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OT Summer PSA: Drowning doesn’t look like drowning.

L

Lil Nicky Scarfo

All-Conference
Jul 1, 2025
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Yup. Made 2 saves as a teenage lifeguard. Both happened within 15 feet of my chair with people all around. Was able to save one just reaching over the side of the pool and pulling them to me (he was 3-4 feet from the side of the pool). The other was in the middle of the pool - again with several people around. I was just scanning my sector. Had to jump in with the life ring. There was no commotion in either case.

Saving drowning people is very dangerous - they will drag you down with them if you aren’t trained. Last thing you want to do is actually have to put hands on them - reach, throw, row, go

Our most stressful days were sponsored days where you’d get a lot of visitors who weren’t good swimmers. A particular nightmare was Volunteer Firefighter night. All the adults were drunk and many of the kids were subpar swimmers.
 
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LionJim

LionJim

Heisman
Oct 12, 2021
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Lil Nicky Scarfo said:
Yup. Made 2 saves as a teenage lifeguard. Both happened within 15 feet of my chair with people all around. Was able to save one just reaching over the side of the pool and pulling them to me (he was 3-4 feet from the side of the pool). The other was in the middle of the pool - again with several people around. I was just scanning my sector. Had to jump in with the life ring. There was no commotion in either case.

Saving drowning people is very dangerous - they will drag you down with them if you aren’t trained. Last thing you want to do is actually have to put hands on them - reach, throw, row, go

Our most stressful days were sponsored days where you’d get a lot of visitors who weren’t good swimmers. A particular nightmare was Volunteer Firefighter night. All the adults were drunk and many of the kids were subpar swimmers.
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Good man.
 
Big_O

Big_O

All-Conference
Jun 28, 2001
1,541
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Lil Nicky Scarfo said:
Yup. Made 2 saves as a teenage lifeguard. Both happened within 15 feet of my chair with people all around. Was able to save one just reaching over the side of the pool and pulling them to me (he was 3-4 feet from the side of the pool). The other was in the middle of the pool - again with several people around. I was just scanning my sector. Had to jump in with the life ring. There was no commotion in either case.

Saving drowning people is very dangerous - they will drag you down with them if you aren’t trained. Last thing you want to do is actually have to put hands on them - reach, throw, row, go

Our most stressful days were sponsored days where you’d get a lot of visitors who weren’t good swimmers. A particular nightmare was Volunteer Firefighter night. All the adults were drunk and many of the kids were subpar swimmers.
Click to expand...
That is why in lifesaving classes you are taught how to fight off the person in distress if needed because they can get a death grip on you. The best thing to do is not personally touch the distressed swimmer, but use an object you might have around for them to grip on, such as a towel, pole from a pool brush, life ring, etc. The last thing you want to do is personally engage them unless you are specifically trained to do so because you might have two people end up drowning.
 
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