Tisdale hosting lifeguard recruitment campaign

TISDALE — The Town of Tisdale is thinking of new ways to encourage teens to become lifeguards.

Lesley Thibault, Director of Parks and Recreation for the Town of Tisdale said they are promoting a lifeguard recruitment opportunity. 

“Our goal is to offer some guarding and instructional courses at our pool this season to attract 13 to 16 year olds to explore what it takes to be a lifeguard and eventually a Lifesaving Society Instructor. We will be offering Bronze Medallion, Bronze Cross, Lifesaving Society Instruction and National Lifeguard certifications.”

Thibault said the Town of Tisdale is fortunate, as their pool manager is qualified to instruct and examine Bronze Medallion and Cross, so they did not have to seek out an instructor or examiner from another town or city to offer these two courses.

"Our goal is to attract teens to take these courses as they may potentially be our future lifeguards and instructors at our pool.  We would be unable to operate the pool if we had few to no lifeguards to staff it."

Logan Gamble, Special Projects Coordinator, for the Lifesaving Society Saskatchewan Branch gave SaskToday.ca some stats that show the decrease in the number of teenagers taking bronze medallion and cross courses during the pandemic years.  

Gamble said like many other industries, the pandemic had a severe impact on aquatics with so many swimming pools found their facilities shut down. These shut downs made it difficult or impossible to not only train lifeguards but to have the training programs that lead to lifeguard training. 

In order to be eligible to become a lifeguard, you need to be at minimum 14 years of age, be certified in Bronze Medallion, Bronze Cross and First aid/CPR.  This season, Thibault said they received very few new lifeguard applicants, so they felt that they needed to promote Bronze Medallion and Bronze Cross certification opportunities in order to better prepare for future years. The Town of Tisdale has decided to offer these courses free of charge.    

"Being a lifeguard is a great start to enter the workforce as summer employment," Thibault said. "Guards get to enjoy our summers by working outdoors, have the opportunity to work with a team of peers, be mentors to our youth and benefit from a flexible work schedule."

“Lifeguarding also teaches people leadership, teamwork, customer service, instruction, and emergency response," Gamble said. "These skills are all transferable to any career and invaluable not only in professional life but also personal life. The nature of lifeguarding means that you have pushed yourself to achieve a level that many people either can’t or just won’t achieve and you become responsible for the safety of everyone young and old.”