A day of competition and fun

Andrew Edwards

Laguna’s Junior Lifeguards hosted a group of youngsters from the Lake

Mission Viejo junior guards program for a rousing day of friendly

competition.

No score was kept, the day was just a chance for youngsters to

meet at Main Beach and show off their running and swimming skills.

“We try to make them as stress free as possible by not keeping

points,” lifeguard Chad Beeler said. “They remember who came in first

on their own.”

The day’s events were a long-distance run and long-distance swim,

a swimming and running relay and a frenzied event called “beach

flags.”

Beach flags’ rules are like musical chairs, the competitors race

each other to grab flags -- short lengths of hose stuck in the sand.

The junior guards start the game by lying prone on the sand, looking

away from the flags and waiting for a lifeguard to give them the

go-signal. When it’s time to go, the youngsters leap up, quickly spin

around and race frantically to get the flags, all the while kicking

up sand behind them and barely avoiding a huge crash as they dive to

grab the flags.

“I like how you dive when you’re running, you just dive for it,”

11-year-old Zachary Neeve said.

All the youngsters took part in the events, but only the older

guards, between 12- and 15-years-old, took part in the inter-city

competition.

At the start of the day, 14-year-old Michael Matchett gave the

Laguna boys a win in the long-distance swim.

“It was hard, tiring,” Michael said after he got out of the cold

water. A 5-year veteran of the junior lifeguards, Michael said his

favorite part of the program was being able to have fun at different

parts of Laguna’s coast.

“The bodysurfing, they take us to all the cool coves,” Michael

said.

Many competitors shivered a little when they got out of the water

after a swimming event, but 13-year-old Erika Tang said she liked the

chilly water after she finished her part in the swim relay.

“It’s refreshing,” Erika said. “It kind of feels like you’re

flying when you go through the water.”

The Lake Mission Viejo swimmers had to adjust to the ocean waves,

pushing against them as they swam out, but 13-year old Rachel Hassey

said the added difficulty of swimming away from shore is made up on

the way back when the waves can help swimmers come in. At the lake,

swimmers don’t get that extra boost.

The junior guards from Lake Mission Viejo weren’t the only

competitors visiting Laguna. Ahmed “Ocky” Kouddous, 13, joined the

Laguna program while on holiday from his homeland of Egypt.

After he completed the long distance run from Main Beach to

Rockpile, he said the best part of the junior guards was that all of

the activities are not just fun, but healthy.

“The good thing is anything you’re doing, you know it’s going to

get a good thing out of it,” Achmed said.