Future Guard

Landon and I have been talking a lot about job possibilities and after a night or two of contemplation he has decided that working as a lifeguard seems ideal. I made a call to our local indoor pool and inquired about training and applications and after one call I had what he needed. They have a very lengthy application process which involves a standard application (4 PAGES long), a preliminary swim test (300 meter non-stop swim, dive and retrieve a brick, tread water in place for 2 minutes without use of arms) and a formal interview.

When I was on the phone with the lady about the job she went ahead and set his interview up for the following day. She told me that if they get their training at the pool its $200+  but if the future guard worked for them for 100 hours after training it'd be free. He wants to work at that particular pool anyways so it works out for him just fine AND saves me the money!

His interview was after school one day last week and although he was nervous he was also excited and ready to do his best at the interview/swim test. When they came to get him for the interview they told him it was up to him whether or not I went back as well and he opted to have me there, surprisingly. I thought he did a great job answering the questions and I'm pretty sure that the guard who was interviewing him thought the same. After the questions we went to the pool for the swim test. They told him he had to start with the 300 m swim and after jumping in, Landon had a great start. He's a good swimmer but he's never trained for distance swimming so after 4 laps (he has to do 12 nonstop to make the 300 m requirement) he said he couldn't do anymore. There isn't a time limit on the swim but it does have to be continuous and he just didn't feel like he could do it, so he stopped. He was a little disappointed but said he wasn't surprised since he had never really trained for it or even tried it before. Before quitting for the day though he did rescue the brick off the bottom of the pool and swim back successfully, so we know he can do that part. He says he knows that he can do the treading water for 2 minutes as well because he had to do that when testing at our neighborhood pool. So, he only needs to work on being able to swim 12 laps and then go retake the test. We're hoping he'll be able to meet the requirement before the next training class begins and he says he really wants to do it, so he's got some practice ahead of him.