Hey guys, welcome back to another blog! I haven’t posted in a while because I’ve been waiting for a topic to do, but today’s topic, as you see in the title, is all about my lifeguarding Bronze Medallion and First Aid & CPR experience. I’ll be sharing tips if you’re going into this course and, of course, what we did each day! For people who don’t know what this course is, it is the second level of lifeguarding in Canada. The first course is Bronze Star, which I already passed, and I explained it more in my past blog!
On day one, I was very nervous. I had so many thoughts in my head, thinking of what could go wrong! How this works is we have the class portion first for 3 hours and then the swim portion in the pool right after for also 3 hours. Once I entered the classroom, I noticed that I was for sure the youngest one there and the smallest one there. We all sat down in our chairs and listened to our first aid teacher, Kylie, show us a very long presentation about the basics, like what the Lifesaving Society is, how to do CPR, and so much new information. This was all processing through my head for a while, but honestly, the best and first tip I could give you guys is to always take notes, even if your hand feels like it’s going to fall off. This helped me out so much to remember everything that I learned! After our 3 hours of CPR notes and even more notes, we had our snack time, and we got changed for the pool!
On day 1, I made 2 friends. They were both very kind, and they were also both 13! During the pool half, our Bronze Medallion lifeguard coach and teacher was Trinity. She was very good at teaching, and she was such a good lifeguard too! The first thing we did was the distance swim. We swam 400m nonstop in under 12 minutes. That was super tiring! After that, we did different strokes and the lifesaving strokes. We did different rescues, like the tow rescue and the throw rescue. Once day one finished, I was super exhausted from all those 7 hours of lifeguarding, but I felt a lot less nervous than how I felt before. That built up my confidence for day two.
Now, on day two, the nerves started going away, and I was for sure more prepared. During the class portion, we learned about treatment, signs & symptoms for shock, heart attack, cardiac arrest, burns, and like 15 whole more! This class portion felt like it took WAY too long, but I managed to stay awake the whole time. This was our last first aid class until day three, when we would do a written 41-question exam about everything we learned. As usual, we had a snack, and we changed for swimming. During our swimming portion, we did the 400m endurance swim test in under 12 minutes again, and we also did lifesaving kicks and all the rescues, including the carry rescue. But after we got them out of the water, we had to do primary, treatment, secondary, and then documentation for our victim. The rescues were very fun but, of course, hard at the same time! After day two, the nerves started to kick in again because we had that written exam the next day. I had no clue what questions could be on the test, but all I knew was that there were for sure some tricky questions.
Two days of hard work and 2 more days to go! On day 3, the classroom where we did first aid was very serious. Everyone in the room wanted to, of course, pass this HUGE exam! One hour later, we handed in our tests, got them marked, and waited… I received my test back and PASSED! I was now a basic first aider, which was super exciting. The test was mostly everything we did for the class portion. Next, we had the swimming portion, which was our last day until the lifeguarding exam on day 4. During swimming, we mainly focused on doing all the lifeguarding rescues. Some were difficult because of my size, like how small I am, but I found it pretty easy later on. Day 3 was a very fun but kind of hard day too. Day 3 got me all ready and prepped for the exam the next day.
Now here we are! So glad you guys made it to the end of this blog! On day 4, I put my swimsuit on, got my big swim duffle bag all packed and ready, and my dad and I drove off to the pool. We started with a review on the pool deck and then waited until 4:30 p.m. to begin the exam. In the exam, we had to perfect all 3 rescues and perfect all the first aid included. I think I did pretty well, even if I missed 1–2 things in one of the rescues! At the end, when the whole class was done, we all got changed and then got our results. I……. PASSED! I was so happy to receive the great news, and I had a lot of great thoughts going through my small head! After swimming, my family, some friends, and I ate outside and had an amazing rest of our day.
Now for some tips and tricks! If you’re about to start your very own Bronze Medallion journey, then I think it would be great for you to stay and read!
1- Take notes and make sure they’re clear to understand.
Taking notes will for sure help you with the exams, and making your notes clear will make sure you and other people can understand what your writing says.
2- Eat protein before you start.
Having a good lunch with some meat will make you stronger for what’s about to come next! Please don’t eat junk food for your lunch. You will most likely get cramps and tummy aches in the middle of your training!
3- When your instructor is talking or showing the class something, don’t interrupt.
This is very important so that everyone in the class can listen and for you to listen too. What if you miss something very important for the exam??
4- Be ready.
Being ready before you start is very essential. Make sure you don’t forget to pack anything in your bag, and make sure to wear the right gear. You don’t want to be the kid who forgets to pack their swimsuit or an extra change of clothes because, trust me, some kids do. Now for the last tip!
5- Make friends.
Making friends on the first day, if you don’t know anyone, is very important. You will have a lot of activities with groups or partners, and making friends helps you find a partner or group so much more easily.
Okay guys, that’s a wrap for today’s blog! I hope you guys found my tips helpful, and hopefully the blog wasn’t boring too! If you haven’t yet, you guys can look at my other blogs too. See you guys in the next blog!
