Lifeguardians

This weekend was incredible!  Jason's lifeguards competed in the annual lifeguard competition for our area.  He has had teams compete for the last several years, and they always do well.  This year, he had 3 teams competing.  Seth's team name was The Lifeguardians, from the movie The Guardian (starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher).  The team watched that movie at our house almost every night the week leading up to the competition.  It inspired them, made them reach for greatness.

So, here's how the weekend went:

We left early on Friday morning. 3/4 of the team rode in our car.  One member was in another car.  Jason is all business when he's driving.

I didn't really see the team very much during the day.  I was busy being a first aid victim (I had a broken ankle). Jason and I took a selfie before the games got started.  We got to work in the same event.  He was judge, I was victim.  Day 1 had 4 events: first aid/cpr, fitness, scanning, and The Weakest Link (lifeguard trivia). 

At each event, the team would re-enact a scene from the movie.

Captain: Pop tall!

Team: (clap clap clap) Hoorah!

When they came to the first aid/cpr event where Jason was judging, they added another scene.

Jason: Lifeguardians, will you come find me if I am lost?

Team: Yes, Senior Chief!!

Jason:  Will you come save me if I am drowing?

Team: Yes, Senior Chief!

Jason: I believe you will.

I wish I had taken a picture of the one of the excellent splints on my "broken ankle," but unfortunately, I only took this really sad, how not to splint an ankle.  

After all the teams rotated through the first 3 events, The Weakest Link started.  All 30-something teams did this event at the same time.  After Seth missed a question and got out, he noticed his Dex sensor was coming out.  No problem, I brought a backup.  We planned to put it on when we got back to the hotel.

All the teams from our pool had dinner together that night.  It was just fun team-bonding time.  When we got back to the hotel, I asked Seth about putting on a new sensor.  He decided to wait until after the games were over.  I was a little nervous about that, but because of the nature of the games he wasn't really able to look at his receiver very often anyway.  Deep breath, mom.  It will be fine!  Jason needed the tape replaced on his sensor, but his held up pretty well.

Day 2 started out super early. I was busy again, this time as a rule-breaker in the scenario event. Jason was again a judge for that same event.  Again, when the Lifeguardians finished his event, they re-enacted the scene from the movie:

Jason: Lifeguardians, will you come find me if I am lost?

Team: Yes, Senior Chief!!

Jason:  Will you come save me if I am drowing?

Team: Yes, Senior Chief!

Jason: I believe you will.

And upon leaving each event that day:

Captain: Pop tall!

Team: (clap clap clap) Hoorah!

 No pictures from the early events on Day 2, which were scenario (watching for rule-breakers and injured/unconscious people), spinal (correctly removing a victim from the pool when they have a suspected spinal injury), 3 blind mice (blindfold first aid - one team member talks 3 blindfolded team members through a first aid event), and Crash Bag Clean-Up (not completely sure about the details on this one, but something about putting supplies into a bag correctly using a diagram. Fastest one done correctly won.).  

After those 4 events, the obstacle course began.  Each team member had to complete their task, then tag the next member for their portion.  Person A had to stack chairs then tow person C across the pool.  Person B then had to pick up "trash" on the side of the pool, then take a buoyancy belt to person C.  

Person C then aqua-jogged across the pool....

.....then she got to slide down the really cool slide and tag person D.

Seth was person D. He had to get on a rescue board (backboard) and paddle across the pool.

He was first in and first out!  They won their heat!

After lunch, the awards started.  Medals are awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for each event, as well as an overall winner.  The top 3 overall winners advance to the state competition.

The Lifeguardians won 1st place in one event, and 2nd place in 3 events.  When they began to announce the overall winners, I was nervous!  4 medals meant they had a really good chance of placing in top 3.  There's no way to describe the utter joy when they called out "1st place, Lifeguardians!"  Screaming, hugging, tears of joy.  Indescribable and surreal!  The team is headed to state!  Jason has coached teams the last 5 years and has wanted to take a team to state the whole time.  Now he gets to take not just a team, but a team with his son on it!  Besides having a person with type 1 on their team, the team captain had a liver transplant almost 3 years ago.  This team is going to the state competition with a busted pancreas and a borrowed liver!  How incredible is that????  

After they received their award, one final time:

Captain: Pop tall!

Team: (clap clap clap) Hoorah!

Then Jason had to do his bit one last time as well:

Jason: Lifeguardians, will you come find me if I am lost?

Team: Yes, Senior Chief!!

Jason:  Will you come save me if I am drowing?

Team: Yes, Senior Chief!

Jason: I know you will.

The Lifeguardians with their coach

We headed home after the awards.  Only 1/2 of the team was in our car this time.  They were absolutely on cloud 9!  Seth was jingling his medals together and said, "That's what winners sound like."  No, he was not being arrogant.  He was just celebrating!

When we got back to the pool, I had to take a picture of the trophy.  It actually belongs to the city, and will stay at City Hall.  There is also a travelling trophy that the team will get to keep until next year.  The city name and year will go on that trophy.  Hopefully they will be able to get it back next year!

I'm hoping to have another blog post the first part of August telling you how this incredible group of young people won the state competition.  Stay tuned!