County-run program returns to LA County beaches July and August
By Sam Catanzaro
A few weeks are left for prospective Junior Lifeguards to apply for this year’s program at Santa Monica beach and elsewhere.
After being canceled last year due to the pandemic, last month the Los Angeles County Junior Lifeguard Program announced that the program will be returning to local beaches this July and August.
“The Junior Lifeguard Program is thrilled to announce that we have been approved to safely re-open the program for Summer 2021. We appreciate the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Junior Lifeguard families for their patience and support during this process,” the program announced on their website. “Covid-19 safety protocols have been developed for the protection of our staff and participants and will be released soon. All information on this website is subject to change based on current Los Angeles County guidelines and protocols. We will do our best to update the website as often as possible.”
According to officials, if a child must be removed from the program due to COVID-19 related absences, a waiver for the following year will be granted. This includes a known or suspected exposure, or a positive COVID-19 test result.
Organizers say this year the Junior Lifeguard Program will run in two, four-week sessions to accommodate the new student-to-instructor ratio of 20:1.
All returning Junior Lifeguards, or those who successfully completed the 2019 program and previously registered for Summer 2020, are eligible to participate in the Summer 2021 program and will not have to re-test. New Junior Lifeguard applications will be available through the website, starting Thursday, April 1, 2021.
For New Junior Lifeguards, the age appropriate, 100 yard swim test (4 laps of a 25 yard pool) is listed below. Testing times vary depending on the age of a child as of July 1, 2021.
• “C’s” 9-11 years old – 100 yards under 1:50.00
• “B’s” 12-13 years old -100 yards under 1:40.00
• “A’s” 14-17 years old – 100 yards under 1:30.00
At this time, the Junior Lifeguard Program has not determined the swim test date and location for potential swim tests.
New Junior Lifeguards will also have the opportunity to present an official 100 yard freestyle from a USA Swimming sanctioned event. Details on how to present this swim time will be included upon confirmation of enrollment.
For more information CLICK HERE
