By Justin Fedich | The Selma Times-Journal

The pool at the YMCA of Selma-Dallas County is only 10 feet deep, but that didn’t stop a group of eager Selma citizens from learning how to dive much deeper in the water.

The YMCA hosted its first scuba diving certification class on Monday night.  The six-week course is taught by Adventure Sports II in Montgomery and is headed by Adventure Sports II owner Tom Mann.

Although registration is closed for this scuba diving course, Mann said he hopes the YMCA will host a few courses a year for those who wish to become scuba certified in the future.

“We’ll set up a schedule where there’s one course a year or two courses a year and just what the Y wants and what the market will bear,” Mann said.

There were 10 people who registered for the YMCA’s first Selma course. Not all who signed up were the fastest swimmers, but Mann said that being an exceptional swimmer is not a requirement.

Mann said there are two things future divers should know before signing up.

“You don’t have to be an Olympic swimmer. You just have to be comfortable in the water. The other is you don’t have to be the best swimmer if you’re comfortable because once you get underwater the playing field is level.“

The scuba diving course at the YMCA meets weekly and requires that the divers provide their own fins, snorkel, mask and booties. The course concludes with a certification trip to Vortex Springs in north Florida.

The first lesson consisted mostly of watching scuba diving training videos and taking swim tests. Once the divers showed they were comfortable in the water, they put on their fins and received their first in-the-water scuba diving lesson with Mann guiding the swimmers.

Mann has been teaching scuba diving for 29 years. Although his company is based in Montgomery, Mann welcomes the opportunity to teach people to scuba dive in Selma where he said there is a history of diving.

“It’s just teaching somebody to do something that I really enjoy doing and sharing that with other people and watching them have a good time and enjoy a really wonderful sport,” Mann said.

Mann hopes the amount of people interested in scuba diving grows in Selma and welcomes the opportunity to teach future divers at the YMCA.

“As long as these guys have a good time, it’s really a word of mouth thing,” Mann said.

If interested in becoming scuba diving certified, contact Mann at Adventure Sports II at 334-269-3483 or contact Ann Murray about setting up future scuba diving courses at the YMCA at 334-874-9622.