Instructor Training

Resources

Below you will find a list of resources which are available for you to use on the various levels.

Standards and Procedures

General standards for AI Instructors

Procedures for working as Apnea International Instructors

All instructors teaching AI courses are required to hold the following:

All courses are run under AI standards and with original AI materials. All materials must be purchased from AI. It is forbidden to copy or alter the forms/books provided by AI without explicit permission. Each student receives their own training manual, registration form, liability release form and medical form. All forms must be filled and held by the instructor for a period of 7 years or as required by local law. At the end of each course each instructor submits a certification request through the “Student Registration System”.

Instructor rating: Upon successful completion of the AI instructor course an instructor is allowed to run the following programs: B4s, Stage A and Stage B. Upon certifying 100 students and completing an assessment with an Instructor trainer the instructor is able to teach the Stage C course.

General standards for Stage A courses

Stage A Apnea International Course

Depth Rating: max 20m

Key standards to enroll:

Be 17 years old or over (or 13+ with a written & approved letter from parents)
Swim 200m without fins, non‑stop in less than 8 minutes
Sustain 10 minutes in the water without fins
Be healthy

INSTRUCTOR SUPERVISION:

Open water: 4 students per instructor (4:1)
Confined water: 8 students per instructor (8:1)
Theory/dry activities: 8 students per instructor (8:1)

ADMINISTRATION AND PAPERWORK: Before commencing any in‑water training, each student freediver must complete the following documents for students aged under 18 years, both co‑signed by a parent/guardian: RSTC Medical Statement, Enrolment form, AI Liability Release. Instructors hold these on file for a minimum of seven years.

Course outline & schedule (≈16 hrs, ~2.5 days):

2–4 theory sessions
2 open water dives (Max 20m, certification depth 10m)
1 dynamic pool session (certification distance 30m)
1 static pool session

General standards for Stage B courses

Stage B Apnea International Course

Depth Rating: 30m

Key standards to enroll:

Be 17 years old or over (or 14+ with a written & approved letter from parents)
Swim & sustain in water (with & without fins)
Be healthy
Hold an AI Stage A certificate or equivalent

INSTRUCTOR SUPERVISION: same ratios as Stage A.

ADMINISTRATION AND PAPERWORK: same documents as Stage A.

Course duration: 20 hours (~3 days): 4 theory, 3 open water dives, 1 static session.

Course outline: dive response, physics, physiology, advanced breathing and equalization, nutrition, streamlining, “sweet spot.”

General standards for Stage C courses

Stage C Apnea International Course

Depth Rating: 40m+

Key standards to enroll:

Be 17 years old or over (or 14+ with parental consent)
Swim & sustain in water (with & without fins)
Be healthy
Hold an AI Stage B certificate or equivalent

INSTRUCTOR SUPERVISION: same ratios.

ADMINISTRATION AND PAPERWORK: same documents.

Course duration: 4 days: 6 theory, 6 open water dives, 1 static, 1 dynamic.

Course outline: mental management, deep equalization (VTO, mouth-fill), advanced breathing, pacing, methodology, psychology, training cycles.

Procedures for delivering Ocean sessions (Stage A)

Guidelines: open water dives with fixed line (≥6 mm), dive flag, medical kit, mobile phone.

Session goals: understanding session stages, buoyancy check, team safety, duck dive technique, rescue of unconscious diver.

Buoyancy check, facial immersion, duck dive demo, TAG/STA dives (5m, 8m, 10m, then focus on glide to 18m).
Second session: emergencies briefing, 10m dives, mask flood drill, active/passive rescue drills, debrief.

Procedures for delivering Pool sessions (Stage A)

Guidelines: static apnea & dynamic apnea in pool (≥20m), floatation support available.

Session goals: training session stages, CO₂ tolerance logic, team work, rescue drill, dynamic kicking experiments.

Static: facial immersion, FRC holds, CO₂ tables, rescue demo/practice.
Dynamic: buoyancy test, FRC drill, swim 20–25m, technique variations, rescue drill.

Procedures for delivering Pool sessions (B4s)

Guidelines: same as Stage A pool but focused on surfing-specific CO₂ tables and FRC holds.

Session goals: CO₂ tolerance for surfing, team work, FRC ≥45 s, dynamic kicking experiments.

Static: facial immersion, FRC holds, CO₂ table 01:30→00:15, relaxation table, drop drill.
Dynamic: FRC drill, hypoxic swim drills, rescue drill, debrief.

Downloads

Course Forms

B4s-course-enrollment
B4s-Medical-Statement-2019
AI-LIABILITY-FORM
Freediving-Course-Enrollment
Freediving-Medical-Statement-2019
Liability Release – Bahasa Indonesia
Course forms – Hebrew

Stage A Power-points and Slates

Stage B Power-points and Slates

Stage C Power-points and Slates

B4s Power-points and Slates

Skin-diver Power-points

Incident Report Form

Use the link above to report any incident (SWB / Injury…) to AI. This information will be stored and may help with future developments related to the original incident.