Psychology of Lifeguarding

Lifeguard training agencies give lifeguards the knowledge and water skills they need in order to do their jobs effectively. But there is also a great need for strategies to prevent boredom and keep lifeguards alert, particularly when they are on duty for long periods of time. Vigilance in general is difficult for all human beings but particularly difficult for teenagers, and most lifeguards in this country are teenagers. Lifeguard surveys continually indicate that boredom is a lifeguard’s primary enemy.Although lifeguarding is an extremely important job and has many rewards, it can quickly become very tedious depending on the situation. Although crowded days can be stressful for lifeguards, at least their attention typically increases with the size of the crowd. Most lifeguards would agree that slow days are more of a problem, at least from the standpoint of attention and concentration, than crowded days. On crowded days, however, more lifeguards are often necessary to visually cover t...