June 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 74

Operations
SwimATX: An Innovative
Lifeguard Training Program
By Sonia Myrick

E

very year, the Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) has a
target goal of recruiting some 750 lifeguards to fully staff its 36 lifeguarded sites. " Six-hundred-and-fifty to 750 [lifeguards] would allow us to ensure all facilities and amenities are available for use by the public while
maintaining flexible work schedules for our staff, " says Program Manager, Wayne
Simmons, CPRE. The YMCA of Austin also has several year-round facilities in
addition to country clubs and other facilities for which lifeguards are needed.
Recruiting for lifeguard positions is
challenging, particularly on the scale
needed by PARD. The city targets
individuals from 15 years of age to
recent retirees, and, in an attempt to
encourage people to sign on earlier to
be lifeguards, began offering hiring
incentives. " We have a partnership
with the Austin Parks Foundation,
and this is the second year that they're
offering $100 hiring incentives, " says
Simmons. " This year, the first 400
lifeguards who are on payroll with

the city of Austin by May 23 will get
this incentive. "
Recruiting a diverse lifeguard workforce that is reflective of the surrounding community is doubly challenging.
So, when a local school board member
approached the city to see how to address this two-fold challenge, PARD,
the YMCA of Austin and the Austin
Independent School District got together and developed a pilot program
they dubbed SwimATX. This innovative program offers a semester-long

SwimATX offers semester-long training that earns students school credits and positions
them for employment at PARD and/or YMCA of Austin aquatics facilities.
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swim class for which students earn
physical education credit. At the end
of the semester, interested students
receive scholarships for free lifeguard
certification classes which, when successfully completed, lead to employment as lifeguards with the city and/
or the YMCA.
SwimATX got started in January
2015 with a total of 88 students from
Reagan Early College and LBJ Early
College high schools who participated in 12 weeks of swim instruction at
city of Austin or YMCA pools during
school hours. PARD staff members,
the pilot schools and the YMCA developed a curriculum that draws on
the adult fitness swimmer material
from the American Red Cross Learn
to Swim program. Simmons explains:
" This program takes students with
limited swimming abilities and works
on improving their strength and stamina in the water. Coaches focus on
developing the front crawl and breast
stroke, which students must utilize in
order to complete the American Red
Cross lifeguarding course at the end
of each semester.
" One of the things we ran into
the first fall semester was that there
were some students who were still 14
years old at the end of the semester
and couldn't actually take the Red
Cross lifeguarding course. So, we
are exploring other options for them
to receive a certification such as first
aid or CPR certification, so they have
something tangible when they leave. "
June 2016 - Parks & Recreation

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