r/Lifeguards

Please consider signing my petition, I want to see more kids have opportunities to learn to swim in Virginia. The current situation is not safe.

I'm supposed to start working in about 10 days and i keep going between worrying that im gonna fall asleep because of boredom and that its gonna be super tiring and ill just be exhausted. What would be a good expectation?

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I know the swimming pool im supposed to work at had quite a few incidents last year from a friend but it probably cant be that horrible? It was their first season too so maybe thats why. Id much rather do smth than stand all day anyways but theres surely limits to that

Im on my third year of guarding and suddenly my nose is peeling like its never peeled before. Like I swear its been peeling for a week straight at this point if not longer. My skin on my face is very sensitive, so im very careful about what kind of moisturizers I use. For instance, I *cannot* put aloe vera on my face, the rest of my body? Fine, my face? I turn into a tomato.

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So any recommendations to make the red peely-ness stop would be very appreciated

Hey guys- I live in a small town less than 1,000 people. I was a lifegaurd for 1 year, manager last year,being pulled from rotation to just be "a manager "..This year I am supposed to be manager, because we lost gaurds i wipl be back in rotation but the issue is I can't get the fricken brick out of 12.6ft.To be fair im not very physically fit, I am a cigarette smoker 33 year old mom that is a closing manager at McDonald's the rest of the year. I knew 2 years ago I wasnt gonna do this again and now Im $260+ in the hole because I can't get into the course cause I can't get the brick. Practice dives I just can't regulate my heart starts palpitations, I literally go into panic.1 time the day I was supposed to get into the class, I dived I had 2 arm motions left i told my self this is it 1 time and I did it, couldn't believe it I had it, I came up and the guard said 20 seconds I kicked and got up and was half way there- I saw i was going crooked like bad I took a hard left at 90degrees some how.. I threw the brick i gave up... I went last night to do practice dives and I send myself into a panic... I dont even wanna do it anymore all these people saying they kjow I can do it just push harder and here I am panicking just typing this out...im sad because I wanted this but I dont want it like this, not to mention the weird shit they got going on with rules and stuff at our pool, it doesn't seem worth it anymore.

I hate quiting, but more than anything I hate failure.

I just had to vent, Thanks for reading if you did

Hi this is my first year lifeguarding and I've found myself constantly getting incredibly sleepy when im on stand or even when im doing a walking stand (lazy river, walking around a splash pad, etc). I think it has something to do with me wearing sunglasses and a hat because it makes it darker. I can't not wear them because my eyes are super sensitive to light so I can't see without them. I find myself NEEDING to close my eyes like I can barely keep them open. HOW DO I FIX THIS PLEASEEE. I switch stations every 20 minutes and have breaks often.

Yesterday, one of my former students passed away after a drowning incident. They performed CPR on him for 20 minutes while paramedics arrived. The guilt I feel is unmeasurable, I feel I had a responsibility to teach him water safety, and I feel like I failed him. This is my first drowning loss and the shock is unimaginable. If you've experienced this, how did you get through it? How do you challenge guilt?

Hi Lifeguards,

My 12yo daughter just passed Bronze Star (Alberta, Canada) and would like to progress on to the next course - Bronze Medallion offered this summer. She's just turned 12 less than a month ago, and petite, 5' tall and just under 80 pounds.

Question about the next course - Bronze Medallion. Her Bronze Star teacher warned her that it will be challenging given her stature, and that she's expected to pull people out of the pool in order to pass. Would it help for us to wait a year for her to grow some more and maybe hit her growth spurt? She's quite keen to continue her certification but this warning from her teacher has her a little worried - little girls sometimes worry a little much.

Distance swim and fitness isn't a problem for her, she passed the 400m distance with time to spare, doing it in over 11 minutes. She's proficient with the brick retrievals and

I (27F) recently failed my lifeguard recertification due to the brick test. First attempt I did not make it far enough, and on my second attempt I was at 02:25 for the full length and it must be done in under 01:45. Tips I have received are:

• Kick downward
• Have the brick high up on my chest
• Kick hard and fast
• Practice (been doing)
• Swim with fins on to practice the feeling (not on the test, of course)

Just feeling frustrated because I have been a lifeguard for four years now, and passed the brick test twice before. So I am a bit confused on how I have failed. While I haven't been training much, I passed other certifications to work at a lake (450 yard swim in under ten minutes and lake rescues, including swimming out to my victim) with little-no preparation either.

Advice?

Hey everyone,

I accepted an offer as a lifeguard at one of the best and well-known places to surf in the world. I thought this would be a great idea, because I'm really into learning how to surf.

There are many beaches in that village and I will be doing rotations, each with a different level of danger. Thing is I wasn't aware of these: 1. reef breaks - for me, this makes them more dangerous, because I'm afraid of a spinal injury by being thrown by waves during rescue, 2. the water is much colder than I am used to (around 17 Celsius degrees).

Am I overthinking this? I was really excited about this new experience, it will be like a summer camp with other lifeguards.

Please let me know what you think about this and if you have had a similar experience. :)

All the best.

Added context:

I’ve actually been working as a seasonal lifeguard every summer for the past 4 years (the rest of the year I'm studying).

I already have experience guarding beaches with pebbles and heavy shorebreaks with bad conditions. However, I’m well aware that the degree of difficulty and the danger of performing rescues on a proper reef break is on a different level compared to what I’m used to.

Also, we are talking about standard, everyday ocean conditions, not 30-foot Eddie Aikau waves.

I’m a pool guard and I’ve recently acquired my permit after 3 months of training. I’m not the most athletic and I’m not the fastest swimmer either to be honest. Yesterday a family of four visited the pool and they told me to watch over their kid while they’re drinking a beer over at the pool bar. I told them I cannot supervise one single child as I have my eyes on all of them. They ignored me and said they’re friends with the hotel owner. I kept an eye on the little girl but they failed to mention they have another child, an autistic 10 year old boy. I noticed him and noticed he’s not a strong swimmer. He dove into the pool once and I told him that diving is prohibited and to be careful not to get hurt. After that I kept an eye on him. He was quite tall for his age, I’d say 150cm tall. He followed some girls into the deeper end (160cm) and when he tried to get back he got tired and panicked because he couldn’t reach the bottom. He couldn’t stay on the surface so I immediately jumped in and got him out. He coughed up some water and had a headache but was fine overall. The ambulance came but the parents refused any examination. He seemed well, they stayed about an hour longer and then they left. I feel so bad that I wasn’t stricter. That I didn’t tell him to stay in the shallow end. This all would’ve been prevented. Later that day I also tried to save a little bird from drowning. I performed cpr and it came back for a second but its mouth was filled with water. I’ve never done this on an animal (and I haven’t been trained for it either) before but it still felt bad to lose the bird. Would you guys fire me if you were my supervisor? Lol

Guyss share your stories with sweet - not nasty and dumb kids from your work. Recently a 5/6 yo girl asked me : Miss do you supervise me? I said Yes I do and I supervise others too, not only you. The Little girl was sooo polite she answered thats nice. She was very cute and polite and neuron her parents

I'm still a newbie and only been lifeguarding for a month or so, and I'm already out of new Playlists to listen to, and it is especially dreadfully boring when nobody is in the water, like at all.

I'm not the only one like this? And what do you guys do in similar situations?

I work in a facility that requires you to stay on the chair the whole time, even when nobody is at the pool. I can’t bring my phone or any entertainment.

If there’s nobody to watch, what are some suggestions to pass the time? Preferably something productive that will benefit me in some way, if that makes sense.

Just finished my red cross lifeguard certification classes and oh myyy, I passed but at what cost? My sanity 🫩

So basically I slept through our in service (I’m very mad at myself for it). My family went on this trip so I told him I wasn’t going to be there then I stayed behind so I can make it so I told him I was going to be there and I told him I was going to be there. Anyways so the morning of the in service I slept through it by like 2 hours. I am so mad at myself that I did that and it’s not something that has happened before. He cross trained me as a cashier to have a subs for the cashier yesterday and I worked there last year and I have a pretty good rep at work I feel like so I don’t think he’s gonna like be that mad about it but I’m really mad at myself because I really wanted to be there to get a good understanding of what we’re doing and everything.

Anyways I called him and said basically this I’m really sorry I missed the in-service this morning. I wasn’t feeling well yesterday, and I missed the training today. I apologize. I was wondering if there’s any way I could make up the training or get caught up before Monday.

Is there anything else or any advice?

I usually swim inside at the YMCA where everything's chill, it's mostly oldsters swimming laps, the lifeguards are respected and, if anything, maybe bored by the lack of excitement. But I went to an outdoor recreational pool with my kid today. A lifeguard blew his whistle 3 times so I looked over. A toddler was tangled up in the rope dividing two sections. She was wearing arm floaties, so likely not in danger of imminent death, but she was scared and crying and unable to free herself. The lifeguard, all of 15 or 16, did a great job at spotting her, alerting his coworkers, and rapidly reaching her. He got her out and she ran to her dad who was sitting on the far side of the pool at a table on his phone paying absolutely no attention. Several lifeguards followed her and filled him in and he got fucking pissed. Started yelling and waving about how she was totally fine and wearing floaties and they were overreacting and needed to mind their own business. His wife came back from the snack shack and he got more heated as they explained it to her; I assume his ego couldn't handle her hearing about his parenting fail.

What a massive fucking douche. He was paying zero attention to his small child, who had been unsupervised long enough to make it to the opposite end of the pool, and then he reams out the young man who assisted her.

Pathetic behavior to witness. Some parents are really out there acting like lifeguards are free babysitters, eh?

(30/f)

Worked a desk job for the last 6 years and its driving me insane, pay in unstable since its contract work and ive been leaning towards lifeguarding, i was a swimmer in HS and lived in places by the water and have done alot of open water swimming for years. I should be certified with my NL and SI by late august.

Things im **not** worried about:
- my swimming ability
- working with kids and instructing

Things that worry me:
- pay
- actually being hired, i would love full time if possible.

Someone pls tell me paying for all these courses, which are expensive af, is worth it so i can stop stressing, are lifeguards and instructors really in that demand?

Hi there, I have questions regarding NL recertification.

My NL recertification expires in August. I have a class available near me to take in June to recertify. Is it possible that I recertify before my lifeguarding licence expires? If so, what does the NL recertify classes look like? Also, what happens if I fail? Will my certification that last all the way up until August still be valid and will be voided it because I failed? Would I also have to retake the whole course again if I fail or can I just continue to take the recertification classes? I also live in Ontario, Canada if that helps.

Thank you!