At what stage do divers primarily practice skills to improve effectiveness?

The associative stage is where divers primarily focus on refining their skills to improve effectiveness. During this phase, learners have already grasped the basic techniques and are now working on enhancing their performance through practice and feedback. The emphasis is on making skills more fluid and consistent, as divers begin to connect the mechanics of their actions with real-time execution in the water.

At this stage, divers will often engage in targeted practice to identify and correct errors in their technique, leading to an overall improvement in performance. The practice is more deliberate, as they work on integrating skills into more complex underwater scenarios, which is crucial for becoming more proficient. This refinement process helps divers to increase their effectiveness in varying conditions and scenarios they might encounter while diving.