Half a lifeguard: A 14-year-old's journal of the Red Cross

Day two

Day two: 7/21

Duration 1.3(0.6x2)

The sun scorched everything at almost forty degrees Celsius, including the stone ground, and the coaches had to pour water on it to make everyone stop playing The Floor Is Lava while warming up. 

The training that followed was exhausting, but I expected it to be. As soon as the team finished with it, we were instantly greeted by an additional 200-meter routine, times three. From experience, I say the following days are going to be just as arduous, if not more. But a lecture is included for this day, so we were spared an hour's break. Yay.

The coach for this lecture welcomed us all at the clearing next to the canopy and allowed us to sit, relax, and take off our numbered swimming caps that we just received – in which everyone hesitated before doing so. A little heads-up first, we were warned to not take off our swimming caps in the course, no matter what. This isn't a spiritual thing. There are the two extra courses that we go out into actual open waters to train, and in that situation, the coach won't know if someone just took off their caps or if it went under along with their heads.

The lecture seemed unwinding and pleasurable enough at first. Until the coach started speaking.

Today a total of six drowning cases occurred in Taiwan, four drowned. Yesterday, one tried to save the other, one dead. On the day before, two went scuba diving, one dead. Another person was also found under a waterfall at Pingtung, dead on arrival. At Xindian river, another man drowned. Last week, a taxi drove straight into a harbor at Taipei, five drowned, one survived. Even earlier, a high school student and a college student drowned. Scrolling down, another drowned due to sudden stroke, his wife devastated... the list goes on. And no one cared.

Every single one of these cases slips away from peoples' minds in a day or two, if not only a few hours. This is becoming the norm at this time of the year. Summer vacations. However in a coach's eyes, at least two-thirds of them, that much of them, can be spared from death. They had a fairly decent chance of surviving. ...If a lifeguard was there.

Of course, if they knew what to do, half of them can survive on their own too. But they didn't. There were only themselves, panicking and inexperienced, with nobody there to help them at all. Eventually, they die. This is the very reason why this course exists – to spread out the method for saving lives. When you graduate from this course and get the certificate we issued to you, we expect you to know what will happen, and to cope with whatever situation that might face you or even those that might happen to yourself.

The words were delivered as casually as the minute before, but it gave even more of an impact to everyone. He went on teaching and started giving a lively, animated presentation of Tarzan drills, chin-up breaststrokes, backstrokes, sidestrokes, swimming underwater, along with more interesting stories of his past, but I wasn't really listening much. I was numb.

I've received training before since twelve years old, and I can assure everyone it isn't difficult. Almost anyone can learn it, it isn't Baywatch, it isn't that hard. Why couldn't the government or The Red Cross give basic courses for everyone? What if everyone did receive education on the subject? It only took two weeks for every newbie to become a lifeguard, why not take a month out of every high school student's time, and teach them how to save lives? Cheesy slogans and poster competitions aren't going to be there and save a drowning person. Why not? It was as if the people that had the power didn't care about these deaths. The media isn't helping either. Oh, a person drowned. Oh, wait. Two drowned. Oh wait a second – five people drowned, and they're all dead! Would you look at that! Well, don't go to dangerous waters, always have a lifeguard nearby! That's all I'm about to say, have a great summer vacation!

We finished the course with another 200-meter routine – and again times three. I beat everyone and finished first by a wide margin. The team gathered, the head coach then introduced the other coaches, announced some things that needed announcing, and I took the metro and went home.

But I can't sleep.

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Additional notes:

* Tarzan drills: the ideal method to approach the victim as fast as possible, especially when in close range. Tiring, but efficient.

Keep your head up, no matter what. Your aim is a beeline towards the victim, and you'll need to see said victim first. Don't move your head from side to side; this is a common mistake newbies often make. Don't rush it on your first try or you'll end up draining all your energy for nothing.

* Chin-up breaststrokes: Used if the victim is at long range. I'm talking about at least a mile or two. The exact opposite of Tarzan drills: slower, but more duration.

Not many mistakes needed focusing on except keep your head up – Chin-up breaststrokes are relatively easy compared to others.

* Sidestrokes: The most used method to bring supplies, military equipment, or the victim to shore. Near 360° vision range since you can turn your head around freely.

Newbies are often the most unfamiliar with sidestrokes because first of all, you're not lying on your front or back – your side. Most panic and proceed to flop over and/or sink on their first tries. And secondly, it's just weird. Nothing you've learned before can relate to this swimming method. There are too many hidden mistakes to count, so I say practice.

* Backstrokes: The easier way to bring supplies, military equipment, and the victim to shore. You see the sky only as you swim, so your sense of distance and direction is completely lost. Expect your head to smash into anything and everything in the way. A whole team practicing backstrokes at the same time and in the same lane is the definition of pure chaos.

The kind of backstrokes we learn is different from the backstrokes you learn for competition. Imagine breaststrokes, but upside down. As you press down on water, raise your chin up or you'll get a faceful of water gushed straight up your nose.

* Swimming underwater: The obvious method to get under obstacles, the victim's line of vision(I'll explain later) or even fire. Almost every swimming method could relate to this one, but breaststrokes are the most recommended.

Upon submerging, raise one hand over your head to protect yourself. Make it a habit. Sometimes a lifeguard has to dive up to three or even five meters, so there's a fairly good chance said lifeguard can smash his head into objects on the way up.