open Water, Cylinder & Valve Tech and Gas Blender.
• Students joining an already scheduled class will not receive the discount. You must form your own team. However, a team of 3 formed by you may enter an already scheduled class, provided there are enough spots, and you will receive the discount.
• Cancellation by a teammate forfeits the discount to all team members, unless a replacement is found.

Want to register your team?

Contact any North American UTD Instructor or Worldwide UTD Instructor, or contact us at UTD HQ and we'll work with you to get you to a UTD Instructor.

Be a part of a Thinking Team. Join UTD's Team Builder program now.