Intervista a Joseph Porrino
Founder of the educational project “Kids As Dolphins” and President of the Apnea Academy KAD Association addresses doubts and dynamics of freediving for the youngest.
Joseph, how did the idea of creating an educational project for children within a reality like Apnea Academy come about?
Il progetto Kids As Dolphins was born in 1989 in Levico Terme (Trento). Compared to what was offered until then, the characteristic of this project is its essentially educativo, whose purpose is prevention and education for a correct approach to the underwater world. The intent is to create a simple yet innovative educational path that takes into account the real needs of the child.
What are your thoughts on this topic?
Educare il maggiore numero di bambini alla prevenzione e precauzione in acqua significa sicurezza, thus reducing the possibilities of accidents. Teaching children to be supportive and well-organized among themselves, as a dimension they will carry into the relationships of daily life.
What type of teaching is developed within the project?
Initially, with the help of Dr. Maria Neri Perina, a psychopedagogist specialized in developmental age, I experimented with new teaching approaches aimed at fostering autonomy and respect for the child's personality. The young learner is no longer conceived as a passive receiver but as an active element within an experience where free collaboration fosters a spirit of cooperation. The need to create the conditions, even within a guided educational path, for a self-government that allows children to reconcile individual interests with those of the group is the basis of this project. Through active experience and simulation, the group is stimulated to autonomously find solutions to the problems that are proposed from time to time.
What methodology is developed to facilitate children's learning?
The main purpose is to develop, through a guided and structured path (sequentiality), new motor patterns that induce the child to learn the techniques intended for underwater movement. The main objectives therefore become:
- physical-sensory adaptation to progressively accustom the child to perceiving their body both on the surface and underwater;
- psychological adaptation that allows the child, through play, to remove states of anxiety and fears, positively approaching the underwater world;
- the formation of new motor patterns and technical skills.
What is the task of the KAD educator-instructor?
The task of the KAD educator-instructor is to promote, through a guided path, the acquisition of new knowledge and motor skills for safety in the aquatic environment. The KAD educator-instructor must support the child's motivation through play and verbal gratification for each task performed. On a motor level, they must be able to correct any posture errors without forcing, breaking down the proposed exercises into simpler steps, to allow the child to find their point of operational operational. An intervention of this type certainly facilitates the acquisition of useful data so that the child can personally and autonomously elaborate and express behaviors consistent with the situations experienced.
At what age can one begin KAD underwater activities?
I believe the first age range to consider for a project like “Kids as Dolphins” is that starting from from 7 years; children as young as 6 years old have not yet sufficiently developed processes of literacy, socialization, and adaptation skills. Coordination abilities also, albeit minimally, prove better from age 7 onwards.
How important do you consider play in teaching?
The play is an active part in psychomotor education, stimulates physical dexterity, the use of the senses, and also unleashes a great creative capacity.
What are, in your view, the most serious mistakes a KAD instructor-educator can make?
Poor knowledge of the issues related to developmental age and, even worse, the introduction within exercises of dangerous concepts such as time e the distance, become negative factors for the mindset of children, uneducational and sometimes misleading, if applied to a discipline like ours.
What are the safety parameters for an activity like the one proposed by “Kids As Dolphins"?
In this regard, I summarize what was recommended by Dr. Nicola Sponsiello at the first scientific conference of Castel Ivano (TN) on the theme: The Respiratory Act and Apnea in Children.
Let's start with a given fact: a child has not yet completed the development of their soma. If we add to this the limited scientific knowledge regarding psycho/somatic development, we have no other choice but to call for maximum caution. The advice to give is to never exceed 3 meters for the youngest and 6 meters for children between 10 and 13 years old. These are not random numbers but the result of established physiological knowledge: within 3 meters, the vascular changes, known as “blood shift,” are so modest as to not seem capable of causing consequences. From this data, one can assume that even in immature organisms, there is no unpleasant effect in reaching 3 meters. Even the duration times of apnea must be very brief and linked to the proposed educational activity.
The educational path, from what I understand, includes multiple courses?
Exactly. With the help of Dr. Neri, I managed to identify and, above all, test a teaching methodology that took into account the psychosomatic evolution of children from 7 to 13 years old. We divided the project into three different steps: from 7 to 8 years for a basic course, from 9 to 11 for an advanced course, and from 12 for the new expert KAD course.
In the first path, besides considering the need to dose kinetic stimulations based on the motor (neuro vegetative) abilities of the young student, we focused on using a simple, understandable, meaningful language, focusing on few concepts essential for safety education in water activities. Even in the choice of exercises, considering the difficulties in stabilizing motor skills, as mentioned before, attention was focused on the importance of sequencing in planning the proposed work.
The situation is different in the advanced course: the considered age ranges from 9 to 11 years old, a period in life where fundamental changes occur in the child's cognitive development, understood as the capacity to process information and knowledge not only through experience but also through skill.
Ulteriore è quanto accade al giovanissimo dai 12 anni, periodo di vita per il quale abbiamo ridefinito gli schemi didattici in funzione delle specifiche necessità evolutive, a cui assolve perfettamente il nuovissimo corso KAD Expert born in 2023.
Esperienza e perizia sono elementi che favoriscono una didattica più articolata, che hanno alla base il concetto di pair work quale elemento indispensabile per la propria sicurezza e sono fondamentali per le dimensioni di organizzazione e solidarietà nella esperienza di gruppo.
Do you think training KAD instructor-educators specialized in this field is necessary?
Assolutamente sì, ritengo quanto mai necessaria una formazione seria che spazi su più aspetti dell’età evolutiva: psicologici, di linguaggio, di capacità di apprendimento, psicomotoria, solo per citarne i principali.
Besides Dr. Neri, which other specialists collaborated on the project?
Hanno collaborato attivamente al progetto alcuni membri dello staff scientifico di AA Research e DAN Research e ricercatori quali: il dott. Nicola Sponsiello, il dott. Danilo Cialoni, il dott. Lorenzo Manfredini, il dott. Stefano Correale, il prof. Andrea Campara docente dell’università di Scienze Motorie di Verona, il dott. Claudio Marabotti, il dott. Maurizio Schiavon, il prof. Costantino Balestra, il dott. Flavio Fontana, il dott. Mike Maric la dott.ssa Eika Garbella, il prof. Stefano Tovaglieri, il dott. Silvio Battaini, Matteo Zangoni, Paolino Deriu, Antonella Devanna, Carlo Gottardi, Piergiorgio Bertoldi e il maestro Umberto Pelizzari.
Vorrei, inoltre, ringraziare pubblicamente i compianti prof. Piergiorgio Data e l’istruttore nonché grandissimo amico Roberto per i loro preziosi consigli e supporto.
Finally, I thank all my staff of excellent KAD trainers, composed of serious, competent, and prepared professionals.
Qual è il tuo pensiero in merito a questo tema?
Educare il maggior numero di bambini alla prevenzione e precauzione in acqua significa allontanare le possibilità di incidenti. Insegnare ai piccoli ad essere solidali e ben organizzati tra loro, come dimensione che riporteranno nelle relazioni del vivere quotidiano.