Junior Guard Gives Kids Skills and a Good Time

There are many sports camps you can have your kids involved in during the summer months. There are camps for lacrosse, basketball, soccer, volleyball and many other sports that will improve their skills and help them develop into better players.

But if you want to give your children an experience they will never forget and one that will provide them with valuable skills and knowledge that will enhance their life, send them to the Junior Guards program on any of our local beaches. 

There are over 3,000 kids enrolled in the Junior Guard program, from Cabrillo Beach to Zuma Beach, which is run by the L.A. County Life Guards. There our local programs in Torrance, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach.

The kids will have a great time while they also learn important skills. "We stress ocean safety and fitness, while also teaching CPR. We want them to feel safe and confident in the ocean," said Jeff Horn, director of the program.

The lifeguards give instructions to the kids on how to handle themselves safely in a variety of ocean situations. They will learn about marine life, CPR and how do avoid a dangerous rip tide as well as how to safely get out of one.

This program will also give the participants the necessary skills and knowledge to help others in an emergency situation.

"The new kids are a little hesitant and nervous at first. It's our job to get them excited about the ocean and make them comfortable in it so they can have fun,'' said Erin O'Donnell, an instructor in the program for five years. ''The most important part of our job is keeping them safe while they have fun."

The Redondo Beach program is at Ave C, with the morning session going from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and the afternoon session from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The program has three groups broken up by age - Group A is the older kids from 14 to 17 years old, while group B is made up of 12 and 13 year olds and group C is the younger kids from 9 to 11 years old. They have different degrees of difficulty in their workouts but they are all pushed to work hard.

"The kids are amazing and every one of them has something special about them,'' said Sam O'Hare, who instructs the C groups with O'Donnell and has been a JG instructor for two years. ''It's really a treat to get to know them over the summer. I get to teach them all of the basics. It's all about safety, having fun and building friendships and getting them comfortable in the ocean."

A normal session will start with a dynamic warm up focusing on muscles they use in the beach environment. Before a swim they will do a bottom check, checking for sand bars, holes and currents.   Time throughout the day is devoted to distance running, swimming, paddling, nation ball and surfing.

The lifeguards do a lot of teaching while in the water. "We paddled out 200 yards and we talked about the dangers of the deep water and boats coming by. At first they were nervous but after a little bit of time they were jumping off their paddleboards and having a great time, so they realized it's not so scary out here," said O'Hare after taking his C group out one morning.

On the first day O'Donnell lectures the group about a variety of things that may scare the young kids in her C group. "I talk to them about why sharks and sting rays are cool, to get them more comfortable. We had a ton of jellyfish a few weeks ago and some of the kids were nervous but after seeing hundreds of them and nobody got stung, they all thought it was really cool."

The highlight of Junior Guards is the Taplin competition against the other beach programs. The Taplin is a relay race of six runners, six swimmers and six paddlers, with the swimmers and paddlers going out around a buoy. Nobody does more than one part so 18 kids are involved in each race.

''Although the kids don't know it, the instructors are evaluating the kids from Day One and after two to three weeks it becomes clear who will be on the team,'' O'Donnell said. ''We have tryouts the last week for anyone who wants to give it a try and we encourage all of them to try out."