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Lifeguards Ready For Summer At Riverbank Community Pool
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The lifeguards are ready for the summer and are prepared to keep people safe at the Riverbank Community Pool. VIRGINIA STILL/THE NEWS - photo by VIRGINIA STILL/THE NEWS

Hot days are on the way and with a few days that have already been in the upper 90s, some people will be looking for a place to cool off. The Riverbank Community Pool opened this past Monday, June 4 for recreational swim. With the rivers running high, cold, and fast, the safest place to cool off right now may be a swimming pool. The community pool is at the corner of Seventh Street and Stanislaus Street and will be open Monday through Thursday from 1 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. and on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.

This past Saturday, the Riverbank pool lifeguards were training in preparation for the summer season, performing different scenarios like back board extractions with a spinal injury and without a spinal injury. There are 14 lifeguards and they were rotating positions to cover each situation.

Some of the lifeguards have been with the City of Riverbank’s Parks and Recreation for four to five years and for others this will be their first year. They are all certified lifeguards and have gone through all the training necessary including First Aid for Public Safety Personnel, providing the lifeguards with advanced first aid skills. The age range for a lifeguard is from 15 on up.

Sue Fitzpatrick, Director of Parks and Recreation, said the training is thorough and intensive, preparing the lifeguards for a variety of situations.

“But now we have to get all our people together because some took training in different places,” she noted of hosting a centralized gathering at the pool. “So now we want to make sure they work as a team. We were in the office doing other training but now it is about practicing skills in the water.”

Maureen Nelson led the lifeguard training this past Saturday and is the Head Swim Coach for the Riverbank Barracudas swim team as well as a lifeguard instructor. They spent the first part of the day doing lifeguard rescues and spent the second part on their skill set for teaching swim lessons.

“Maureen is our swim coach and we were lucky enough to get her because she is a lifeguard instructor,” added Fitzpatrick. “So she can come and tell them about any changes and actually critique their skills and help us get to where we need to be.”

The Pool Manager is Brooke Allen, Assistant Manager Bryse Allen and Head Lifeguards are Braydon Terzo and Sydney Howard.

There are usually four guards on duty during recreational swim, Fitzpatrick said, however it is dependent on how many people are swimming. They will train every Friday throughout the summer.

“The training went great,” expressed Fitzpatrick. “Yes, they are ready and excited for summer. We have a great staff this year.”

The fee for the recreational swim is $2 per person per day or guests are welcome to purchase a season swim pass for $60 for an individual or $100 for a family of four and each additional person $20.

The City has purchased a log for the pool and they plan to have some log rolling competitions this summer.

Swim lessons will begin on Monday, June 11.

For more information visit www.riverbank.org or the Recreation Office at 6707 Third St., Suite C or call 209-863-7150.