Junior Lifeguards To The Rescue!
With summer coming on, the city’s Junior Lifeguard program is open at locations around Oahu to kids who want to increase their ocean IQ
Around the orange cones they go, and then race back to the
water
After all the press about the sewage on the beaches and shark attacks, one group is trying to help get the focus back on the day-to-day fun and risks associated with Hawaii’s largest recreational area.
The Hawaiian Lifeguard Association is holding its 14th annual Junior Lifeguard Program starting on June 5 with the one-week courses to be taught on five beaches on Oahu through the week of July 17.
“Our primary focus is on ocean awareness, the basics of being safe in the water and respect for the ocean,” says Matt Miller, the program’s coordinator and head instructor for Oahu’s lifeguards. “It is set up to impact as many kids as possible. Last year we impacted 500 kids over the summer.”
The thrust of the program is less ROTC and more a Neighborhood Watch program. Giving kids the knowledge to aid others in the water, or even just warn them from going into dangerous places, makes the ocean safer for everyone.
“It doubles our eyes on the beach,” says Miller, who started lifeguarding as a part-time job in high school. “We are not encouraging them to be rescuers, but they are able to know who to call. They also can give them some aid, give them something to float on until we can get there.”
The competition was as fun as it was fierce in this
paddleboard relay at Ala Moana during last summer’s
Junior Lifeguard program
While it is not set up as a recruiting tool, they have hired 20 former junior guards to the force. In fact, half of the program’s instructors last year were former junior guards. But Miller insists the program is for anyone who can swim, no matter their future occupation.
“It doesn’t matter if you are a beach person or not, you’ll have a lot of fun,” says Miller who began working with the program in 1997. “We try to make it feel like it’s not school, we are learning through playing.”
This is not just a sales pitch. During the program they learn proper methods for surfing, boogie-boarding and snorkeling. And this is not on-the-beach studying, this is in-the-water doing.
It’s a sprint to the finish
“The first day we may take them out snorkeling,” says Miller. “We teach them how to choose a proper fit for masks and fins, how to purge their snorkel, how to reach the bottom on their dives. Then we incorporate that into rescues the next day. Teach them how to make a search pattern using jugs and a mannequin.”
They do the same for all the activities. With surfing they teach where to be on the wave, how to get under the waves if you lose your board, and better swimming techniques for when that leash breaks and you have to go swimming after it.
The final day involves using the jet ski, to introduce them to methods used in high surf situations.
“We go from low-tech, face-
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