Building a Better Lifeguard Staff By Chris Chamberlain Chris Chamberlain E Participation in lifeguard competitions reinforces the team spirit among San Ramon lifeguards. very off season, aquatics programming staff around the country begin the process of evaluating staffing needs for the following season and then begin to hire and rehire staff. Aquatics supervisors try their hand at mixing and matching staff to find the right combination of personnel to operate a safe, efficient, and well functioning facility-like a professional sports team trying to find a winning combination of players. A recent survey of former aquatic staff from one northern California municipality provides clues about how to build a high functioning lifeguard staff and develop a better organizational culture. The San Ramon Olympic Pool and Aquatic Center has been owned and operated by the city's Parks and Community Services Department since 1988. From 1988 through 2007, the facility employed a variety of recreation supervisors and coordinators and hundreds of lifeguards. We contacted former staffers through Facebook groups formed as a means of keeping former staff connected with each other. Each " generation " of employees from the San Ramon Olympic Pool and Aquatic Center currently holds regular reunions and get-togethers for staff and their families. The staff who responded to the survey (41%) worked at the facility an average of six seasons. Interestingly, a 1996 national lifeguard study (see Parks & Recreation 32 [11]:62-68) found that a typical lifeguard stays employed an average of two years/ seasons. A 2007 American Red Cross study also indicated that the average lifeguard will stay employed 2-3 years (or seasons) with an agency. These two national studies suggest that many aquatic programs are constantly hiring and training new staff at a replacement rate of up to 50% per year/season. www.NRPA .ORG No v e m b e r 2 0 1 0 Parks & Recreation 59