American Red Cross Lifeguarding offers the highest quality training standards in skill instruction, professional lifeguard responsibilities, first aid and CPR/AED training. It consists of four stand-alone, courses to teaches surveillance and rescue skills for a specific water environment, including:

• Lifeguarding for facilities with traditional pools

• Waterfront Lifeguarding for facilities with non-surf, open-water environments such as lakes and rivers, as well as traditional pools

• Waterpark Lifeguarding for waterpark environments, multi-attraction facilities and traditional pools

• Shallow Water Attendant for facilities with shallow water attractions up to 4 feet deep such as catch basins at the foot of slides, winding rivers and kiddie pools

Also under the Lifeguarding umbrella are:

• GuardStart: Lifeguarding Tomorrow

GuardStart: Lifeguarding Tomorrow is a program for 11-14 year-olds that provides a foundation of aquatic and leadership knowledge, attitudes, and skills for future successful completion of an American Red Cross

• Lifeguarding Course

The GuardStart curriculum contains multiple units in five categories (prevention, fitness, response, leadership, professionalism), with the entire program totaling fifty lessons. GuardStart is designed to be flexible, including the length of the course and the order of the lessons. There is no instructor authorization required to lead the GuardStart program. It is led by program and activity leaders.

• Lifeguard Management

Lifeguard Management is designed to teach aquatic managers and lifeguard supervisors how to effectively manage lifeguards and keep patrons, lifeguards and facilities safe. The course, which is approximately 7� hours in length, includes information on the selection and training of lifeguards, management topics, record and report templates and nearly 100 in-service training outlines.

Promote Lifeguard Competitions

National headquarters is interested in promoting your lifeguard competitions on Instructor's Corner, www.redcross.org and other aquatic-related Web sites. These events help to increase the visibility of the American Red Cross Lifeguarding program, allow us to showcase the professionalism of lifeguards to the public, serve as a networking avenue for the staff and management of your local aquatic facilities and generate revenue.

A list of currently scheduled lifeguard competitions is available on RedCross.org. Additional competitions will be added as information is received.  National headquarters is asking chapters, stations and service areas planning to conduct a lifeguard competition to please complete a notification form. Forms may be sent by e-mail, fax or mail to:

Preparedness and Health and Safety Services
American Red Cross National Headquarters
ATTN: John Thompson
2025 E Street NW, NWL1-169C
Washington, DC 20006
FAX: (202) 303-8999
thompsonj@usa.redcross.org