What are some lifeguard drills I can do at our monthly inservice?

Question

The focus of our inservice this month is scanning, and viewing scanning as a skill and not something lifeguards just "do."

I would appreciate help on specifically scanning drills, but I am open to any other skill training or drills that I can use now or later.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Answer 1

SIGNAL DRILL "A"

Purpose: To practice and improve the lifeguards ability to quickly whistle, signal and point.

Description: Demonstrate the  appropriate way to signal minor and major. When the instructor points at the candidate, they must make the appropriate signal and point at the instructors feet. Originally have then wait for your recognition before they stop their signal and then begin to point faster and faster.



SIGNAL DRILL "B"

Purpose: To practice and improve the lifeguards ability to quickly whistle, signal and point.

Description: The entire class constantly rotates around the entire pool properly guarding the pool (w/ fingers up and arm moving back and forth). Flutter boards are thrown into the pool at varying intervals and various places. The candidates must stop and make the appropriate signal to the instructor who tells them when to continue (ie. red=major, blue=minor). If no flutter boards, the instructor can walk around in and out of the water and quickly make a minor or major signal at which point candidates make their signal. Stress that this kind of patrolling must occur all of the time.



HAND DRILL

Purpose: To practice and improve the lifeguards ability to be able to use hand signals to communicate with each other.

Description: The class is divided up into partners with the partners facing each other across the pool. One partner is given a short message and they have to signal it to their partner in 10 seconds. Sample messages include: gutter grabber in front of you, possible heart attack, I have to go to the bathroom, I have to answer the phone, stop that person from diving, look behind you.

EMERGENCY PROCEDURES DIAGNOSTIC DRILL

Purpose: To practice the minor and major emergency procedures without actual victims.

Description: The class is broken up into teams of 2 or 3. Make sure you give them experience at both 2-man team and 3-man team formations. The purpose of this drill is to have the guards practice their signals, communication, and rotation without getting wet or doing rescues. Each team positions themselves as if they were guarding the pool. The team members, one at a time, pretend to have minors and majors and signal the appropriate signal to their team. The other guards must give recognition, cover the pool, back-up the rescuer, clear the pool, etc. The rescuer crouches to simulate their rescue. The teams should be prompted to communicate and evaluate themselves constantly with regards to their rotations, communication, and patrolling. The candidates must yell out every single job that they are doing as they do them, the imaginary patient types, and tell each other what they are supposed to be doing.

SCANNING DRILL

Purpose: To improve the lifeguard's scanning ability.

Description: The class is broken up into teams of 2 or 3 with one team on deck at a time. The rest of the class in the water will either hold up a handpaddle for three seconds, or change their facial expression in an obvious manner (smile), in a random pattern throughout the facility. The guards on deck must whistle and identify the expression on the paddle or person's face. If a person is missed, they should call out that they were missed. A variation would be for the guard to have to touch the smiling person wherever they might be. (on deck, in the water) The victim should start counting when they begin smiling, hold the facial expression until touched and tell the guard how long it took them.

POOL CLEAR DRILL

Purpose: To practice clearing the pool effectively in case of an emergency.

Description: With the candidates at one end of the pool, they must blow one long blast and clear the pool in a clear, professional manner. Practice having them walking quickly to back up the other guard as they clear the pool. Another variation would be to have them at opposite ends of the pool and attempting to yell and communicate over some type of loud noise.

FIRST AID PRACTICE DRILL

Purpose: To practice the assessment and treatment of a first aid patient in a competition setting.

Description: In groups of 3, 1 lifeguard, 1 victim, 1 judge. The lifeguard approaches the patient as if the entire team has finished their group scene assessment. The lifeguard is responsible for completely assessing the patient and treating the chief complaints at the appropriate time. The judge has a detailed checklist of assessments, tx for shock, vital's sheet evaluation, etc. If the treating lifeguard skips a single thing, the rescue stops and the three guards rotate through. When that original guard is back up to rescue, they rescue the same type of victim as before. This goes on until that guard can do the complete assessment checklist and treatment without missing a beat or until the time limit (4 minutes is good) has run out. Then, the next time they are up, they deal with a different victim type. This will improve a guard's ability to deal with whatever type of victim they have without freezing, wasting time and/or not getting valuable assessment and treatment points quickly and effectively.

THE GAME

Purpose: To improve the fitness level of the lifeguards in a different sort of way that also works on the distressed non-swimmer rescue skill.

Description: One lifeguard team of approximately 3 to 4 lifeguards are on deck guarding. While the lifeguards are on duty, a large number of non-distressed non-swimmer victims occur, one right after another. A good average is about 1 victim for every 10 to 15 seconds. The lifeguards must secure the victim at the nearest edge at which point, the guard can leave the victim to go get another one. The entire purpose is to never allow the lifeguards any breathing or resting time. Rapid fire non-swimmers in the name of the game. About 3 to 5 minutes is more than enough time for any group of guards.

Variation: One variation that works on communication skills under duress is to insist that the lifeguards must make a proper signal to a fellow team-mate and get adequate recognition from that team-mate prior to entering the water to get a victim. This recognition must be received no matter the situation, even if the fellow guard is in the middle of a rescue. This forces the guards to be paying attention to their team, regardless of what they are doing.