Lifeguards a-leaping

Deirdre Newman

Skylar Jacobs mustered all the courage he had one August morning and

stepped to the edge of the Balboa Pier, with only blue sky separating

him from the ocean about 25 feet below.

The 10-year-old was about to join other junior lifeguards and

fulfill a rite of passage of maritime-safety education -- jumping

from the pier into the murky water below.

But he just wasn’t ready.

So he stepped back, took a few more deep breaths and tried to

conquer his fears. The same thing happened last year when he had to

make the jump. But he did it then, so knew he had it in him.

He just wasn’t ready.

A fellow junior lifeguard waiting to do her jump offered words of

encouragement, as did one of the instructors.

But Skylar had to find his strength from within. He scrunched his

face in determination and paced around the pier, trying to channel

his nervous energy into action.

One of his buddies tried to console him, saying he wouldn’t jump

if Skylar didn’t.

But Skylar persevered.

He jumped, leaving his insecurities on the pier to infiltrate

someone else’s psyche, to a cheering crowd of junior lifeguards who

had already jumped and were hanging out on surfboards in the water

below.

“I felt great,” a confident and relieved Skylar said after the

jump. “I’m glad I did it.”

The Newport Beach junior lifeguard program is an eight-week course

for kids 9 to 15 to get them “ocean-proofed,” said John Mitchell, a

city lifeguard officer and the assistant coordinator of the junior

lifeguard program. There are about 1,200 kids in the program this

summer.

The most important part of ocean-proofing is instilling a strong

sense of the surf conditions so the junior lifeguards can easily

identify them, Mitchell said. Fun is also on the schedule, he added.

They practice on the beach on Balboa Peninsula in the mornings and

afternoons. On Aug. 9, they were sprawled out on the sand, a sea of

red bathing suits taking in their last day of junior lifeguard

training, making up activities they had missed.

Not all of them want to be lifeguards. Some just like learning the

skills.

“I’m not sure I want to be a lifeguard, but I just wanted to try

it and love the beach,” said Lauren Conway, 11, whose sister is a

lifeguard. “I like all the swim competitions.”

Most of the instructors came up through the junior lifeguard

program, like Ross Sinclair, 19, of Newport Beach. It’s all about

patience as a teacher, Sinclair said.

“I’ve got 30 kids who all want to jump up and down,” he said.

“They all want to body surf, but you have to take care of education

too.”

Instructor Ned Heiman, 22, took 11 junior lifeguards to Florida in

early August to compete at the Junior Lifeguard nationals. Allison

McCormick, of Newport Beach, was the national champion in the rescue

relay.

“It was an absolute wonderful experience because we took kids that

really had a desire to go,” Heiman said.

The lifeguard training naturally attracts an audience, especially

jumping off the pier.

As they went airborne, Gary Mull watched from above. Many of his

friends’ children were doing the jumps that day and he happened to

see them as he was riding by on his bike, he said.

“I’m ready to go sneak in line to see if [the instructor] would

recognize me,” Mull said. “This is a great training program.”

As they jumped, some nonchalantly stepped off the pier as

directed, arms straight at their sides, looking into the horizon.

Others flailed around in the air, and some leaped off the pier trying

to get as much air as possible.

“Kids are up there and waffle back and forth and then say, ‘why

was I so afraid?’” said Robin Jacobsen, group leader of instruction

for the 14- to 15-year olds. “It’s so fun and easy. Then they forget

that the next year.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers government. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.