By Tess Whittet
Staff Writer
Mira Costa seniors Shannon O’Brien and Lucas Brannan are hitting the beach after being selected to attend the Los Angeles County Fire Department Lifeguard Training Academy, or “rookie school for lifeguards.”
They were selected after finishing ahead of 300 other applicants in the certification swim in September 2016. Both seniors will attend the training academy at multiple beaches in Los Angeles County beginning Saturday and continuing for the next three weekends to receive training to become lifeguards.
“Becomming a lifeguard is something that I have always wanted to pursue,” Brannan said.
The tryouts to become a lifeguard began with an ocean swim that took place at the beginning of September. The race, which is in a horseshoe shape, is 1,000 meters long. Depending on the number of openings for lifeguarding, the top 65 to 120 swimmers advance to the interview stage. O’Brien placed 59th out of the 300 other competitors, and Brannan placed 20th. Brannan said it was probably the hardest swim he has ever completed because he faced tough wave conditions.
Future Los Angeles County Lifeguards train through difficult workouts and lifeguard scenarios as they prepare to become a lifeguard. O’Brien and Brannan both are participating in rookie school for five weekends before being a real lifeguard. This video is courtesy of LACountyFire vimeo.
“It was a learning experience because halfway through the swim, the conditions changed, and I had to make a change in what my plan was on how to swim it,” Brannan said.
Lifeguard recruiters formally intervewed the swimmers who advanced from the ocean swim and asked them questions regarding specific scenarios, chemistry teacher and lifeguard Dan Bartlett said. After the recruiters evaluate them, the best ones move on to rookie school.
“It was a really nerve-racking process, but after you are done, you feel so much happier,” O’Brien said. “Even if you didn’t make it, you finished it and tried and did your best.”
O’Brien and Brannan now attend rookie school every Staurday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. or later. Current lifeguards teach the lifeguards-to-be the principles of lifeguarding and administer tests and workouts such as long-distance running. The participants will choose their schedules depending on their lifeguard rank.
“Rookie school is fun,” Brannan said. “It is going to be lots of training and be physically challenging, but most of all it is going to be mentally challenging.”
To become a beach lifeguard, one must be 18 years old and have a driver’s license. In addition to being a fast swimmer, the candidate must also have at least 20/30 vision and good hearing.
“It is pretty neat that because of [being a lifeguard], a lot of people will live, and a lot of people will thank you.” Bartlett said. “The best thing is that you are in your environment. You are at the beach in the summer.”
O’Brien and Brannan stayed in good shape throughout the school year by participating in aquatic sports at Costa, such as water polo and swimming. The two also prepared for the tryout by participating in the Junior Guards Lifeguard program every summer. They both have been Junior Guards cadets for the past two years. Cadets, a high-level division of Junior Guards, helped Brannan a lot, since it kept him in swimming shape and taught him the basics of lifeguarding, he said.
“When I did Junior Guards, I looked up to the lifeguards and saw them every summer making rescues and keeping the beach safe,” Brannan said. “I have always wanted to do that, and I knew that one day I wanted to have my own red shorts and be a part of L.A. County Lifeguards Fire Department.”
After completing rookie school, Brannan plans to spend his entire summer working as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. O’Brien plans to work only 10 days this coming summer and will not get a full schedule until the following summer. The two will be stationed at beaches closest to their homes, Brannan said.
“Just being part of the team, being on the beach everyday, and getting to help protect the community as best I can is what I am looking forward to the most this summer,” O’Brien said.
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