I, I, I wanna be a lifeguard (help, help, help, help!)Originally Posted by bigSURFsk8
I, I, I wanna guard your LIFE!
(lifeguard)
hardly any clothes,
(lifeguard)
sand between my toes,
(lifeguard)
white stuff on my nose!
Anybody remember Blotto!? 80's new wave from Albany - Pahahaha!Ranks right up there with "When I Go To the Beach" by the Slickee Boys
Run Swim Run is all I have to say. I guarded for yor years for the DE state park system and had a blast doing it. Just to let you know, there is some work involved. First, dealing with stupid of the most stupid people can be a challenge. Next there are some physical requirements as well. Run swim runs are a b***h!!!!!!!!! Where you spint as fast as you can then swim out and in as fast a possible and do it again a few more times. Some of the exersices can be pritty tough but it is a great job!!!!!!!!! Rescues can be a huge rush but if things don't so so well it can waer on ya.
Good luck I rec. it.
dont you have to be 17 though for ocean city
well some are...but I sir am not a kook. The job is good at the right place. I work for a private beach north of bethany and its great. 30 min workout each morning and and hour break. Now im making $11.50 an hour and its sweet. You can surf when the waves are to big for swimmers so pray for swell. You get off for rain and thunder too. Just find the right place and you'll be happy.
yea plenty of lifeguards i know that are definitely not kooks. It's just like anything guys, in every sport there are three categories on the bell curve. Lower 25% are complete kooks, average 50% are normal, and top 25% are the hardcores or the freak of natures.
I did junior lifeguard when i was a kid and it was pretty fun. since i was so young, i thought it was awesome swimmin out way past the jetties and then swimming parallel to the beach, it felt so extreme. but then i picked up surfing and i realized that if i couldnt surf as much as i wanted then i didnt want to do it... thats part of the reason i almost gave up football, but i decided to stick with it just cause i love the sport!
SORRY SO LONG, I GUARD!
This topic always pulls out the wanksters. Like anything in life, it's what you make of it. Some people hate school, and for all intense purposes they usually didn't make anything of that. Guarding can be the same way.
The reality check point:
First off, peoples lives are in your hands. People can die. I have given CPR to people that died. It's not BAY WATCH. That feeling never goes away for the rest of your life. I have held people with a Hawaiian Sling using In-Line-Stabilization. Their neck was broken, nose bleeding on your hands, and they are asking you, "Am I going to be ok?" If you guard in Delaware, this day comes for everyone.
There is a rush in saving people in the surf line, but you have to be on your toes, bug-eyed, and physically fit so that when it does go down you can do what needs to be done.
The up-side and more positive note. My best friends came from surfing or lifesaving. Like many of you, I jumped into lifesaving for the always constant wave check, social atmosphere, and the ability to stay in tip-top physical condition. When there is serious surf, the beach is closed. I mean 6' plus and then we surf. If it is smaller or mushy, we bodysurf/bodyboard. I get to work with my friends and I am on a schedule in the summer that lets me surf AM/PM sessions with my friends. And last but not least, the training. If anyone on here knows me or my friends, they know we train hard. If you don't know us you would think we are all mentally insane.
What started off at 16 years old as local paddle board races to stay fit, turned into a lifestyle that I would call a WATERMEN. Over the next 15 years old I began to meet WATERMEN from all over the world. We train all year round and we don't wait for swells. We train for them. There are quite a few top notch surfers who fill the void that some of you had already mentioned as the top 10% on the bell-curve of lifeguards. Every beach has kooks, descent guards, and then a couple core people who usually go by the name, "LIFERS!"
The east coast is the only place that I have ever seen that has a gap between surfers and lifeguards. Cali, Hawaii, South Africa, Oz, NZ, etc., will have guards working one-on-one with each other. But like some of you mentioned, these parts do have a lot of KOOKS trying to be guards. They usually last 2 or 3 summers tops!
Go guard. Get into the sport and compete also. That's what gives every local agency it's validity. There is sprint running, distance running, sprint swimming, distance swimming, paddle board, surf ski (kayak), open ocean rowing, ironman (paddle, run, swim, surf ski), and there are even some other crazy events like beach flags and rescues. All of which are competitive locally, region, nation and world wide. It's one of the top 5 largest sports in the world.
Hope I didn't send the wrong message with my remembrence of some humorous old surf tunes! Got nuthin' but mad-respect for those that train that hard to lay it out when the time comes - and it does come! OBlove nailed it. I've never been a lifeguard but over the years I've been involved in 4 rescues - 2 surfin and 2 more in freshwater digs. Thats serious biz and will stay with you forever no matter the outcome. Go for it bigSURFsk8 but don't take it lightly, and here's to happy endings!
i know what it feels like to see someone die. my dad and i were driving in the country after going to a friends house and my dad had to give cpr while i was on the phone with 911 and when they cam they took him and we didnt know the guy at all so we basically followed the ems all the way to the hospital and when we got their they pronounced him dead and that trully hurt me alot as i didnt know the guy but that was trully the first time me or my dad have had to use our cpr trainning and that trully hurt me. and that whole car ride home (1 1/2 hours to be precise) we were just in agony. and still to this day i think about it.
im not a lifegaurd but want to be one one day. but our lifegaurds down here in wb are pretty cool. like one day as a dawn patrol surf i had the gaurds were down at my spot body boarding and surfing and had the "wb lifegaurd surf off" and it was funny they were all lose and what not. but yeah i know they can be a b!tch sometimes but trully when you like surf with them they are actually pretty fun to be around.
even the kooks still know how to party and its not like you have to spend all day with them.
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