Hi, my name is Isaac. I am a lifeguard or flexible worker here at GLL One NK.
Primarily, obviously I have to know all the first aid basics, and like how to save people if I need to in the water. Most of the time that doesn't happen because we're also trained to look and spot hazards and problems before they even occur to try and prevent them. So we spend most of our time sitting, watching the pool, trying to be as vigilant as we can to prevent people from getting hurt.
The times we’re off that we are like wandering around the centre, keeping it clean, keeping it tidy, helping out where we can. We get people asking for tips on swimming or just general fitness, those kind of things.
Like teamwork and like team building. It's like, it's very important here. You can't do everything on your own. If there's lots of people you need communication. We have radios for a reason. We learn, we learn to talk to each other and, like, trust each other.
To become a lifeguard, you have to have an NPLQ [National Pool Lifeguard Qualification], which is what you get from the Royal Lifesaving Society. To do that, you have to do a course, tends to be about 7 days long.
One thing that always makes me smile is you see people come in week after week and just slowly progress with their swimming. You see people literally not even wanting to touch the water, barely even dipping their foot in. And they go from that to a few months time swimming lengths like no one's business, they’re almost as good as I can. And it’s incredible to see really. It's just like, fitness is a big part of my life. And it's nice to see that other people are like, young and older, like trying to do it as well, you know, the best they can.
If someone is scared, they can almost look to me and know that I'm there when they need me, like, if they need me, that's it. I'm there. That's, yeah. There’s nothing to be worried about because we, well I say, we've got brilliant swim teachers as well and all this. But at the end of the day if anything goes wrong I'm, yeah I'm there like that.
