Global Courant
Across Los Angeles County, public swimming pool hours are starting to change. Maybe your swimming lessons have been canceled, or you went to the pool on a hot day only to find a locked gate and a “closed” sign.
This may be due to the shortage of lifeguards in public swimming pools across the country.
Hugo Maldonado, regional operations manager for LA County Parks and Recreation, said the county operates 30 public pools, and the ones you’ve seen closing are the seasonal pools. In a normal year, these baths would be open six days a week. This year, the province is putting openings on the back burner. Half are open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the other half are open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Six swimming pools are open all year round and they are not affected by the shortage. Those pools include the four aquatic centers and the indoor pools at Roosevelt Park And Jesse Owen Park. A list of swimming pool opening times can be found on the province Parks and Rec website. For city swimming pools in Los Angeles, see the Citywide Aquatics website. Long Beach operates a number of public swimming pools. And other Southern California cities may have their own.
The shortage of lifeguards is the latest addition to the seemingly ever-growing list of impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, many swimming pools will be closed due to public health measures. Swimming teams, water polo teams and swimming lessons also stopped by default. The teens involved in these activities would have been prime candidates for summer lifeguard jobs.
Maldonado said the closures resulted in fewer qualified candidates. Pools are looking for “motivated, hard-working teens with good customer service skills who qualify by completing a swimming test,” he said. The test involves swimming 500 meters in 10 minutes or less.
Now that the summer season has arrived, swimming pools need lifeguards more than ever. If you are 16 or older, you are eligible to apply.
The Lifeguard Ready training program was created in response to the shortage and aims to prepare would-be lifeguards. This program is available to everyone and offers the opportunity to learn how to swim, access the necessary swimming equipment and train in a local pool.
For those who just can’t wait for a neighborhood pool to open and need a dose of fun in the sun, there’s an app called Swimply let you rent out a neighbor’s pool by the hour – for a hefty fee, of course.
