Lifeguard Training

The City of Longview Parks and Recreation Department uses American Red Cross curriculum to train its aquatic staff.

This program offers two types of trainings: Instructor Led Training (ILT) and Blended Learning (BL).  Instructor Led Trainings consist of classroom learning and in-water skills sessions.  Blended Learning trainings allow participants to complete the classroom portion of the training online at home before coming to the swimming pool for two in-person skills sessions.

Prerequisites: 

To enroll in the Lifeguard Training Course, you must be at least 15 years of age before the last scheduled class session. A pre-course will be conducted at the beginning of the first in-person skills session.

The skills you will perform at the Pre-Course Session are as follows:

1. Swim 300 yards continuously, using these strokes:

• 100 yards of front crawl using rhythmic breathing and a stabilizing, propellant kick. Rhythmic breathing can be performed either by breathing to the side or to the front.
• 100 yards of breaststroke, using a pull, breathe, kick and glide sequence.
• 100 yards of either the front crawl or breaststroke. The 100 yards may be a combination of front crawl and breaststroke.

2. Tread water for 2 minutes without support and without stopping, using only the legs to stay afloat, in a depth of 7-10 feet. Hands are to be placed under the armpits and the head must remain above water.

3. Starting in the water, swim 20 yards using front crawl or breaststroke, make a surface dive to a depth of 7-10 feet to retrieve a 10 lb. object, return to the surface and swim 20 yards back to the starting point with the object and exit the water without using a ladder or steps within 1 minute and 40 seconds.

Note: The participant must hold the object with both hands, placing the object on his/her chest, and must keep his/her face above the water.

Call our Department at 903-237-1270 for more information.