Madison Ray lifeguard historian - Hard Truths & Myths

On this Wednesday episode of the Talking Pools Podcast, host Natalie Hood (Director of Education & Network Development for The Grit Game) sits down with lifeguard historian, trainer, and content creator Miss Madison Ray to pull back the curtain on what lifeguards actually do, why they’re leaving the industry, and how dangerous our “they’re just babysitters” mindset really is.

From CPR in real facilities to CPR to Taylor Swift on TikTok, this episode hits both the heart and the hard facts.

Episode Summary

Natalie opens the show with a real incident:
 At her facility, a patron went into cardiac arrest. The on-deck lifeguard initially walked past—but caught the emergency within seconds, initiated CPR, and helped save a life. The response was described as textbook by higher management.

From there, Natalie introduces her guest:

Meet Madison Ray — The Lifeguard Historian

• Lifeguard, aquatics professional, and content creator known as:
  • @missmadisonray on TikTok & Instagram
  • “The Singing Lifeguard” on TikTok
  • “The Lifeguard Historian” on YouTube
• Creates viral CPR rhythm videos using Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, and more to teach compressions.
• Fell into aquatics after a missed movie theater job call and a nudge from her mom to apply at the rec center.
• Planned to become a high school history teacher… instead became head of aquatics at 21.
• Now 23, she’s writing a full history of lifeguarding that started as a 25-page thesis and has grown to 100+ pages (and counting), including research back to the 1800s and original 1938 American Red Cross Lifesaving manuals.

With tuition assistance on the line, Madison made her college history degree directly relevant to aquatics by tying lifeguard history + education into her senior thesis. She argues that lighthouse keepers were essentially the first modern lifeguards—vigilance, rescue, and readiness long before red trunks and rescue tubes.

Myth-Busting with the Lifeguard Historian

Natalie and Madison spend the heart of the episode tearing down three of the most harmful myths in aquatics.

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00)
We had an incident at the facility I work at, our lifeguards performed CPR and the lifeguard initially had walked past it. He caught it very quickly within like less than a minute of this person having a cardiac event.

Speaker 2 (00:18)
Welcome back to the Talking Pools podcast, I'm Natalie Hood, Director of Education Network Development for The Great Game. And today we're diving into a topic that's often overlooked, but absolutely critical, lifeguarding.

I'm joined by Madison Ray, the lifeguard historian.

Hi, Madison, how are you today? I'm doing well, thank you. You and I were just talking. You're in Denver, Colorado, and I'm in Knoxville, Tennessee, and I'm getting snow and you're not.

Speaker 1 (00:35)
Good, how are you?

Yeah, no, it's overcast over here, so we are good.

Speaker 2 (00:48)
Yeah, well, I'll send the snow your way because I've had enough of it already.

Speaker 1 (00:52)
I will take it all, thank you.

Speaker 2 (00:54)
So Madison, you're kind of a big deal, right? So you're creating this history of lifeguards. said back to the 1800s, you have a pretty cool TikTok account where I love it. I'll admit it. Everyone knows I'm a Swiftie as well. And you do CPR to Swiftie songs.

Speaker 1 (01:10)
Yeah, yeah, that's something I just kind of started as when she announced that she was reclaiming all of her masters. And then a couple of those videos went viral. And so I was like, you know, I'm going to keep doing this. I'd already been making lifeguard content since the pandemic and had a good following underneath that. So I was like, here's a good way to kind of re not rebrand, but reintroduce people into my social media.

So I've been doing that, Sabrina Carpenter, I'm working on like some Benson Boone songs right now.

Speaker 2 (01:41)
that's awesome. I I was scrolling through your TikTok and you showed up on my feed on my for you page. And my husband was like, Swift. And he's like, wait, is she doing CPR to Taylor Swift songs? And I was like, yeah. He's like, wait, aren't you meeting with her tomorrow? And I was like, I am. So then like, he started going through some of your songs. He was like, you know, he's a combat medic and he was like doing the CPR rhythm with you. And it was, it was just, it was really funny.

And so people are interested in checking you out, where can they find you on TikTok?

Speaker 1 (02:09)
I mean, Miss Madison Ray. Madison Ray is my social media for everything. And then I have different like nicknames on social media. So my Instagram is like my regular public account, but I also post lifeguard stuff on there. And then my TikTok is the singing lifeguard and YouTube the lifeguard historian.

Speaker 2 (02:28)
I absolutely love it. So tell us about yourself. How did you get into this industry? And I see that you're still here. I know when we had originally talked, had, know, no one really wakes up and they're like, I want to work in the aquatics industry. I want to be a lifeguard. It's not an easy job, but tell us about yourself.

Speaker 1 (02:44)
Yeah, I had always wanted to be a lifeguard. I grew up in a really small town in New Mexico and the lifeguards were like the cool kids. All the teenagers were lifeguards and that was like, it was either you worked there or you worked at a mom and pop restaurant. And so I was, you know, I was really into that idea. I loved going into the pool. I remember going to mommy and me swim lessons and I just always had a really good experience with lifeguards.

And then we moved to Colorado and I was looking for my first job. was, didn't, for some reason I did not want to be a lifeguard when I was 16, but I applied to the movie theater. They never called me back. And my mom was like, the rec center is always hiring lifeguards. Just apply and see what happens. I got an interview and the rest is pretty much history. I got sucked into the industry. I loved it. I always like to say that I'm a very overly passionate person.

I remember they showed us an episode of Bondi Rescue in my lifeguard class and I went home and I binged all the seasons that were available. And so I was like, this is what I want to do. I love it. Had no intention of staying in the industry forever. The idea was that I was going to go to college to be a high school history teacher. And I was like, I'll just lifeguard in the summers. Like most teachers have a summer job. I'll do that. And then.

Speaker 2 (03:51)
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (04:02)
I had a boss who I absolutely loved, name's Carl Brem, one of my mentors, call him every day. he was like, Madison, I have an opening. I know you have a plan with your life, but most of my assistants only stay for a year, year and a half. Like you can leave any time you want, but I know you can do it. And so I said, okay, Carl, I'll apply. I got the job, started student teaching at the same time.

so I was already in that manager role and I said, you know, I have a pretty stable thing going. There was a lot of turnover at the organization I was with and I decided, you know, let's apply, let's see what happens. Next thing I know, I'm the head of the department at 21 years old and I'm running the whole aquatics part. So yeah, I was really lucky to have a good foundation underneath me and I always say I've always had the best.

Speaker 2 (04:39)
awesome.

Speaker 1 (04:49)
lifeguards. Like I've had very few instances of people who like just didn't care. Yeah. But I don't know, I still got time. I'm only 23. I have time to see the ones who don't care. So

Speaker 2 (04:55)
So.

Yeah, you know, I mean, similar to me, I have a large history of swimmers in my family and my mom was a lifeguard, my grandma was a lifeguard, and I definitely did it mainly in the summers, but as I got older, you know, I really had this passion for swimming. I couldn't swim the same way I wanted. As I got older, I tore my rotator cup and so I thought, well, I'll teach. And so I really dove heavily into lifeguarding. I did summer camps. I

worked for, health fitness, what is it, where hospitals have like an attached, like they have physical therapy, the word's escaping me, but I did a lot of that and I think I was a lifeguard, gosh, for like 10, 15 years and I grew up in California, so there was a lot of opportunities, but I'll say.

I did not have some of the best experiences with some of the companies I worked with. So I kind of hopped around a little bit, but like you said, you're, you had that mentor. And I think that really makes a big difference because I think so many people just think, it's just an easy summer job, It's, it's an easy thing to do. You show up, you sit there for, you know, six to eight hours, but it's not easy. It takes a lot out of you. You're sitting in the sun, you know? And so I definitely.

Even someone that's decided to continue that, you know, lot of people think, well, lifeguards are mainly just for young kids, for something for them to do. And I think that's one reason why maybe so many people don't stay in this industry or continue on that pathway of lifeguarding is just because of the perception of the public,

But here you've taken it a step further, right? And you're writing the history of lifeguards. Tell us about that. That's really interesting.

Speaker 1 (06:43)
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:33)
you've taken it a step further, right? And you're writing the history of lifeguards. Tell us about that. That's really interesting.

Speaker 1 (07:39)
Yeah.

Yeah, so like I said, I was still young when I became the head of the department as an aquatics coordinator and I was still in college and that was a big thing to me. I was like, have a year and a half left. I was like, I need to finish. I'm not gonna stop. And the guy who had, was in my position before me, he had left because he was still in school as well.

or he had gone back to school and it just wasn't working with his schedule. And he told me, were like, hey, when I put in my two weeks, they offered me tuition's assistance and said, you know, please stay, we'll help you pay for school. And he was like, no, I'm not gonna do that. he, again, great guy, let me know. I, so when I walked in on my first day, I said, I know you have tuition's assistance and I would like

And that was scary. But I did it and they said, here's the paperwork. And I just had to make it related to my field. So I was majoring in history and I was like, how am gonna connect history to aquatics? I was like, I think I to do this, but I need to help get them to give me this money. And so I said, you know what, history of lifeguards. I was like, I can at least do something. I'll focus that for my thesis.

and then I, I also had a minor in education. And so I was saying, this is how my minor relates to teaching lifeguards and we can connect, you know, skills that students are familiar with in their classroom to what we're doing on the pool deck during in services and lifeguard trainings. luckily they said, yes, I think I was the only person in like 20 years to get tuition's assistance. Yeah, it was, it helped so, so much. and I'm very thankful for them for that, but.

Speaker 2 (09:11)
Good for you.

Speaker 1 (09:19)
Yeah, so I started, I got into my senior thesis class and I'm, and I start writing and I remember sitting around and everyone's like, I'm going to talk about this art period from the 1600s and I'm going to talk about this. And I go, I'm going to talk about lifeguards. they all look at me and I was like, I promise I've been doing research. There's more to it. Like I think I have something going.

And I remember as I'm doing research, I got all these books and I'm like looking through, have original, I have it sitting right here. I have an original 1938 copy of the American Red Cross Life.

Speaker 2 (09:51)
That is so cool.

Speaker 1 (09:52)
have all the editions up through 98. So they're all here. But like I found all these on eBay and I'm reading all of them. And I was like, I think I have something like, please just let me do this. And my professor looked at me and she said, okay, it's gotta be 25 pages. And I said, okay, I can do it. And so yeah, I started writing and I just, loved it so much. And in my original thesis, I argue that lightkeepers who worked at lighthouses were the original lifeguards.

as how we view them today in modern history because not only were they keeping, letting the ships know where the shore was, but if there would be a crash, they were getting in boats and going out and rescuing people. And a lot of the words that I saw describing that were vigilance and being proactive with the light. And I was like, those are words that I use every day. So that's really what drew me into it. And once I graduated, I just kept writing and

going through there. I'm almost finished. Every time I think I'm finished, I find something else, but it should be really cool. I'm really excited about it.

Speaker 2 (10:56)
is so cool. definitely will be buying your book once it releases. So you went from 25 pages and where are you at right now?

Speaker 1 (11:04)
Right now, I believe I am at 106, not double spaced, brought in back. just write one single page.

Speaker 2 (11:12)
Very cool.

love it. So when do you think that you might have this book ready to go and send to print?

Speaker 1 (11:22)
I'm hoping next year. I'm just waiting for a few more legal things from the Red Cross. And then I'll kind of do my final overview. And I'm planning on doing that all in December, because I'm working on my master's degree right now. So when I have a little bit of free time, I'm planning on doing that in December. And then hopefully come January, I can send it off to a couple publishing companies.

hopefully someone will read it if not, I'll publish it myself.

Speaker 2 (11:55)
Well, you have me, I will definitely read it and I think a lot of people out there will read it. There's so much misconception about lifeguarding and so I think it's absolutely wonderful what you're doing and it's creative and it's going to be something new and I love it and I love that you went from you looked at it and you're like, okay, I'm gonna have to write this 25 page.

you know, thing for college, but now you've expanded it to now where it's over a hundred pages and you're doing the fact checking. You're, you know, I love that you mentioned you're working with the Red Cross to make sure everything's, you know, settled before you launch. So that's, that is exciting girl. That is, that is fantastic. And you're only 23. That is, that is wonderful.

Speaker 1 (12:38)
Thank you, I appreciate it. ⁓

Speaker 2 (12:40)
So

on this podcast on Wednesdays, we like to bust some myths. And so I thought, who better to bust some of the biggest myths in the aquatics industry than to speak to the lifeguard historian, right?

So one of the biggest myths, and it's bothered me for years, and it's still constantly talked about, but lifeguards are babysitters. ⁓

Speaker 1 (16:29)
No.

Speaker 2 (16:29)
that myth is just, God, it's awful. Like, I get it. You go to a pool and you have, you know, you bring your children and you're like, okay, cool. There's lifeguards. I'm going to relax. I'm going to sit back in the sun. I'm going to tan. They'll watch my kids. But that is just the, that is so far from the truth.

Speaker 1 (16:46)
Yeah, no, definitely not. I mean, I, I, when I try to take myself as a proactive, um, rule enforcer too. And one of the things I say, like water wings is a big thing I've been seeing recently. I don't know. I seen them in stores for years and years and all of a sudden they're all back. And I keep telling these parents, I'm like, I know that our parents thought they were safe. Yeah.

our parents made mistakes. I promise you, I was in water wings too. That does not mean that it was safe for me. And I think the same thing goes with lifeguards and that rumor that they're babysitters. are a lot different today than what they were in the eighties, in the nineties. We had a lot smaller community style pools and going to the water park was like a big family ordeal. Where now even just our typical rec center pools.

have a lazy river and some of them have wave pools and some of them have these huge aquatic attractions inside of them.

Speaker 2 (17:40)
People

scare me. They scare me. Even as an adult, they scare me.

Speaker 1 (17:43)
Yeah, and so it's a lot different than what we were used to. Maybe it was, you I wasn't around in the 80s, but maybe it was. You could go and the lifeguard could pay more attention to the people in the pool because it was a square neighborhood pool that was only open 120 days a year. But now there's so many twists and turns and curves, it's hard enough for the lifeguards to be able to properly scan their water because of these damn pool architects.

It's like we have to we have to be proactive and I always try to tell people you know you are a vital part of our safety team you keeping an eye on your child staying within arm's reach of your child especially if they're a non-swimmer. It's huge part of my safety team because I was like if not my guards gonna jump in and then you're gonna be upset that I have to fill out this lengthy report now with you. Right. So I try to tell them like please just be proactive especially in Colorado like I see more people at the lakes I'm a huge paddleboarder and

Speaker 2 (18:21)
Thank

love paddle boarding too.

Speaker 1 (18:40)
just don't, they're not, their kids are, they put their kid in a life jacket and they like push him out in the water. And I'm like, no, like, please, this is even more dangerous.

Speaker 2 (18:50)
yeah, mean both my girls have been in swim lessons for a long long time. We did the mommy meets, you know, we did those classes and I did my best to do what I could with them like in the bathtub, but I'm mom so they're probably not going to listen to me as much as you know an actual instructor. But and I you know I think with that too, I think a lot of people don't realize that the lifeguards aren't just watching the pool.

they're watching the deck, they're watching that whole pool environment. So, you they're having to constantly scan their eyes every 10 to 20 seconds, you know, back and forth looking for distress. And, you know, if you put those floaties on, you know, on children, put them in, I see those and I just immediately, my skin starts to crawl and even my husband, he's like, well, let's just put the floaties on them. I'm like, that's not a life-saving tool. And how quickly their arms can go up and they just go under and then they just bob under.

We've never used those even to this day. I'm like, I won't use them. And I see other parents with them and I'm like, you're catching some lessons. We thought about some lessons, but you you're absolutely right. There's, there's just so many people that take their kids to the pool, to lakes, to streams, to rivers, to beaches, gosh, beaches are scary. And they see a lifeguard, but what they don't realize is that lifeguard is constantly monitoring, monitoring the pool.

the deck, you looking for anyone in distress. And it's just, when I see parents that show up and just let their kids run rabid, I'm like, you know, and they're over there throwing back a few beers or doing whatever they're doing, chatting with their girlfriends or the, you know, the guys are hanging out and they're, these kids are just running around with no surveillance. And that's not the instructors or the lifeguards job to watch them. I if they, of course, if something happens, they're going to address it, but they can't, if

you know, for having kids constantly running around on the deck and slipping and falling. They have to have someone, you know, take over their guard. They have to step down. They have to assess it, see what's going on.

Speaker 1 (20:43)
It takes away their attention from swimmers who might actually need it.

We had an incident at the facility I work at, our lifeguards performed CPR and everything was good. He lived, everything's wonderful. But the lifeguard initially had walked past it. He caught it very quickly within like less than a minute of this person having a cardiac event.

he was also, our lifeguard on deck was perfect.

enforcing rules at that same time. And I was like, thank gosh, you were in a roving position and you weren't stopped and you still saw this. And they did great. are our higher ups. We were with Jeff Health Management and they said, you know, it was textbook. So was like, yay, good job, guys.

Speaker 2 (21:27)
That's awesome. That is awesome. You know, and I think too, when people go to pools that have a lifeguard on duty, one of the questions I've always thought of is, they...

Do these parents realize that those lifeguards are generally shifting every 15 minutes, right? They're doing that rotation and they might move to different parts of those pools, those fancy pools that these builders have designed. They're absolutely gorgeous, but for lifeguards, they're hell, right? Cause they're constantly having, you know, they're having to place different chairs and sections so that they can, they can see all of that area, not just the pool, but the deck as well. And I think that's one thing that a lot of people don't realize is that that job is exhausting. So,

have asking them to also watch your kids, it's too much. If you're gonna go to a pool and you're hoping that the lifeguard is gonna babysit, just don't even go. Just don't. Just don't go, yeah. So another one that I have, it's constantly talked about, but I think is important and critical to bring up is the lifeguard shortage means that there just aren't enough people willing to work.

Speaker 1 (22:14)
Yep, I agree.

No, no, no, no. I'm a huge advocate for paying lifeguards appropriately. ⁓ I have said in the past that paying, you know, we get crappy work when we pay crappy pay. You can't expect them, you know.

Speaker 2 (22:37)
They are still underpaid.

Speaker 1 (22:47)
I'm not gonna lie, like especially at a rec center, lifeguarding isn't the most difficult job in the world. You're not gonna rescue someone every single day.

Speaker 2 (22:55)
Right? You might not even rescue anyone in your whole career.

Speaker 1 (22:59)
I didn't do my first rescue until I had been there for three years. I worked there almost every day. I had seen one other rescue done before that. And so, you you might not rescue someone every day, but a lot of places, lifeguards are the first responders for their entire area. Water parks have EMTs and paramedics. Like where I work, have EMTs on site, but it takes them 10, sometimes 15 minutes to get down there and address it.

So we're the ones, you know, responding to someone fainted, someone got too hot. We have three hot tubs at my facility and people get out. They fly into Denver. They come to this huge, fancy indoor water park right away. And then they're drinking and they haven't eaten enough. They sit in this hot tub for two hours. They get out and they faint because of high altitude, because they're overheated. They haven't eaten anything all day. So we see that, you know, two, three, four times a week.

our guards are the ones right there responding. you know, sometimes I want to say that they have better medical experience than some of these paramedics who are coming down and helping us out. Most of our incidents happen in the pool area. But no, it's not because people are lazy. It's not because all these things. A lot of pool environments are funded by their state or by their city.

A lot of that's up with elections and budget and things like that. And so there's a so much more that goes into it than just these kids are lazy. People look at lifeguarding, go, they have that mindset of they're babysitters. They're not really doing anything. And so they think that we can pay them minimum wage when in reality, you know, they have to go through a lot of training. It's a three to five day long class. yeah.

extension of your interview. Imagine interviewing for a job from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. for four days in a row. I'm like everyone has to do that.

Speaker 2 (24:52)
And it's very hands on too. I I know that. Yes, I remember gosh years ago when I went to my first class and you know, I was 15 so I was a junior lifeguard for a while, but I remember I went I went.

Speaker 1 (24:55)
Hosted.

Speaker 2 (25:07)
to the course and the first day it was just sitting there and listening and listening and I was just like, I left and I was absolutely exhausted and I told my mom, I was like, I am so tired and she's like, that's what this job is, it's gonna be tiring but you can do it. And so I went, I remember I went back the next day, I think my course was five days so it was about, just about 40 hours, right? And it wasn't cheap either to get that certification, it was expensive.

But I remember the second day I went in and there was a lot of hands-on training and I actually really enjoyed the hands-on because I was just like, I was so nervous, right? Cause it's so much information, but I think a lot of organizations don't value what lifeguards are actually doing, And I think one of the biggest reasons there are shortages is because those organizations are not setting those lifeguards up for success.

they're not paying them well, they're giving them crappy hours, they're asking them to do doubles. I remember I worked a double shift once. I was exhausted. I had to take off the next day. And it's not that I didn't have the grit to keep going. But I was just, I was done. was in that sun all day. was sick and tired of arguing with parents, you know, you got to watch your kids. And I'm having to constantly kick kids out of the pool because they're playing on the lane lines. Like I get it, they're fun to play on. But

They're pain in the butt when they break and it's a pain in the butt to roll them up and it's just, it's not worth it. But again, I think they're underappreciated. They're definitely not paid well. I think my first lifeguarding job, I think I got paid $7.45.

Speaker 1 (26:36)
Yeah, mine was, I was making just above minimum wage. I think it was $10.09 an hour and that was in 2015. And when I left the organization, we were paying lifeguards $16 an hour starting. So they complained and I'd be like, you want to hear what I've had for you?

Speaker 2 (26:55)
Right? What I used to get paid? Yeah. I mean, when I worked for that health park, I think I worked there for about three or four years and it was in Livermore, California. And I a really good head lifeguard, but the manager on duty was a jerk. He was such a jerk and he made my life miserable. And some of the guards would call out and he'd like, Hey, I need you to do a double shift. And I'm, you know, I had just come off my shift. I'd gotten dressed and I was just like,

Are you serious? Like you're overworking me. And so again, I had bad management while I loved the head lifeguard, the manager on duty, you know, after, his eight, nine hours, he left and someone else came on. Yeah, of course he might have to stay a little bit late if they're running later, if something happens. But I just remember feeling so underappreciated that I stopped lifeguarding. I was like, I'm done. I can't do this anymore. It's exhausting and I'm barely getting paid.

Speaker 1 (27:48)
That's a big thing I've always put on myself because I had such a good example who would stay and help or if he had to go pick up kids, he'd wait till his wife got home and then he'd come right back and help us out. I always, always tell my lifeguards, I will never ask you to do something that I am not gonna do myself. And I always, you know, I try to show that. Yesterday, I went on stand for an hour and...

One of our lifeguards came in and he was like, Madison, why are you on stand? I will rotate you off. Like the managers are not on stand. And cause I'm, you know, I work at a nice resort. And so we have, I have to wear my blazer and I'm all dressed up and now it's fine. I was like, I, I'm just a lifeguard who stuck around too long. Like I, I'm gonna, I'm fine for an hour. I was like, you will, someone's coming in. It's okay. But I think, you know, that's something.

telling too is like, how much have they seen a manager on stand in the past where they're like, whoa, you're on stand every time. I've only guarded at this facility maybe six or seven, eight times. And each time someone comes up, why are you on stand? I will rotate you off. And I'm like, well, I appreciate that you want to do your job, but no, it's okay. Like I am working the long hours too. I don't mind being on stand.

We have, with Ellis, we have the EVE system, the AI system. So half the time I'm in there watching that as well. So yeah, it's a lot.

Speaker 2 (29:14)
Well, and you know, too, I think a lot of people don't realize it takes a toll on lifeguards, right? I mean, you don't know what might have happened the day before if they had to jump in, right? If you had to jump in that water and pull a kid out. remember.

It was my first year lifeguarding and I had actual lifeguarding, not junior lifeguarding, and I was lifeguarding at this summer camp and there were so many kids well over the limit. I mean, it was overwhelming and I had a really hard time scanning the pool. There was another guard on duty with me and I was watching this little boy and he was bouncing, but he was starting to bounce towards that deeper end of the pool and I was watching him.

And I was just like, oh, am I going to have to jump in and get you? But here I am still scanning the rest of my area. And I remember I looked back, he was no longer bouncing. He was under the water. So of course I dove in really quickly. I got him out. He was okay. But I actually went and I called my manager on the walkie talkie. was like, Hey, you know, just had to jump in. cleared the pool. But I said, I need about 15, 20 minutes because I myself.

I just need a minute. need to step away. I need to reset because I was just so shook up. was like, my gosh.

Speaker 1 (30:27)
It rushes your adrenaline in a way that you've never. Remember when the first time I did a rescue, I saw the same thing. The girl's bouncing down. Yeah, she's in the center of the pool. And it was like the one day that this little tiny kid pool that we had outside had all these kids in it. And she's bouncing. I remember I looked over, I saw her, I was like, okay, I need to pay attention to her. I look back to the side and I come back around and she is underwater.

Speaker 2 (30:30)
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:53)
I remember I didn't blow my whistle. just. And luckily her mom was watching her and we jumped in at the same time and I just happened to be a little closer and so I pick her up and I handed to her mom. I turned back and my shoes are gone and my radio is underwater and I was like, man. So I get another lifeguard. Yeah, I get another lifeguard to come rotate me and he was like, he was like, you didn't blow your whistle. And I was like, what do you expect me to do? her. I wasn't thinking. I got her.

Speaker 2 (30:55)
Well then, yep.

Speaker 1 (31:20)
I went down to tell my manager because the radio was broken and I was like, Hey, I just did a rescue. I'm soaking wet standing in the office. And I remember he went, crap. That's a lot of paperwork.

Speaker 2 (31:30)
It would be a lot more if the kid didn't make it.

Speaker 1 (31:32)
Yeah, I was like, what? But luckily, I was, had, I think I was going on my lunch break next. So I was like, okay, I'm gonna go on my break. Yeah, that was my first time. And so, you know, everything, you never know what's gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (31:35)
You're welcome.

well, and see.

You don't. I mean, too, I remember I stepped away and I was like, did I take all the right measures?

Speaker 1 (31:53)
constantly rethinking, you're like, could I have done anything better? And you never find your first one and your whole, like, I still wake up having dreams that like, I'm about to jump in at that same pool.

Speaker 2 (32:03)
Yeah. yeah. I mean, I will never forget that that summer camp that I worked at. absolutely loved them. I think I was there for three seasons. Loved it. But that was definitely where I saw a lot of action. And again, I had a great manager, but you know, in other locations that I worked at, I didn't. And so yeah, I did walk away from the job. But you know, if you're if you're managing lifeguards, if you

You know, you really need to take the time to appreciate all of what they're doing. It's not an easy job. It's a very hard job. It's stressful and you need people to lift you up because a lot of the times I know I questioned myself and you know, you might not see any action for weeks or months and all of a sudden it happens and it's like,

Speaker 1 (32:49)
and it's six things on the same day.

Speaker 2 (32:51)
Yes.

Yeah. It all happens at the same time. It's always like that. You know, I had summers where I really wouldn't see any action. And then it was like every single day something was happening and that was exhausting too. Yeah. You know, so it's just, yeah, that one's definitely like one of the biggest myths. you know, another myth that I want to get into, our last myth is if you're a good swimmer, you don't need a lifeguard. I know.

I, it, right. I'll watch, you know, I always watch the Olympics and I'll hear people like in the comments, like on social media, they're like, what are these lifeguards going to do? These are Olympic swimmers. You can still drown. Things can happen. You can have, you know, cardiac arrest in the pool swimming. remember, I know it's frowned upon now, which is good, but I remember, you know,

I would, was swimming year round and I'd get up early in the morning and I'd swim about 5 a.m. I'd swim after school. I mean, I was putting in a lot of hours. I was exhausted. And I remember my coach, we were doing drills and breathing drills and I was a great swimmer, but he only wanted me to take one breath down that 25 meter pool. It was at the end of the training. I was exhausted and I was almost to the wall. hadn't done my breath yet. I knew I was a good swimmer, but

I fainted and I just completely blacked out. And yeah, I'm a good swimmer, but that doesn't, if there hadn't have been a lifeguard there to jump in and get me, actually, I think it was my coach that jumped in. I don't know what would have happened. I might not be here today talking to you. I might not have my husband and kids. I mean, it's just, you need a lifeguard. It doesn't matter how good of a swimmer you are.

Speaker 1 (34:32)
Yeah, no, and you never know when a medical emergency is going to happen. I think that like I remember one time I was guarding and this mother came up. I worked when I was a first time lifeguard. It was a big lap pool and we had a lap pool outside as well. But in the winters, know,

girl swim season, then boy swim season, and then we had master swim classes. it was just constant, constant in this lap pool. And I remember I'm guarding one day and it was my rival high school. the...

This mother came up to me and she goes, Hey, I just want you to know, like my daughter's really embarrassed. She doesn't want to tell me one, but she does have a congenital hole in her heart. And I will be here for every practice, but like she always swims in this lane and I know it's not your job to like keep an eye on this one individual, but I just want you to know, like if something does happen, could you please tell the rest of your staff as well? And she swims with this high school and just so that if something does happen and I'm not here for whatever reason, like you guys have a medical background to give.

was like, my God, like you never know what people have. And even something just as simple as a leg cramp can take some water under the water.

Yeah, and I think most of the rescues I've ever done have been assists where I can throw them my tube or reach my tube out and kind of pull them to the wall. Even, you like I said, I'm an avid paddleboarder. I pull kids onto my board all the time or I've pulled adults onto my board and said, okay, let me take you to shore now because they can't, the lake I go to, they...

I don't know what these people do, but it'll be five in the morning and they're swimming in this lake across and across and across training for whatever triathlon they want to do. And I'm out there with my little flashlight on the front of my board. And then all of a sudden here's a red swim cap popping up out of the water. And so I'm like, you are going to get hurt, but there's been times where I've pulled people on and just gone off to the side because they're out of breath in this deep lake in the middle of Colorado.

And so yeah, no, everyone needs a lifeguard. know I hate unguarded facilities. I hate the swimmers.

If you're at an unguarded facility and you're the only one there and you're swimming and something happens, it could be hours. It could be quite frankly days until someone finds you. No, I'm a huge, huge advocate. You always need a lifeguard no matter what. Even if it's just someone to be able to say, pool's closed for the day. There has to be someone there. I show videos in my lifeguard trainings of there's one.

I don't know if you've seen it before, it's a security system and it's of this lap pool, it's unguarded. There just happens to be a janitor who walks out of the...

no, this one is the janitor saves the person. gets to the end of lane, starts having a heart attack within four seconds, the janitor is in the water. He just happened to walk out and see this person slip. But yeah, I've seen the one you got too where the janitor falls into the water and no one's there. Yeah, you just, never know, water is so, it's such a beautiful hazard, is what I like to describe it. It's gorgeous, people are attracted to it.

Little kids are attracted to it.

because they just go, and it's reflective and there's lots of animals around and you just never, you never, never know. You always need layers of protection.

People don't know, they don't realize how much work actually goes into this industry. A lot of people, say, my generic line is I'm a lifeguard trainer. I train lifeguards all over. And people are like, oh, that's a job? I just thought that all the managers did that. And I'm like, well, yeah, I'm a pool manager, but this is like the main focus of what I specifically do because I'm fortunate enough to have a maintenance department who only focuses on the pools.

And so, but I've done, I've been the person wearing all hats where I have a pump going off the walls and I gotta quite literally hold it onto the pipes until someone else can come in and shut the water off while I have one lifeguard on stand who needs to be rotated. And I just keep pressing my little radio button. I promise I'll be there soon. I promise I'll be there soon. So yeah, yeah.

Yeah, no, there's so much turnover in the aquatic industry and that's the exact reason why.

Well, thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (38:49)
Thank you. too.