When most people think of pool lifeguards, they probably think of a bunch of lazy teenagers and young college kids that just want a job where they can sit around and tan. Parents may think of lifeguards as an excuse to not watch their kids, a sort of poolside babysitter. Very few people see them for who they actually are: highly trained individuals that are constantly aware of their surroundings, ready for anything and everything to go wrong.
Lifeguards begin their training with three in-water tasks. They must first swim 300 yards continuously, then they must tread water for 2 minutes using only their legs, and then they must perform an underwater brick retrieval, starting 20 yards away, diving to a depth of ten feet or more, and then swimming back to the start and exiting the pool, all under a minute and a half. An aspiring lifeguard must finish these tasks in order to even complete their training, failure to do so results in having to retake the course until they can complete these physical tasks. Following this portion, is the actual training process. Lifeguards must complete about twenty hours of skills training, both in water and in a classroom setting. They learn to perform CPR on adults, children and infants, how to use an automated external defibrillator to restart someone’s heart, how to perform multiple first aid tasks, and they learn over ten different water rescues and ways of entry. Despite their intensive training, lifeguards are often quick to be judged as lazy freeloaders that are nothing but glorified babysitters.
As a lifeguard, I speak first hand when I say that we are not there to babysit your kids while you sit and chat with your friends. We are there to make sure that all patrons remain safe, and to perform rescues only if absolutely necessary. Countless times I have had to pull toddlers off the slides because they thought it would be a fantastic idea to climb up them, instead of sliding down them, the way they were intended to be used. Countless times I have had to blow my whistle at a group of eight-year-olds that think it’s hilarious to race each other to the big slide, where they launch themselves headfirst into the shallow pool below. Countless times I have had to reprimand kids for trying to do backflips off the side of the pool into the “deep” end, having a mini heart attack every time I watch their heads barely miss the edge. While some kids do listen to my authority, most of them just ignore me until they injure themselves (and some of them don’t even stop there), or I inform my head guard and take away their pool privileges. In the end, this whole ordeal just makes me the enemy in their eyes, when all I want is for them to have fun, while staying safe.
In all simplicity, this hostility could be avoided if the parents of these children could just do their job and parent their children. If Anne could just keep an eye on her one-year-old, I wouldn’t have to be distracted with pulling him off the slide, while another child could be going a bit too quick and slip off the play structure, needing my immediate help. If John and Linda could just inform their three rambunctious rug rats to not run on the pool deck, and to listen to the lifeguard’s rules, I wouldn’t have to worry about them slipping and falling, or hitting their heads at the bottom of the pool. If Stacy could simply just tell her ten-year-old to not play stupid dunking games with his three-year-old sister, then I wouldn’t have to jump in and pull her out when he goes too far, and she can no longer stay afloat.
I am trained to identify the signs of stroke and diabetic shock. I am trained to remove a seizing, face down victim from the water without causing them any harm. I am trained to rescue a victim with a spinal injury from ten feet below the surface, strap them to a spinal board while in the water, and remove them from the pool without further injuring their spine, all under five minutes. I am trained to be the first responder in an emergency, not to parent your kids for you.
In the end, my job mostly consists of being prepared for anything to go wrong, even though the chances of the worst possible injuries are quite slim. Despite this, I always have to be aware of everything going on around me, and I have to be prepared for surprise skills checks at any given time. Overall, I just want all patrons to enjoy their time at the facility, while also being safe and smart in their actions.