Saturday, August 11, 2012

Sea Changes at the Pool?



This summer my daughter Courtney lifeguards at the war memorial pool in Amherst.   I stop by occasionally to swim some laps with her on her breaks.

One day post workout, we were talking about how pool rules have changed over the years.  Instead of jumping in the pool anywhere from the edge as was done in my day, swimmers at the War Memorial pool can only enter via jump zones, designated by blue mats. “It’s safer this way,” my daughter authoritatively explained.

I told her it was just a sign of the over protective times….  We used to ride our 5 miles to the pool and go off of a frightening tall high dive.

When I informed her that when her age, I was trained as a lifeguard, she found this hard to believe.  I started rattling off the types of saves:  throwing the buoy, cross chest carry, hair tow, ….  Incredulous she said, “Stop, no way.  Dragging by the hair would be barbaric, you are making this up.”

Evidence and Memories by Google.

Back home, I went to Google for support.  A link to the history of lifesaving  (http://faculty.deanza.edu/donahuemary/Historyoflifesaving) reports the following.

“A 1982 printing of American Red Cross Lifesaving Rescue and Water Safety, says in part: "If a person is in danger of drowning only a short distance from shore and there is no rescue equipment of any kind available, the untrained swimmer may feel that is it necessary to attempt the rescue. In such cases, the rescuer should swim to a position behind the victim and make contact with the victim by seizing the person's hair."

Lifeguard certification cards (advanced lifesaving and water safety) featured a drawing of the silhouettes of a man dragging a buxom female victim through the water on her back by her hair. “

It turns out the hair tow was also practiced in 1977.  Those were barbaric days indeed.

However, Google crushed two other memories.

It looks like the high dive at Plymouth pool in Midland, MI was replaced by a water slide, thus we will never know how high it was.



And, the five mile bike ride to the pool we made daily during my childhood was not as far as I remembered (1.9 miles via google maps).

What memories have you confirmed or disconfirmed with Google?