It’s a rite of passage that has happened along Southern California beaches for decades, a way for youngsters to learn water safety skills and spend their summers covered in sand and the salty sea.
But this year is turning out to be a beach bummer of a summer.
Los Angeles County Fire Department Lifeguards, which has hosted a junior lifeguard program for more than 90 years, and Seal Beach Marine Safety Department this week announced they are canceling this year’s junior lifeguard programs.
Other agencies, however, aren’t throwing in the beach towel just yet.
Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, San Clemente and State Parks are all still assessing whether it’s possible to modify their junior lifeguards programs for summer, officials said, with no final determination yet.
Long Beach’s program, which typically draws an estimated 600 kids, is also still being assessed.
“We still haven’t finalized that decision yet,” Marine Safety Chief Gonzalo Medina said. “We’re still looking at the data and best practices from across other agencies. There’s a couple other agencies that are on the fence and seeing if they can do it safety following CDC guidelines.
“Ultimately, the direction is going to come from our health officer, but we’re still looking at the data and science and if we can do it,” Medina said, “recognizing the programming is an important part of a sense of normalcy.”
In Seal Beach, the small staff at the quaint seaside town played into the decision as the start date of June 15 approached, Lt. Chris Pierce said.
The Seal Beach Junior Lifeguard program has existed since 1985, designed to “emphasize the importance of safety, respect and camaraderie” while teaching ocean and lifeguard skills such as first aid and competition.
“To say we’re not happy is an understatement,” Pierce said. “When kids are in junior guards, they are learning so much about the ocean and how to be comfortable in the ocean … hopefully it’s a temporary deal and we’ll get back to it.”
Typically, 300 kids sign up for the program, a smaller operation compared to Los Angeles County, where an estimated 4,300 show up during summer months to learn lifesaving skills.
Los Angeles County’s junior lifeguard programs – which spans the beaches throughout the South Bay up to Zuma Beach – were scheduled to kick off on June 22.
“It’s difficult. The junior lifeguard programs are some of the more fun aspects of our job,” said Pono Barnes, spokesman for Los Angeles County Fire Department Lifeguard Division. “We get to teach the next generation of potential lifeguards. It’s a great way to connect with the community.
“It’s a bummer to see it’s not going to happen this summer.”
The decision was made with the guidance of the county’s Department of Public Health, after discussions on whether leadership could modify the programs – but it wasn’t practical, Barnes said.
“We weren’t going to be able to protect both our participants as well as our employees, or ensure we were going to be able to keep them from being exposed,” he said.
Barnes and Pierce both went through junior lifeguard programs, shaping their career aspirations at a young age.
Barnes remembers fondly the paddleboarding and beach flag races as a kid. He started later than most, in his sophomore year of high school, pushed to join by his younger sister.
His instructor, Dan Bartlett, who is still a lifeguard to this day, helped shape his lifeguarding career.
“I couldn’t have had a better mentor,” Barnes said. “My story isn’t the only one like that. There’s tons of lifeguards who remember their instructors.”
According to a 2011 article, “The History of Junior Lifeguarding,” by longtime Los Angeles County lifeguard Bob Burnside, who died last year, there’s an estimated 35,000 junior lifeguards throughout the country.
Burnside wrote that the earliest document evidence of the start of a junior lifeguard program came out of Chicago in the 1919 as a way to get extra eyes on the beach.
“They would alert the few lifeguards on duty when they spotted any problems. As a reward for the service, the junior lifeguards where given trunks and T-shirts and had the opportunity to use all the lifeguard equipment for extra training,” Burnside said.
In 1927, the Los Angeles City Beach Lifeguards established the first junior lifeguard program in California, training at the headquarters in Venice Beach.
Not long after, Los Angeles County Lifeguard Jim Neves, familiar with the city’s operation, approached the chief at the time with the idea of putting together an exercise and water skills program for kids who were playing on the beach … “and thus the second recorded beach junior lifeguard program on the West Coast had started at Hermosa Beach Pier.”
But even before that, there were unofficial junior lifeguard programs. An old image shows iconic surfer and lifeguard George Freeth, who died in 1919, surrounded by a group of youngsters on the sand.
“The lifeguards said, ‘We’re going to turn you into kids that help us out … come on down and hang out and we’ll put you to work,’” Barnes said.
The program today isn’t just for coastal kids, but also a way for inland youngsters to get a taste of the beach life.
“Just to have that access to the ocean, we take it for granted here along the coast,” Barnes said. “That’s why we offer the program to everyone. At Will Rogers and Zuma, we bus kids from inland into the program and do scholarships as well.”
Barnes said the department may try and come up with a virtual program that would teach about marine life and how to recognize what a rip current looks like.
Pierce said most people understood that this year’s program had to be suspended.
“To not do it this year is difficult. We’ve had a lot of support, some people unhappy, and people who understand why we are doing it and they are supportive of our decision,” he said. “Hopefully next year, we will be back bigger and strong and better than ever.”
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Beach bummer: Junior lifeguard programs cancelled throughout LA County, Seal Beach - OCRegister
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