Learn about Lifeguarding

Top 10 Reasons to be a Sierra Red Cross Certified Lifeguard:

  • Earn money and respect.
  • Challenge yourself.
  • Have fun.
  • Develop leadership skills.
  • Put your swimming skills to good use and shape up!
  • Gain valuable work experience.
  • Meet new people.
  • Make new friendships for life
  • Safeguard families in and around water.
  • And most importantly... BE READY TO SAVE A LIFE

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.

Lifeguarding Responsibilities

Lifeguards help everyone enjoy the water and their summer safely!

The primary responsibility of a lifeguard is to ensure the safety of pool patrons and protect their lives.  This is done by preventing and responding to injuries, enforcing facility rules, keeping the pool area clean, recording chemical readings and providing an enjoyable overall experience. 

Lifeguarding is a responsible position, one that helps develop discipline, leadership and rescue skills that will be valuable for a lifetime.  In additiona, lifeguards can add customer service, teamwork, decision-making and conflict resolution skills to their resumes.  And while safeguarding lives is a huge responsibility, it is also rewarding and fun to be the center of the pool community!  Plus, how many other jobs let you enjoy summer by the pool?

American Red Cross Training – What You Will Learn

  • Surveillance skills to help you recognize and prevent injuries
  • Rescue skills – on water and on land
  • Training in first aid and professional rescuer CPR – to help you prepare for any emergency
  • Professional lifeguard responsibilities like interacting with the public and addressing uncooperative patrons


Course Requirements

To be eligible for the American Red Cross Lifeguarding course, the participant must be at least 15 years old and must successfully complete the following:

  1. Swim 300 yards continuously using these strokes in the following order:
    • 100 yards of front crawl using rhythmic breathing and a stabilizing, propellant kick.
    • 100 yards of breaststroke using a pull, breathe, kick and glide sequence.
    • 100 yards of either the front crawl or breaststroke. The 100 yards may be a combination of the front crawl and breaststroke.
  2. Starting in the water, swim 20 yards using front crawl or breaststroke, surface dive 7-10 feet, retrieve a 10 pound object, return to the surface, swim 20 yards back to the starting point with the object and exit the water without using a ladder or steps, within 1 minute, 40 seconds.

Upon successful completion of the Lifeguarding course, each participant will receive two American Red Cross Universal Certificates – one for Lifeguarding/First Aid, which is valid for 3 years and another indicating CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, which is valid for 1 year.

High Sierra offers Red Cross certification classes each spring and throughout the year.