Michal Kosut at Deepspot. What does the future of the facility look like? - interview

In recent days, one of the most famous news in the diving environment is Michal Kosut leaving PADI and joining Deepspot. Why did he decide to take such a step and what does it mean for him and for Deepspot? What are his plans and what changes can we expect in the near future? You can find out all about it in our conversation below.

Why did you decide to take the job at Deepspot?

Simply put, taking the job at Deepspot is a new challenge for me. Before 2015, when I was still working as Course Director, I believed that our industry needed support from the business side. That’s why I decided to join PADI. Now, in turn, I have come to a place where I recognised that as a regional manager I am no longer able to give much more to this market. This allowed me to open up to new opportunities that appeared on the horizon. As a result, I officially start working for Deepspot on 4 October.

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Will and how will your PADI experience help you to lead Deepspot?

Let’s start with the fact that starting work as a regional manager in PADI was quite a challenge and ennoblement for me. I was working for a large, international organisation and had the opportunity to work with people and implement projects in several countries on a daily basis. My goal was to give instructors and dive centres the right amount of business knowledge. At that time this was my main goal and motivation. The next 6 years spent in PADI helped me to develop both personally and in terms of business. Deepspot is the place that gives me the opportunity to apply my knowledge and skills to the business aspects and become more involved in the training business.

That influenced you to join Deepspot?

The important thing is that I simply started to miss training. These are my roots, this is how my adventure in the industry started and training topics will always be close to my heart. I am very emotionally attached to PADI and I am still an active PADI Course Director. This was an extremely important period in my professional life. However, wanting to develop myself further, I started looking around for something that would allow me to combine my knowledge in the business field with my skills in dive education. Fortunately, in the right place and time we met with Michal Braszczynski, CEO at Aerotunel, under which both Deepspot and Flyspots fall. Michał was looking for a person with the right competences in the field of management and diving and this is how we started our cooperation. During the talks we quickly came to an agreement and the result is that I have joined Deepspot.

You have made your association with PADI very clear and people also associate you with this organisation. However, Deepspot is perceived as an SSI training centre. Will this change in the near future?

My coming to Deepspot in no way means any surprising changes in this regard. Deepspot for several months of functioning has proved that it works very well as a place to conduct dives and dive training. Therefore I do not intend to make a revolution and introduce radical changes. Let us underline that – Michal Kosut in Deepspot does not mean automatic transition to PADI.

It is also worth distinguishing between two things – Deepspot as a dive site and the dive school that operates within the scope of Deepspot. The offer of Deepspot as a diving site is much broader and we will focus on the development of this area. And here we see cooperation with all instructors and divers regardless of their organizational affiliation. However, a separate issue, which will not affect the openness of Deepspot to everyone as a dive site, is the fact in which organization or organizations Deepspot conducts its training.

There will be no revolution, but will there be an evolution towards a different training organisation?

Let’s start by saying that we as Deepspot will carefully analyse and evaluate the available solutions. Any decision to change or add another system will be a purely business decision. I assure you that it will have nothing to do with my personal experience.

In that case, what will influence the possible changes?

Making such a major and important decision will be driven by several key factors. First and foremost is the availability of instructors, as well as the promotion of the product in the market and the support of specific organisations for this venue and format of operation. This is what will certainly be evaluated over time. This will also be my role. I am aware that my person is seen through the prism of PADI. After all, I have been working as the regional manager of this organisation for the last 6 years. However, I have had the opportunity to work with various training organisations in the past and am an instructor for several of them. For example, when I was working at DAN Europe, I did a big project with SSI to introduce DAN First Aid programmes into SSI structures. Therefore, neither this organisation nor the people who make it up are strangers to me. The same is true for other organisations. All the time we will be evaluating and analyzing the available opportunities and with which organization the cooperation is the most beneficial from the perspective of Deepspot and the development of this place. I stress again that this applies to the training system chosen for Deepspot.

So what are your priorities?

The main priority is to offer safe and attractive dives for fereedivers and scuba divers. Deepspot aims to be a friendly place for all divers, instructors and training centres. What I really care about is that Deepspot is seen as a great and safe place to dive and freedive and to provide training in this area, not by the prism of which organisation the training is provided by. Additionally, we have the opportunity to act as a “local Egypt” that will infect the next generation with the diving bug. It is very important to me that people who decide to train with us, have the conviction that regardless of the system or organisation, they get the best possible solution. We want to be a place that is open to everyone and offers the highest possible standards and unique experiences. Our aim is to make all organisations feel welcome here. The fact that Deepspot is run by people associated with a particular organisation, like so many other great bases and great facilities around the world, should not matter.

So as Deepspot you want to collaborate with a number of diver training organisations?

We don’t just want to. Deepspot already cooperates with the majority of training organisations on the Polish market. We work with CMAS, IANTD, PSAI, IDF, PADI, SDI/TDI, SSI. We are open for instructors from any organization who want to come and train their students with us. Especially that Deepspot is a great place for basic training. Therefore, we warmly invite everyone to talk to us and work together in this area. This of course requires prior arrangements with the training organisation. Here, I particularly invite representatives of those organisations that are not yet working with Deepspot. Certainly, one of my priorities will be to establish contact with them, so that every instructor who trains in a recognised training organisation, both in scuba diving and freediving, can come to Deepspot and use the products that we have developed for instructors and, for example, for basic training.

What about more advanced training? Can we expect any changes soon?

We are currently planning to introduce sidemount equipment and stage cylinders to the range of equipment available for hire. We already have twinsets and scooters available. Among the interesting changes, it is certainly worth mentioning the shallowing of a part of the pool and adjusting it to the needs of children and people of low height. The introduction of Mermaid training, which is making waves all over the world, especially in Asian countries, also promises to be exciting. We hope that they will also gain popularity here, especially among children, and become a natural first step towards learning about and exploring the underwater world.

You mentioned scuba and freediving training, how does Deepspot’s popularity break down in these environments?

At the moment, freedivers are an important part of the traffic in Deepspot. However, due to their smaller share of the diving market, they are still less than our desired share of 50-60% in the near future. In recent years, the popularity of freediving has grown a lot. This can also be seen in Poland, where we already have great achievements in pool disciplinesand our male and female athletes are almost always medal favourites at the most important events. When it comes to Deepspot and freediving, we intend to put a lot of emphasis on the development of this discipline. We are a great facility for training as well as for competitions. I also hope that in the coming years our activities will help to popularize freediving in Poland even more.

Michael tell me finally, what are your feelings and predictions about Deepspot? How do you see this facility since its inception?

Deepsot is and will continue to be an important accelerator for the entire diving industry. Both the attractiveness and the training possibilities of this facility are beyond the slightest doubt. Currently, Deepspot is known as Europe’s deepest diving pool. In turn, I would like to see it not the depth that determines how it is perceived, but the quality and variety of experiences available. To this end, I intend to use my previous experience on the business and training levels. Together with the whole Deepspot team, we want to create a unique place, open to different training organisations and types of activities, which will guarantee a high level of safety and unforgettable experiences.

You can read more about the charms of Europe’s deepest swimming pool in the article “Deepspot by night”, written for us by Michal Antoniuk . You will find it in the 16th issue of our quarterly magazine DIVERS24! The digital version of the magazine is available free of charge, while the printed version you can buy in our e-shop.