Early on in training we were taught to keep a calm and close watch on the situations at hand. It took a semester to learn the certifications as well as taking the time to pass each test ensuring you are confident of how to rescue someone in, and out of the water. These tests are designed to be difficult and engage you in situations where you are required to make quick decisions. There is not a clear way to prepare for these actual instances no matter how many times you practice. Once you are sitting up in the chair looking down upon the patrons, you must be prepared with the knowledge of how to keep your eyes focused, and your brain ready for action at all times.
Every morning you report fifteen minutes before the doors open to clean the deck and bathrooms ensuring safety for the patrons. You’re dressed in a two piece swimsuit accompanied by a whistle around your neck and instructions to sit in various temperatures ranging from 65⁰ to 99⁰. Every day just before the pool opens, after making your rounds you stare at the water wondering what the day will hold, and willing to do whatever it takes to keep their lives safe.
As the manager opens the doors the ticket guard takes the customer’s money and lets them pass through to the dressing rooms. They are to lock up their belongings and then walk out to the pool deck. This rarely happens since most children are too excited after being cooped up all winter to walk rather than run and jump in the water attempting to splash the lifeguard on duty. As the pool quickly filled with children and adults of all ages it became apparent the job wasn’t just sitting up high on a chair underneath an umbrella getting a nice tan. It meant responsibility for their lives as well as a constant reminder of a drowning victim which you would have to save. This job was much more than a simple way to make money; it held a huge responsibility of keeping people out of danger.
The daily starting positions were randomly chosen by the manager, or assistant manager, on duty that day. The positions included 3 foot, 12 foot North, 12 foot South, 6 foot, bottom of the slide, top of the slide, cleaner 1, cleaner 2, break and on deck. They rotated in the order mentioned above on a fifteen minute basis. This ensured a different guard watching a different area every fifteen minutes. Sitting in the chair you enforced the pool rules by blowing the whistle if a kid was disobeying. It was your job to sit for an hour and a half rotation enforcing these rules and monitoring each patron’s every move. Many people don’t realize what a huge responsibility is weighted on our shoulders, and it is definitely not something to be taken lightly.
Some days the heat is unbearable and it takes more than a drink of water to cool you down. As you sit under an umbrella, the sun still bearing down on you, it takes a lot of energy to focus on getting your job done. The heat is something which you cannot prepare for and something you must deal with on a daily basis. You learn quickly your skin isn’t made to be in the sun for seven long hours in the middle of the day. This makes the fifteen minute rotations feel a lot longer and the shift go by a lot slower.
In many instances lifeguards work for years and never have to leave their chair to save a drowning victim. These lifeguards work very hard to ensure the safety of their area and go to extremes to avoid any possible hazardous situations which could come their way. I am happy to say my experience was one of these instances in which I worked three months every summer and never had to get in the water and rescue a drowning victim.
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