Lifeguarding

Learn how to be a lifeguard. YMCA Lifeguarding class participants must be at least 16 years of age at the start of class. Participants must pass a swimming test, which is held during the first lesson. American Red Cross CPR, First Aid, Oxygen, and A.E.D. certifications are included. Please call 869-0151 or contact Gerald McLean for class times.

Next Class: TBA

Prerequisites:
Bring your swim suit!
You must pass the following swimming test the first night:

• Perform a long, shallow front dive, then swim five hundred meters, including one hundred meters each of: sidestroke, front crawl, breaststroke, sidestroke kick with one arm forward, and inverted breaststroke kick with arms on the stomach.
• Tread water for two minutes with legs only.
• Surface dive head first and feet first in eight to ten feet of water and swim underwater for fifteen feet.

As a lifeguard, you must be able to accomplish these tasks:

• Remain alert, with no lapses of consciousness
• Sit for extended periods, including in an elevated chair
• Move to various locations, including in and around an elevated chair
• Communicate verbally, including projecting the voice across distances and communicate swiftly and effectively with emergency personnel over telephones and in person.
• Hear noises and distress signals in the aquatic environment with background noise
• Observe all assigned sections of the water environment
• Perform all needed rescues and survival skills
• Think in the abstract, solve problems, make decisions, instruct, evaluate, supervise, and remember.
• Operate alone as a lifeguard, without other lifeguards for support