Tragedy in my workout pool today

I'm with you on all of this. Who knows what will happen with the teachers who were in charge of the groups. My masters coach told me that in the past, she talked with the high school about being a volunteer guard for the P.E. swimming sessions. The school told her they would "contact her" if needed. She was only called in once for a special-ed group that was doing lessons, and she gladly came in, and even did in water instruction and assistance with them. She would've been there for all these P.E. classes too, as an "aquatic trained professional", but the school apparently did not need her help. I think they will be changing their thinking now and will for sure have hired help, or require that each user group have hired guards on deck when in use. I hate to say it but I bet it all came down to a budget issue. Cheaper to just use the current teachers as guards even though they are not trained to guard than to just hire a trained lifeguard. Businesses tend to do stuff like this to save a buck and the only way anything changes is when a sentinel event like this happens. Then everyone starts scrambling to make changes after disaster has already struck.

Even if there were lifeguards there, I am worried about the quality of lifeguarding. I see plenty of the younger ones wander off, gab with their friends, etc. They're there to watch for very rare events, and unfortunately this requires a great deal of mental fortitude.

Another story from this morning, just updating with more info: WENATCHEE — A freshman at Wenatchee High School who apparently drowned in the school swimming pool Thursday may have been underwater for more than 40 minutes before being discovered, unresponsive, on the bottom of the pool. Antonio Reyes was found at 10:53 a.m., said Sgt. John Kruse with the Wenatchee Police Department. He was taken by ambulance to Central Washington Hospital but could not be revived. Reyes had been in the pool with classmates in a swimming class that was held between 9:13 and 10:09 a.m., Kruse said. “Police investigators interviewed classmates and teachers, and determined Reyes likely drowned while in class, though his classmates and teacher were unaware of this occurring,” Kruse said in a press release Thursday evening. Students in the next scheduled swimming class found the boy, Kruse said. He was pulled out of the pool and teachers performed CPR on him until emergency medical services workers arrived and took over. Foul play is not suspected, Kruse said. An autopsy is scheduled for today, said Chelan County Coroner Wayne Harris. Capt. Doug Jones with the Wenatchee Police Department said this morning that other students in the physical education class told officers that they remember seeing Reyes during the first activity of the class, which involved treading water as a group. The next activity was joining hands and creating a current in the water, and the third activity was water polo. No one remembered him being there for water polo, Jones said. After Reyes was pulled from the pool, the high school was put into lockdown mode, which the school describes as normal procedure for urgent situations. The lockdown was lifted about 12:40 pm. Superintendent Brian Flones said this morning that Reyes was found in the deep end of the pool. He said he did not know if Reyes was a good swimmer. Dee Riggs: 664-7147 deeriggs@wenatcheeworld.com The P.E. teacher (named in another story) is on adminstrative leave as well, which is standard for something like this happening, as is when an officer fires his weapon on duty.

It seems to me that Lifeguard training should be mandatory for any teacher overseeing kids in the pool.I know at my college, completion of WSI training was a requirement for all PE majors.

First, condolences to the family for their loss. But one thing I see, after a long break from the pool, is how the caliber of lifeguarding has diminished. I worked as a lifeguard part-time as a youth, and now I only see maybe 20% using the "active watch" techniques that were drilled into me. Maybe the certification program has changed? I see similar habits the same as you describe. I was taught in the old ways too, back before you were required to be holding the rescue tube at all times. Now the classes depend on that tube for the rescue. We went through the classes and did submerged victim/active victim rescues mainly without the tube which is good training as well. As learned the different escapes moves (from the book, and from the teacher who gave the "ways that actually work" methods). What happens now when that little 16 year old that can barely make the minimum swim distance/time has to go out into the deep water to help a struggling 250+ pound adult male that is grasping for anything to get themselves above water...and then POOF!! away slips the rescue tube and...YIKES!!

I, too, remember very vigorous physical requirements for lifeguard certification. Including treading water while holding a brick (don't remember how long, felt like forever). But great conditioning and skills mean little if the guard isn't watching the pool. Where I swim every morning at 5:30 we have had several lifeguards who do everything but watch the pool: study, text, type on the computer, spend long periods in the bathroom and one guy even shaved while lifeguarding. I reported this many times (plenty of old people and weak swimmers come down for lap swimming) but no action taken. Eventually, these guys moved on to other things and the group there now is more conscientious. Nevertheless, it is disturbing. To watch a group of teenagers in a crowded pool you have to be very alert. It just seems that most pool lifeguards I have seen recently haven't had that drilled in to them.

If true, such certification would be meaningless in my view. How can you save anyone from drowning if you are not fully confident in your own abilities? But if you're a lifeguard at a pool realistically how far would you ever need to swim? Being able to swim 2000 yards nonstop seems like a ridiculous requirement for a pool lifeguard, IMO. Yes, I agree they need to be confident in the water and with the ability to effect an in-water rescue, but I don't see how the ability to swim long distances non-stop is going to help much.

First, condolences to the family for their loss. But one thing I see, after a long break from the pool, is how the caliber of lifeguarding has diminished. I worked as a lifeguard part-time as a youth, and now I only see maybe 20% using the "active watch" techniques that were drilled into me. Maybe the certification program has changed?

I, too, remember very vigorous physical requirements for lifeguard certification. When I was a lifeguard at UCLA in the 70s we had to swim 400m for time a couple times a year to re-qualify. I believe the cutoff was around seven minutes. We had one lifeguard who was an ex-Olympian (Karen Moe, 200m fly gold medal in 1972). For her it was a casual swim and she still finished well ahead of everyone else. For most of the rest of us it wasn't difficult, but there were certainly a couple lifeguards with less swimming background who had to work hard to make the cutoff. Skip

The three pools in our area have two or three lifeguards on duty from opening til closing.