Swimming Season

Certain things enter your mind when you think of a lifeguard.

Images of small children merrily running on a pool deck with Popsicles in hand.

Parents sunbathing without a care in the faux grass.

Guards geared in red trunks and Dolfin brand bathing suits screaming "Walk!," while still keeping a watchful eye on dozens of rambunctious kiddies.

Children waiting for that one moment the guard looks away to break a rule, only to hear a whistle blown.

Usually summer is the season that lifeguards are found scanning a pool's blue waters, but it's not the only season that the public takes a dip in the pool, so naturally the summer months aren't the only time of year that a lifeguard can be found poolside, although there are differences between summer and winter guards.

"In the fall, winter and spring months we (Henderson Aquatics) only have three pools open versus nine in the summer, so we have to cut the number of guards down to accommodate what we need," says pool manager Will Castagino, speaking of the Whitney Ranch Indoor Pool, Henderson Multigenerational Center Indoor Pool and Henderson Multigenerational Center Competition Pool. "Winter staff is carefully chosen based on their summer evaluations. Every guard has evaluations done during the summer and is recommended by their summer managers, so only the best guards are making winter staff."

The weather is another issue, especially for outdoor guards.

"It gets really cold outside in the winter," says pool guard Cameren Morger, 17, a senior at Basic High School. "Despite the cold weather, I prefer winter staff since it's not 112 degrees outside. I'd rather deal with the cold than the heat."

Outdoor guards try to make the best of a frigid situation by bundling up when the cold and wind kick in.

"I wear Underarmour, toe socks and a lifeguard parka," says Jillian Occhio, 17, a senior at Coronado High School. "I've found that's the best way to keep warm."

While winter guards are dealing with the frigid air, indoor lifeguards are dealing with a completely different issue: humidity.

"When you're working indoors, the air gets really gross and muggy," says senior guard Chris Czech, who works at the Henderson Multigenerational Center.

Manager Katie Pfister acknowledges there isn't a lot to be done about the humidity.

"Everything is completely closed in, so there's no air flow, and we can't keep the doors open because patrons complain," she says. "All that we can do is clean the vents out."

Patrons are also a lot different in the colder months.

"In the summer you're more likely to deal with obnoxious children, while in the winter you tend to deal with older people and competitive swimmers," says Robbie Falchi, 18, a senior at Coronado High School. "I actually prefer winter staff because it's more low key than the summer. There is a lot less craziness to deal with for the most part."

Accidents and oddities still do happen in the winter, though less frequently.

"I've seen people do ridiculous things," Falchi says. "One time, during swim team practice, I saw a guy run up and jump onto the dive block, nearly miss it and almost smack his head against the side of the pool."

For the most part, summer injuries tend to be more minor such as nosebleeds and scrapes, while in the winter lifeguards have to be on the lookout for people who are dehydrated, physically exhausted or suffering from hypothermia.

"During swim practice, if one of the swimmers passes out and drops to the bottom, and we miss it, we have a huge problem," Castagino says. "It's more likely that would happen in the winter because in summer the swimmers don't have things like school or school activities, so they take better care of their nutrition and things like that, but in the winter they sometimes forget to eat and drink as much as they need to, which puts them more at risk for sudden illness."

Pranks, though, tend to happen more in the summer than the winter. Last summer two such instances happened at Henderson aquatic complexes: tons of golf balls thrown in the Competition Pool and fish thrown into the dive tank at Silver Springs.

"The smell was awful," says Whitney Moore, 17, a Silverado High School junior. "Apparently (the fish) went in alive, but died from the chemicals in the pool. It was really gross, especially because we had to get them out ourselves."