Is it worth getting CI designation?

[RSalar]

Hi All — I’m new here and new to much of the terminology and acronyms. Fascinating how I have managed to get by for 50 years fly fishing without knowing anything about fly casting! My father taught me how to cast when I was 15 and I am sure he knew less than I do now. The only reason I am able to cast well enough to catch fish is because I’ve done so much of it. Everything changed when I started looking into becoming a casting instructor. Now I am, for the first time in my life, starting to understand what is happening during the cast. But I am also coming to the realization that the terminology that is required and the specific tasks that must be performed in order to pass the test are … well, way more intense than I imagined. I think that’s a good thing — because even after just a few weeks of reading and practicing my casting is starting to improve.

I think that the process of studying and practicing for the CI will serve me well in and by itself. So I wonder if I need to go through with it — I mean taking this all the way to the end and getting the designation? What will the designation do for me that the practice and study alone wont? I have no intension of trying to make a living as an instructor. Besides I am sure it is possible to be a very good fly caster and a great instructor without the designation. So why get it? Why pay for the travel and the test? Is it worth it?

[VGB]

You don’t have to take a CI if you only want to improve your casting but you’ll need to be proficient in both casting and teaching disciplines to get your certification. Regardless of whether you want to significantly improve your casting or teach, you have to go into it with your eyes wide open because both will involve a lot of work over an extended period of time. For me, it was worth it because I really enjoy teaching but you have to decide what your end goal is, no one else can make that commitment on your behalf.

Regards

Vince

[Paul Arden]

Hi RSalar,

Welcome to the Board!!

That’s a good question and there are certainly differing opinions about it. I was asked to produce a more fishable similar casting level challenge a few years back and came up with this:

https://www.sexyloops.com/flycast/chall ... _LEVEL.pdf

There are other benefits to CCI, particularly in the States where you are; it’s a community, a body of knowledge, some really excellent people and you can get the occasional tackle discount.

Cheers, Paul

[jarmo]

For me, it was worth it because I really enjoy teaching...

I second this experience: taking certification tests was worth it because I like to teach casting. This is how I got involved with certification in the first place. I was asked to teach a certain fly casting skill, and I did not know how to do it. I did a search, and found FFI.

I understand that it would have been possible to obtain the same set of skills without taking the tests, but I never would have done it. I would not have learned certain skills, and I would not have had the motivation to develop the consistence. Furthermore, I would not have practised regularly under highly varying conditions. For example, it is quite educational to manipulate a mid/long-belly spey line in horrible wind conditions on stillwater.

[RSalar]

Thanks for the input. I think I’d like to pursue certification if only to see the process though to the the end.

[Graeme H]

I agree with those above: teaching people to cast is its own reward, above and beyond just becoming a better caster yourself (and you also improve when you actually teach others.)

However, once you've got your CCI, you then see the MCI level that's ahead of you, and that's when the real gains in your casting come. Learning the skills for the MCI translates into WAY better teaching and fishing skills than the CCI can ever get you.

So whether or not you sit the CCI exam, aim for the MCI level to really get the benefit of this journey.

Cheers,
Graeme

[VGB]

Hi Graeme

Where have the teaching skill gains from?

Regards

Vince

[Graeme H]

Hi Vince,

They've mainly come from teaching: As I do more of it, I get better at it.

I spent a little bit of time with Peter Hayes when he did a clinic here in Perth. (I wasn't a student of his casting in that clinic, but a student of his teaching methods.) The really big leap in my teaching ability came from something he told me after that clinic. He tries to make each lesson for a particular skill a "task-based lesson", rather than using an "instruct, demonstrate, attempt and correct" style. Give the students a task, with no or minimal constraints on how to achieve the task, letting them work it out. The tasks require particular movements or feedback mechanisms before successful completion, and the students usually work them out without me interfering.

Examples are "make a loop that fails to reach the nail knot while keeping the rod tip high" and "put a bend in the rod at the top ferrule and keep it there as long as you can". With just those two exercises, I can get a beginner throwing tight loops to 40' in about 15 minutes, giving me a platform to launch the rest of my lesson. (There's a lot more information and science underlying those exercises, but I only discuss that with the student much later, if they ask for it. I've already discussed it here in the past, with much ridicule from nearly everyone here ... )

By adopting this style of teaching (not Hayesie's actual lesson plan), I've deviated a very long way from what the FFi has on the CI exam.

Cheers,
Graeme

[Paul Arden]

I like that. Can I make a small request here. When discussing teaching methods/drills etc can we include student level? Many thanks.

Cheers, Paul

[VGB]

Hi Graeme

It looks like we have trodden a parallel path since certification. The control of attentional focus by using directed cues to create the conditions for self optimisation, amplification of errors etc. They are all elements of the cognitive sciences that have been widely adopted by sports scientists and coaches in all disciplines, except one . The fact that we are using similar play books to teach that work well despite having completely different interpretations of casting physics should tell us where we need to focus our attention as instructors. I wouldn’t worry about the ridicule, it happened to me here right in this very section of the forum recently

Regards

Vince