26 children from across the Isle of Wight recently joined The Royal Life Saving Society for their ‘Rookie Lifeguard Week’, gaining vital skills that could pave the way for a career as a lifeguard.
Each year, the RLSS welcomes children of various ages and abilities to complete a mixture of classroom, pool and ocean work as part of the Rookie Lifeguard Programme, for those aged 8-12. The youngsters work towards their Bronze, Silver and Gold awards.
This year’s cohort undertook their training at The Waterside Pool in Ryde between 19th-23rd August. As well as learning the core Rookies skills, they were also taught about cold water shock following on from the RNLI Swim Safe programme in Sandown which is taught by the same instructors.
Todd Miller, General Manager at Waterside Pool and an RLSS Instructor, said:
“Living on an island, the Rookie Lifeguard programme is so important. A lot of our Rookies have progressed on to become pool and beach lifeguards and some are now working at Waterside Community Trust.
“The children all enjoyed the week and so did the instructors!”
The programme is run by Ryde Beach Lifeguards and The Waterside Community Trust under instruction from Todd Miller, Becca Woodford and Amber Gardiner.
