Changing of the Guards : Youths Give Their All in Competition to Be Lifeguards of the Future

Pat Reilley of Ojai grabbed a surfboard and plunged into the crashing waves as two competing youngsters ran and dove alongside him in a relay race to paddle around a buoy 300 yards out.

Minutes later, 9-year-old Pat had drifted sideways in the current, forcing the boy to climb out, run back up the beach and start again, while his four teammates in Thursday’s Ventura Junior Lifeguard Competition looked on.

By the time he rounded the buoy, his competitors had reached dry ground and were handing off to their next teammate in line. Undaunted, Pat paddled back toward the beach and caught a wave to slide in.

“I just thought I’d keep on trying till I finished,” he said after toweling off.

Winning is not the point, said Charlie Bueker, 11, of Camarillo.

“It’s nice to win, but it’s a healthy competition,” Charlie said. “It’s not like we’re going to be all upset if we lose.”

Nearly 500 youngsters who have completed half of the month-long junior lifeguard training sessions at area beaches competed in several events at San Buenaventura State Beach to win ribbons and collect points for their teams.

But the real prize is heightened self-confidence, said 27-year-old John Hunter, a state lifeguard and organizer of the junior lifeguard program.

“It’s a big self-esteem booster,” Hunter said. “A lot of these kids, their first time out, they were frightened. To be competing in the second week and finishing races, it’s a big high.”

Children in the junior lifeguard program spend a few hours each weekday working out, swimming, boogie-boarding and learning lifeguard rescue, first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills. The program, run by state lifeguards in Ventura and city lifeguards in Port Hueneme, is open to 9- to 15-year-olds.

The team from Santa Barbara won the competition, while Ventura’s came in second and Carpinteria’s third, Hunter said.

Sprinting well ahead of the pack to win his age category in the 1 1/2-mile run, Jack Cox of Ventura said he figured he had a chance after beating out his teammates in practice.

His strategy is simple, the 10-year-old said. “If I start getting tired, I don’t care. I just keep running.”

However, it didn’t take a blue ribbon for John Nigro to have fun. The Thousand Oaks 8-year-old said his favorite event was the flag competition, even though he did “pretty bad,” he said.

He wasn’t thinking about winning, John said.

“It’s more like a game,” he said. “It’s not really like a competition.”

“It’s really like musical chairs,” added his friend, 8-year-old Philip Koumvakalis of Thousand Oaks.

As in musical chairs, a large number of participants chase after a few flags stuck in the sand. They start out lying on their stomachs and leap to their feet to sprint and then dive toward the prize.

In each round, several more players are eliminated until the final eight are awarded.

Jumping, clapping and screaming on the sidelines for their last remaining teammate to make it into the final round, some girls from the Ventura team said there’s no better way to spend the summer.

“We get to be at the ocean every day,” said Valerie Hajduk, 9, of Ojai.

“And they give you a lot of play time you don’t usually get when you’re at home, because you have to work,” said Sarah Broome, 10, of Camarillo.

As they spoke, the girls’ teammate, Darcey McAfee, had to win a tie-breaker to stay in the game after she and a Santa Barbara competitor both reached a flag at the same time. Despite her vocal cheering section, Darcey lost.

A little deflated, the girls applauded, anyway. “Good job, Darcey,” they shouted. Then, pulling her into their ranks, a number of the youngsters consoled Darcey. “Santa Barbara cheats,” they said, giggling.

As the day waned, Katie Thomas of Oxnard still was raring to go as the coaches picked six-member teams of which two members would sprint, two would paddle and two would swim.

“I want to sprint,” she said leaning forward on her knees from a sitting position. “Please? Please?”