Tennessee prepares for his final dives in Fiji on May 16 and 17. Photo credit: David Cumming
When most 6th graders are on the baseball field or running liners in the gym for their basketball coach, one San Diego kid was spending his free time underwater, taking dive classes and earning PADI certifications.
12-year old Tennessee Cumming (who goes by the nickname “T”), a resident of Rancho Santa Fe and a student at the Winston School in Del Mar, recently returned from a trip to Fiji where he earned his certification as a Junior Master Scuba Diver. He completed his final certification dives at the Korolevu dive site, a part of Rainbow Reef on the island of Taveuni in Fiji.
His certification as Junior Master Scuba Diver is the highest achievement a young diver can earn from PADI. Earning the certification requires a minimum of 50 dives and at least five PADI certifications, including Rescue Diver, Emergency First Responder, and Advanced Open Water Diver. He also earned certifications as an Emergency Oxygen Provider Equipment Specialist, Dry Suit Diver and Peak Performance Buoyancy. According to PADI, fewer than 2% of divers ever achieve this rating.
To comply with standards, the soonest Tennessee could officially earn his Junior Master Scuba Diver title was his 12th birthday on May 16, so the whole family and Driscoll traveled to Fiji’s Rainbow Reef where he could complete the final steps last week. His final test, on May 17, was rescuing a simulated unconscious diver from a depth of 30 feet.
While there are plenty of Junior Master Scuba Divers, Tennessee completed his certification at a younger age than any other diver. He now has the title held since November 2013 by Charlotte Burns, 14, of England.
Tennessee began diving at a Bubblemaker introductory diving program when he was just 8 years old, on a family trip to Bora Bora. Each time he finished completing several dives on that trip, his parents say the boy would gleefully declare it was the “best day of his life”. They never heard him say anything like that before taking up diving.
Learning to dive was especially challenging to Tennessee; School officials say he has several developmental disorders, including ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, oppositional defiance disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, as well as a processing disorder. Scuba diving has been a great equalizer to him, however, and with diving he’s earned more certifications more than most scuba divers of any age. With scuba diving, which is mother Allison, calls an “island of confidence”, he now loves getting up in the morning for school and now earns all A’s and B’s.
His PADI instructor and “Diving Nanny” is Elizabeth “Bethy” Driscoll of San Diego. Bethy has been diving with T almost twice a week since 2014.
The feat didn’t go unnoticed, either. His school hosted a pep rally to celebrate his achievement, where Tennessee displayed some of his dive gear, showed underwater video of his dives, and gave a brief presentation.