Fitness instructors ready for duty at sea

One component of the Personnel Support Programs Deployment Support course involved training in sea survival skills. Students practiced safely entering the water in their clothes, moving in the water as a group and turning over the 20-person life raft in the Naden Athletic Center pool.

Nineteen Personnel Support Programs (PSP) fitness instructors learned what it’s like to be a sailor last week.

Coming from bases across Canada, they were part of a deployment training program designed to prepare them to sail in Canadian warships.

The five-day course is a follow-up to the successful pilot project developed in 2011.

Students learn at-sea survival skills in addition to job-specific training that prepares them to provide fitness and recreation services to ships’ crews.

“The course is basically branched in five different areas beginning with the seamanship division of the school here at Esquimalt, providing the critical sea survival training theory in addition to job-specific training from fitness, sports, health promotion and recreation,” says Chris Giacobbi, PSP Training Manager, Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services (CFMWS).

While the applicants have many of the basic skills necessary to provide fitness services on board the ship, their job stretches beyond that scope. They are also there to help maintain good morale among the crew by organizing recreational activities and promoting healthy lifestyle choices.

When they arrive on ship, one of their jobs is to meet  with crew members and conduct a town hall to find out what activities the crew would like to have. The course shows them how to do that and then develop a deployment-long program for the crew.

The course also addresses “the inherent barriers of delivering fitness at sea,” says Giacobbi. “For example, elevated sea states, changes to ports itineraries, ship’s company working on different schedules.”

In addition to competency, students are also being evaluated on soft skills, which include positive attitude, aptitude and adaptability.

“Given the changing operational requirements found in a shipboard environment, it’s important they have the necessary attitude and aptitude to serve the ship’s company,” says Giacobbi.

Corbyn Ing from CFB Borden was one of nine PSP fitness instructors who deployed after the 2011 pilot program.

Sailing with HMCS Preserver from August to October on Operation Caribbe convinced him to recertify.

“All this training got me completely ready and prepared so there were no surprises for me and I had a really good deployment,” he says. “The navy really takes you in to become one of their own. They look after you. Good food. Great ports.”

This year’s course is very similar to the 2011 one, he says, but the course directors did make some changes based on feedback from the first group of students.

“It’s an excellent course with a lot of knowledgeable instructors,” he says.

Job specific training was delivered by various subject matter experts from PSP.

Carmel Ecker, Staff Writer