MOULTRIE — Shyanna Corman, who has been a lifeguard since she was 16 years old and has been the Moultrie-Colquitt County Parks and Recreation Authorities Aquatics Director for the past three years, recently traveled to Stone Mountain outside Atlanta in order to complete the American Red Cross Lifeguard Instructor Training course.
“The training was at the Mountain Park Aquatic Center,” said Corman. “It was a really nice facility with an indoor lap pool and a splash pad.”
The course was four days, beginning at 8 a.m. and going until about 7 p.m. each day.
“It was one of the hardest training I’ve done,” said Corman. “It was a very rigorous schedule and we were in and out of the water all day. A lot of the time we would go back into the class still in wet swimsuits.”
Upon completion of this course, Corman received her certification as a Lifeguard Instructor Trainer.
“I now have the ability to train and certify lifeguard instructors,” said Corman. “It’s the highest certificate a lifeguard can have.”
The three levels of certification for lifeguards are basic lifeguard (LG), lifeguard instructor (LGI) and lifeguard instructor trainer (LGIT).
With this new certification, Corman will have the ability to use the MCCPRA pool facilities to host training courses.
“I’m not quite sure how often we will host courses,” said Corman. “The plan for right now is to post a couple course options on the American Red Cross website because we are a licensed training provider with them and see what kind of response we get.”
All lifeguards, no matter which level of certification they have, must demonstrate they can still complete all skills every two years, and because there are so few LGITs many travel to renew their certification.
“I was the only LGI that was American Red Cross certified within a 100-mile radius of Moultrie,” said Corman. “Now that I’m a LGIT there are only two others — one in Waycross and another on Jekyll Island.”
Corman was the only representative from Georgia at the training course.
“I really enjoyed being able to be around others at my skill level,” said Corman. “Plus, it was really nice to talk about how they run their facilities in other states.”
During the course, Corman had to demonstrate not only that she has the ability to personally perform the skills, but also the ability to teach them.
“We were each given five things we had to teach,” said Corman. “We were given our topics ahead of time so we could come prepared, but we had to evaluate how each other did and basically got graded on the evaluations.”
There were a multitude of skills being demonstrated during the training course.
“You have to be able to swim 300 yards (which is the length of the pool 12 times),” said Corman. “You also have to be able to carry the brick.”
As part of their training, a 10-pound rubber brick is utilized.
“It gets dropped into the deep end of the pool,” said Corman. “You are then given 1 minute and 45 seconds to swim the length of the pool, dive down to retrieve the brick and then swim back with it.”
In addition to demonstrating a strong ability to swim, all lifeguards must also be able to perform the various types of saves.
“With the LGI it doesn’t have to be perfect, as long as the criteria are met,” said Corman. “But, for a LGIT you have to basically be perfect at your skills and be able to perform everything to the exact standard of the American Red Cross.”
Because of this, a large portion of any lifeguards training is practicing a plethora of rescue scenarios.
“There are really two types of victims,” said Corman. “You have active victims who are still conscious and might be able to talk to you a little bit and kind of keep their head above water, and then you have passive victims who are unconscious and aren’t able to breathe – they are usually submerged, but they could be floating face up or down on top of the water.”
Of all scenarios, passive submerged victims can be the hardest to navigate.
“Saving someone who is submerged is more tedious because you also have to submerge yourself,” said Corman. “The ones that are at or near the surface you are also able to use the rescue tube to your advantage whereas if you’re having to dive down into 16 feet of water you have to let go of that tube.”
Not being able to utilize the rescue tube isn’t the only reason why submerged saved are more challenging.
“You have to be a strong swimmer and have a lot of leg muscle,” said Corman. “You are having to carry all that deadweight to the surface and can’t use your arms because you’re holding the victim.”
The class also emphasized the training of a basic lifeguard.
“We had to do several things from the basic lifeguard course,” said Corman. “But, we had to do it to the American Red Cross standard and had to be perfect so if you weren’t practicing and didn’t read the material you could fail.”
The LGIT test is one that cannot be retaken if failed.
“If it was something that wasn’t critical then they would watch you do it again,” said Corman. “But, if you messed up something critical that was it and you were out.”
Everyone who participated in the course with Corman also passed their tests.
“It was good to be able to go through this course with them and see everyone pass at the end,” said Corman. “It’s taken me some years to get to this point and work my way up. It was a lot of fun and a very good experience.”