Lifeguard Training

After three super positive posts, I need to share a not so positive experience with y’all. Lifeguard training.

Lifeguard training was hell simply put. It was exhausting, not only physically but mentally as well because we had to sit through hours of demonstration videos. It probably would have gone better (and maybe I would have fallen asleep less during it) if I had more than one hour of sleep the night before the first day of it (but I stayed up way too late talking and then only took a power nap). And these were long days- like 8 hours long- of watching videos, practicing what we watched in the pool or on land for some of the first aid stuff, with few breaks. And there were two of them. To make matters worse I wasn’t even at my camp. We were at another camp in the council so all the lifeguards could get trained together. My main supporter, Bam BAM,wasn’t getting trained so she was back at our camp by the end of the first day. I had to quickly bond more with the other staff from my camp and the staff from the other camp as we were all we had. And, our instructor kind of sucked. He was boring, told stories way off-topic, and overall just irritating.

By the end of the first day, I was burnt to a crisp. I figured since we were constantly moving from inside to outside I wouldn’t get sunburned. Because of that, I only put sunscreen on my tattoo and my face. Well, I probably should have listened to Sully and put it on my back, shoulders, and chest as well. I was crispy. The camp director at the camp we were at took it upon herself to slather me in aloe after the first day. Although I hated it at the time, I’m so very glad she did! Here is after day one. And I can tell you it hurt way worse than it looks.

That night Sully and I hung out together. And to be honest, we were homesick for our camp. We didn’t like not seeing familiar faces after a super stressful day. And we were definitely dreading waking up early the next day for another round of exhaustion. I actually woke up at about four that morning for a brief time and saw it was storming and prayed it would stay that way so we wouldn’t be able to finish training. Unfortunately that didn’t happen.

However we made it through that second day, I really don’t know. It honestly felt like we had been abandoned because there was only seven of us on the entire property when we woke up that morning (the staff that worked there went to our camp for training on that day).It was exhausting. We were all drained and cranky and then we had to take a two part test to prove we really knew what we were doing. That was an experience all in it’s own. I finished quickly, completing part two before others had even finished part one. And after that I was done! However, I still had to wait for everyone else to finish before I could go back home (my camp). After waiting at least another hour, we were set and ready to go! Thank goodness!

When we got back to our camp, Bam gave us big hugs and told us how appreciated and loved we were. We were just glad to be back home.

I ended up disliking lifeguarding, but I was pretty good at. I eliminated all distracting factors (certain people) and I managed to stay focused on the pool or pond. While I dreaded having to lifeguard, I trusted myself to make sure the kids were safe and rules were being followed. I hated having to tell my kids I couldn’t swim with them because I needed to make sure they were safe- it broke my heart every time. But, I wouldn’t change having that responsibility for anything. Knowing that I was responsible for making sure all my campers got out of the pool still alive and breathing was absolutely terrifying, but I would rather be in charge because I trust myself over others to ensure safety over my girls. Even when I wasn’t lifeguarding, and I was just watching, I was on high alert, ready to jump in if they needed me.

One thing I learned through this experience is that it is actually a lot of work to lifeguard- it isn’t simply staring at the pool. And while the training kicked my butt, I’m so glad to be able to say that I am lifeguard certified.