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[quote=Anonymous]I worked as a lifeguard and lifeguard trainer for ten years. The training as others have said is intensive and thorough and certainly the company I worked for put a great emphasis on the importance of vigilence. They had many safety protocols built in. However as a teen, I don't think I truly fully understood the responsibility I had and in many ways that made the job easier. We still fooled around at times and I feel extremely fortunate that nothing ever went wrong my watch. I liked the adrenaline aspect of rescuing people and don't think I had any understanding of how traumatic it could be if something had gone wrong.

As I got older, I found the job got harder. The teens were still carefree as I had been and I was taking it much more seriously. By then I knew of people who had been guarding during a drowning at another facility and how incredibly traumatic that was for them. I had also come to realize how quick and quietly people drown. I was also aware of how many facilities didn't take training and safety as seriously as we did. We only hired the best guards and when we would not hire someone I would think about where they would get hired and know that the places with lower standards were also getting the guards with less skills / training / ability. The reality of the responsibility was much greater.

I loved guarding - it was a great team job and a great foundation for a career in healthcare. Once I got into healthcare I actually used my guard training more in emergencies and first aid than my healthcare training! Guard training is so many drills, and you train all the time. We did guard competitions and we were constantly focused on improving our skills. It was a fantastic job that I did through college and it was very hard to give up to go into the 'real' world of work. It has been 20 years since I guarded and my co workers from the pool are still some of my closest friends. It can be a job that really bonds people.

It was also great for me to see the business side. In later years I managed one of the pools in the summer and got to learn all about management and running a facility, programs, and overseeing a staff. [/quote]

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