So, over the past two weekends, I’ve been doing lifeguard training. You have to recertify every two years and this is my third and hopefully final year. I train with the rest of the new guards who are training to past the test. Being the only returning guard who’s taking the class a lot of people ask for tips and tricks.
Yesterday, however, I almost failed part of the test. We had to swim up to a passive victim who’s already drowned, swim them back, and then two-man pull them out on the backboard in 90 seconds.
This is all fine and dandy except for the part where I almost failed. How could a returning guard almost fail though? Shouldn’t I have been one of the best if not the best since I’ve done it all before?
Well here’s what happened. I do my proper stride jump and swim up to the victim. I didn’t go full speed because I didn’t want to use up all my energy. I get to the victim and swam them back at a moderate speed. I didn’t feel like I was in a rush at all. I get the victim to the wall and my second responder helps me get them on the board. The victim’s body was blowing everywhere because it was super windy. We had to keep readjusting it until we could get it right under them.
Now if this was an actual save I wouldn’t care how well they’re on the backboard. My main priority is to get them out of the water and check their vitals. I thought this was a practice run before the test so I was being nice to the victim and making sure they were on good.
The second I pulled the victim out of the water the instructor said I had one second left. I questioned it and asked why I was being timed. He said because it was part of the test and I had to be.
It was part of the test. I had ONE second left or I’d have failed. I was glad I passed but was upset I didn’t realize it was the test. It makes for a pretty funny story though.
Have you almost accidentally failed something for some silly reason? Leave a comment below I’d Love to hear.
Toby Lopez 