Junior Lifeguarding

My division warming up.

Over the summer, I have been participating in the junior lifeguard program, a program run by our local fire department. I had to wake up early every day to arrive at the beach by 8:30 every morning and stay until 11:30.  At the beach, we were divided in three age groups.  I was placed in the B group as I am 13. During our training,  we learned how to save people who may be drowning, paddle, surf, and swim in the ocean. 

Swimming in the ocean to do our buoy swims was the hardest and the scariest part.  I was always worried about stingrays, sharks, and other kinds of sea animals.  Someone in my division got stung by a stingray and had to go to the emergency room to get the stinger removed. We were running into the water to complete our buoy swim when the boy got stung. We are taught to do the stingray shuffle which is a shuffle that lets the stingray know that we are going to invade their territory  but the stingray didn't move.  I loved swimming with the dolphins as they would always put on a show for us.

I also loved to surf.  I have my own short board at home but the long boards are a lot easier to stand up on and I caught a lot of waves this summer. It was hard at first, but then I got the hang of it.  I also was allowed to tour the lifeguard tower and a lifeguard station.  We also learned how to use the cans that the lifeguard swings in the air to use if they need to save a drowning victim.   The other Junior lifeguards and I practiced saving each other. We would swim out past the surf line and pretend that we are drowning and then our teammate would practice swimming us in.  We also competed against different junior lifeguard squads form all the local beaches.  I especially did well in the running and always placed either first or second. 

On my last day, I received a Junior lifeguard badge which my Grandma sewed on one of my favorite sweaters.  I also received a certificate saying that I have finished my fourth year of junior lifeguard training.

Holding my surfboard

Lined up after our buoy swim

My sister Sarah just watching and boogie boarding

My instructor Lance and I

The 2015 Youth Track Season

Every since I was a little girl, I have been training and competing in track. Track is my favorite sport, and I train every morning and evening to prepare for meets.  My best and favorite event is the 3000 meter run which is approximately 2 miles.  On school days, I woke up at 6:30 am to run in the morning to improve my time. I ran from my home to the local high school track.  At the beginning of the season, I was one of the last in the line of competitors which was a disadvantage as I had to merge into lane one.  But as the season progressed I made my way up to the front of the line making it easier to merge into lane one. All the training paid off as I made it to Varsity, a competition that requires you to qualify under a specific time of 12:13 minutes.  I accomplished this goal with a time of 12:07 and placed 5th at the competition. This was the first of two qualifying competitions as top 8 contestants from Varsity move on to the Southern California Youth Championship to compete amongst the best girls in the Southern California.  I had to train extra hard for this competition as there were other great runners who also wanted to do well. My hard work paid off when I won 5th place again and received a green medal.

In August I will start running for the cross country season.  I have already started some training and will write a separate post at the end of the season.

What sport/activity have you worked hard to achieve your goal?