Any lifeguards in hither??

cmsbfent

cmsbfent

cmsbfent

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ello..

I is thinking of qualifying to become a lifeguard as getting a degree related job seems to be against me after 12 weeks of looking, so, does anyone know what the qualification actually involves.. i.e. how many lengths in how much time carrying how many elephants etc??

Had a looksy google style but couldnt see anything official apart from costs.

Cheers folks

(And feel free to move this to la sports forum if u deem it necessary Mr Dons)
 
NPLQ is your friend, dont need to be able to swim that much. I passed it and cant swim that well, you just had to do some tows in a certain amount of time, cpr/first aid. Pretty easy stuff.

When I first did it I did a mon-fri 9-5 intensive course for a week.
 
Pretty easy mate, and it's easy money once you're qualified too, as above look for places to do the NPLQ, think it costs around £100 to do it.

I worked at Portsmouth Lido a few summers ago in the kids pool (massively 1ft deep at the deep 'middle') council rules meant we couldn't do more than half-hour on, half-hour off but got paid for the full hour :cool: and got to sit in the Sun all day :D Highlight was doing a Baywatch style run into the pool to rescue a kid who ended up upside down in their rubber ring, lol...oh and all the 18 year old MILFs :p

Then it got better as for the last week I was lifeguarding in Paulsgrove estate pool which was a maaaasive 15ft x 15ft and 8 inches deep...and had at most about 5-10 kids in. Was tough :cool:
 
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The pay round here ranges from £5-£7ph, the recommended fitness level is 2 25m lengths in under 60seconds and be able to touch the bottom of the deepest part of the pool. As long as your half decently bright youl have no problem with the theory part of it and as long as your not completly scared of the water youl have no problem with the practical part.
 
hahaha oh man that sounds easy. I've been looking into it myself because i need a job but don't actually have the money to afford the lessons..

I also want to do coast lifeguarding next summer in cornwall but it sounds a bit tougher.

I was in cornwall a few weeks ago and was talking to a guy from holland on the 2 week learn to teach surfing/lifeguard course and he said he failed the swimming test. He had to do 400m in 7 and a half minutes and he did a 7:50

In a pool I do just over 5 minutes but i guess it could be trickier in the sea with the cold and everything..
 
yer_averagejoe said:
In a pool I do just over 5 minutes but i guess it could be trickier in the sea with the cold and everything..
Click to expand...

Plus swimming against the tide, sounds pretty tough.

I did lifeguarding for a couple of years but unless you actually have to save someone it's really rather boring. You're basically standing around watching other people having fun, and you absolutely have to be alert at all times, keeping watch on the pool. It really irks me when I see lifeguards standing round chatting to each other - all it takes is a mouthful of water and a kid can be lying at the bottom of the pool unseen. If you're going to do it, make sure you do it properly; that's the best advice I could give.
 
another bit of advice if you have to jump in make sure u have time to take ** shoes off first they slow you down a hell of a lot i speak from experience ;)
 
y thankyou people..

Much appreciated. The place i'm looing at train you for your certificate (for a cost) and if you pass, apparently they offer you a job.

Two lengths in a minute aint too bad. Time to get some practice in me thinks...

Whats the deal with diving? I haven't actually done a dive in years.. hmmmmm

Cheers
 
They'll teach you to surface dive but I seem to remember that's all you need. Basically, it's diving just under the surface of the water so you don't knock your bonce like a fool. :p
 
There is no diving within the NPLQ you are taught to jump into the pool at the shallow end to avoid injury although when your faced with a child in trouble that will go out of the window and you'l dive

Your 2 timed tows are swim from the shallow end to the deep end to recover a concious casualty then extended arm tow them back to the shallow end within 65secs
The 2nd is to go from the shallow end to the deep turn over an unconsious casualty tow then to the shallow end about 5 meters from the end take them into the wall and perform cpr checks, within 45secs
Also you will have to do your exam in a tshirt so i recommend wearing something very heavy such as a rugby shirt throughout training then when it comes to the exam find a very thin tshirt to swim in this helped cut 10-15secs off my timed swims.

Infact ive just thought about it and the pool you apply to could be teaching the NAS (i think) qualification which isnt as widely used as NPLQ although i think the only major difference is the use of the spinal board, but you would have to retrain to work at an NPLQ pool and vice versa
 
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Sorry to bump an old thread but I'm thinking of doing this as it should be more fun than working at tesco's at the weekends or something and I'm a good swimmer.

Should you do a first aid course before or after or do they teach you what you need to know?

I've done one in year 7, but as you can imagine going into 6th form I've forgotten all but the very basics.

Thanks
 
they teach u everything you need to know (well they did in my one)

(i had done first aid etc before and wasn't even allowed to skip this bit :( )
 
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