Junior lifeguard question?

Question

I'm in eight grade and 14 and i want to become a junior lifegaurd in the summer. I was just wondering if anyone knows how long it usally takes to become one and what kind of test you have to take. I'm a club swimmer in southern california and what do you do if you become a junior lifegaurd?

any other information please :)

Answer 1

i live in so cal too, and i went to the Oceanside Jr Lifegaurd program. all you do is take this little test that i swore i was gonna fail, but i made it. you have to swim 4 laps in under 4 minutes, then you have to go 10 feet under water and swin like 1/4 of a lap without coming up for air. this is just in Oceanside so i don't know how they do it anywhere else, i think it's the same for carlsbad. anyway, you should check on the registration form and it should tell you the requirements for the test, some however, don't have a test if it's not all day. once you have passed the test then you're in. the first day, you gather with your age group and each group has different color rashgaurds, they use these to identify who's in what group. you are introduced to your lifegaurd instructors and then you warm up, stretching, then pushups (ALOT), situps(ALOT), crunches(ALOT), and then you run. for the first couple of days i thought my legs were gonna fall off. you run at least 10-20 miles a week, running is not only a drill there, it a punishment so if you were routy then you run if you weren't paying attention then you run...you get it. then they do other drills, then you eat lunch (they give you water and sunscreen breaks too), then they do lectures and stuff like how to do CPR (that's usually when my group got in trouble the most) then you have like 1 and 1/2 hours free time (they have paddle boards and life gaurd floaty things i think they're called cans) then you have to clean everything up and pick up your backpack and luchbox, then finally you go home. this is in oceanside only and i do it 3 days a week from 9-2. it's really tiring but when it's over you miss it, plus your REALLY strong afterward. hope this helps! =)