Lifesaving Sport

I remember my first national competition in New Brunswick. I was in the first race of the day, the Ocean Woman. I stood on the line, stomach turning. I almost threw up. I looked out at the waves and just remembered: I trained too hard to get here to not do it. The waves were bigger than I was used to, maybe five or six feet. I had been training on a lake, this was an ocean. How could I stay on a surf ski? How could I swim through this? How would I be able to catch those on a paddle board? I’ve seen lots of those Australians do it on Instagram and YouTube, but this was real life! And as you can probably guess, I puked on the start line. But, as you probably wouldn’t guess, I won silver. I was behind one of Canada’s best athletes who had just came back from Australia to play with the big guys, which is what I will be doing. It’s all very exciting and scary but when people used to ask me what I was doing after high school, all I could really say was “traveling.” Sometimes I would say I'm training for swimming, but not often. Lifesaving as a sport is wildly unpopular in Canada. It’s the climate. In Australia and New Zealand and South Africa, the sport is a sport. It’s dangerous with those waves, the competition is incredible, and those athletes look like they’ve never been inside before. But the thrill is worth it. And the people.

Lifesaving sport has three components: pool, surf/open water, and emergency response. In pool, you will see the swimmers dominate. At beach, it’s a free-for-all. You can find runners, swimmers, canoers, and even weight lifters. You will even find people who are not even athletes but love to participate and play in the waves. Emergency response takes place in a pool with a team of four who have to respond to an emergency. Everyone finishes with a smile on their face and everyone waits at the finish line to congratulate everyone. You won’t find that in any other sport. And lifesaving sport is the only known sport based on humanitarian skills. Each event is based on a skill that is used for lifeguarding, whether it be on a beach or in a pool or emergency response. Most athletes first learn the skill through lifeguarding, then become athletes through their pool or beach. It is recognized by both the International Olympic Committee and the Commonwealth Games Federation and is a part of the Commonwealth Games.

Getting involved in the sport is probably the best thing that could have happened to me. I have been involved in swimming my entire life and I have found that it is definitely not a social sport. Lifesaving is. I have friends now from all over the country who come from different clubs and backgrounds and friends from other countries like the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. I have traveled all over the world for this sport. I’ve been to Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and all over Canada. I will actually be going to Australia to train with a club there and I am super excited to work with a new group of people who love the sport just as much as I do, if not more!

The sport may not be the most popular sport in Canada, but it is as important to me as my education. It has been super rewarding for me regardless of the conditions outside. I definitely don’t regret the sunburns and board rashes. I don’t regret the sand getting in my mouth or competing in water below 10 degrees. I smile at the days I had to huddle under an umbrella wearing layers of clothes through a thunderstorm waiting for it to pass. I don’t know a single athlete my age who hasn’t enjoyed the sport as much as I do. There is so much diversity in the skills and people it amazes me every time I go to a completion. There is nothing I would change except that I want more of it. I want more competition. More smiling faces at those exciting completions. More people to talk with and laugh with behind the start line. My entire life revolves around this sport and I couldn’t be happier about it. It’s like my heartbeat; I need it.