Lifeguard/Water Safety - Become a Lifeguard!

Lifeguard/Water Safety - Become a Lifeguard! Are you 15 or older and looking for a great summer job or a challenging career?

American Red Cross Lifeguarding is the best place to start! Lifeguarding puts you in an exciting position, working as part of a team to help people safely enjoy the water. You could save a life too! Lifeguarding will help you develop skills and experience that will be valued by colleges and future employers. It's a great way to demonstrate what you can offer. Colleges and employers look for applicants who can deal effectively with people, who have a take charge attitude and who are willing to work to develop new skills. What You Will Learn American Red Cross training makes learning fun and easy.

The American Red Cross of Lee County Chapter's Swimming and Lifeguarding courses are all taught at one of the following partner locations.
(Click on a location for schedules and registration information).

Florida Gulf Coast University

Lee County YMCA

Sanibel Island Recreation Dept

Lee County Parks and Rec. Dept.

City of Fort Myers

Adaptive Aquatics (water skills training for people with disabilities) 

The teaching of swimming and water safety to those with physical challenges by customizing swim strokes to the individual.
Learn more about adaptive aquatics here

 

Parent & Child Aquatics 

Developed for children 6 months to 5 years of age, American Red Cross Parent and Child Aquatics builds swimming readiness by emphasizing fun in the water. Parents and children participate in several guided practice sessions that help children learn elementary skills, including water entry, bubble blowing, front kicking, back floating, underwater exploration and more. Once children can perform basic skills without parental assistance, they may begin Learn-to-Swim courses.

 

Six Levels of Learn to Swim

The new American Red Cross Learn-to-Swim classes provide instruction to help swimmers of all ages and abilities develop their swimming and water safety skills. It is designed to give students a positive learning experience. Learn-to-Swim teaches aquatic and safety skills in a logical progression. The objective is to teach people to swim and to be safe in, on and around the water. Skills are categorized in the following way:

  • Water Entry and Exit

  • Breath Control and Underwater Swimming

  • Buoyancy

  • Changing Direction and Position

  • Treading

  • Swimming on Front, Back and Side

  • General and Personal Water Safety

  • Helping Others

Lifeguard Training

Are you 15 or older and looking for a great summer job or a challenging career? American Red Cross Lifeguarding is the best place to start! Lifeguarding puts you in an exciting position, working as part of a team to help people safely enjoy the water. Lifeguarding will help you develop skills and experience that will be valued by colleges and future employers. It's a great way to demonstrate what you can offer. Colleges and employers look for applicants who can deal effectively with people, who have a take charge attitude and who are willing to work to develop new skills.

 

Guardstart Training

American Red Cross GuardStart: Lifeguarding Tomorrow is designed to prepare 11- to 14-year olds to take Red Cross Lifeguarding certification programs and for future work as lifeguards. The GuardStart program helps participants build a foundation of knowledge, attitudes and skills that they will need to be responsible lifeguards. Lessons are grouped into five main areas: prevention, fitness, response, leadership and professionalism.

 

Water Safety Instructor Training

The American Red Cross Water Safety Instructor Course provides instructor candidates the training needed to teach courses in the American Red Cross Swimming and Water Safety Program by developing their understanding of how to use the course materials, how to conduct training sessions and how to evaluate participants' progress.

 

Safety Training for Swim Coaches 

The American Red Cross Safety Training for Swim Coaches course was developed in collaboration with USA Swimming to educate swim coaches and other aquatic professionals how to prevent and respond to emergencies while on the pool deck.

 

Water Safety Presentations

The American Red Cross offers five water safety presentations to teach individuals how to be safe in, on and around the water as well as stress the importance of learning to swim. The following presentations can be customized to fit a group’s needs.

Great classes for:
- Parents
- Babysitters and nannies
- Campers, Girls Scouts and Boy Scouts
- People who love water activities
- Anyone with a pool or spa
- Foster grandparents
- Day Care workers

  • Water Safety Today (2 hours) and General Water Safety (30 minutes) teach individuals how to recognize, prevent and respond to emergencies in, on and around water.

  • Home Pool Safety (30 minutes) provides information for pool owners on how to keep families, tenants and guests safe in an aquatic environment.

  • Parent Orientation to Swimming Lessons (30 minutes) is an orientation for parents about American Red Cross swimming lessons offered at local aquatic facilities.

  • Longfellow's WHALE Tales (K-6th grade)  is taught in a classroom setting and helps children learn safe behavior in, on and around the water. Each lesson is reinforced with color posters, worksheets, activities and a video that features Longfellow, the animated whale.

 

American Red Cross Lifeguarding also offers these optional training modules to develop more skills:

  • Automated External Defibrillation (AED)
  • Bloodborne Pathogens (Preventing Disease Transmission)
  • Oxygen Administration
  • Waterfront Lifeguarding
  • Waterpark Lifeguarding

Contact us at 239-278-3401 to find out more about becoming a lifeguard or lifeguarding instructor!