The morning might have been fun, but the drills were serious as area lifeguards competed in Life Guard games.
Spring Lake lifeguards competed against Belvidere Park District, Genoa Township Park District, and DeKalb lifeguards in a series of friendly skill competitions. Lifeguards were required to show their skills, athletic ability and life saving knowledge through the guard games relays.
Ty Orlikowski, Paul Davis, Cody Hasz, and James Hart represented Spring Lake pool in the annual competition. Mychaela Hurst served as team timer and cheerleader. This was the first year Rochelle competed in guard games and being the rookie team the guards did not know what to expect.
Orlikowski explained, “overall we didn’t know what to expect and that provided a challenge for the morning.”
Relays included a uniform relay, CPR relay, brick push and a spinal trial.

Davis explained the hardest relay for him was the brick push. The brick push required two lifeguards to push a brick underwater for 25 yards. Only one lifeguard could come up at a time to get a breath. The challenges required the lifeguards to communicate underwater and pushed their ability to hold their breath.
Hart competed with Davis in the brick relay and that challenge was also the hardest part of the day for him as well. He explained one reason the relay was a challenge is it goes against a new rule Red Cross stated this season. Red Cross does not want lifeguards to hold their breath underwater but would rather they continuously breath while swimming.
The CPR Relay required each guard to complete a step in CPR, then return and tag a teammate who would then complete the next step. The first team to complete CPR and properly do every step was awarded first place.
During the dress relay the lifeguards each took turns putting on items required for duty then the final guard had to swim across the pool. Lifeguard gear includes pack, tube, whistle and t-shirt. The first swimmer was required to swim across the pool 25 yards in their gear, the second swimmer then returned to the shallow end in full year. The third swimmer was waiting in the water and swam to the deep end with a brick in hand. The fourth swimmer jumped in once the third swimmer hit the wall and swam a 25-yard free style to end the relay.
For all three relays the first team to complete the relay won. The final challenge was a spinal trial. The guards were required to slide in the water and rescue a swimmer who said their neck was hurt, they then had to put a head splint on the swimmer and lay them on a back board.
While the challenges pushed the guards ability and tested the skills required to be a guard, the lifeguards enjoyed their morning of friendly but serious competition. For the five guards the highlight of the day was spending the morning with fellow guards.
“I enjoyed talking to other teams and seeing how other guards do different things,” explained Hart.
Hurst added, “guard games was a good experience and we are looking forward to next year.”
Rochelle was invited to participate in guard games by host Genoa who competes against Rochelle in swim team.
“The guards did a good job,” stated Michelle Antolik, aquatic manager. “This was their first year to compete and to work as a team to compete the drills, some of the lifeguards are also first year guards.”
Spring Lake pool employs 15 lifeguards and pool hours are Monday through Thursday from 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Friday 12:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission fee is $6 per person.