Why Lifeguard Training Doesn’t End When Classes Do

When one becomes a lifeguard, the training does not end simply because they received their certifications. In fact, most lifeguards learn more in their first week on duty than they do in all of their training courses. Here are a few key examples of lifeguard’s on-going training.

Get To Know Your Facility:

When you start your career as a lifeguard, you are most likely employed somewhere you are not familiar with. Getting to know your facility is of the utmost importance. Knowing the locations of the first aid equipment, emergency phone, and backboard are all just as important as knowing how to swim when it comes to safe life-guarding.

Get To Know Your Procedures:

Knowing the facility and where important safety items are located is almost as important as knowing your facilities procedures. What do you do if a fellow guard goes in for a save? What do you do if you are on station 1 and the lifeguard in station 3 is performing CPR? What do you do if you spot a swimmer in trouble out of your zone? These things can and will happen from time to time so it is always best to know the protocol and procedure for each situation.

Continuing Training or In-Services:

Practice. Practice. Practice. The only thing that can make you more comfortable guarding is by guarding. The only thing that can make you more comfortable going in for a save, is going in for a save or practicing to go in for a save. In-service training is not just about keeping up your physical fitness requirements, it is about practice. A good in-service will feature physical fitness, going over proper procedures and simulating real-life situations. This will sharpen your skills, your memory, and make sure that you know what to do when you have to do it for real.

The most important on-going training is to ask questions if you have them and to remember that your training never ends.