nplq - (lifeguard qualification)

Yeah youll be fine, i did it last summer, the physical side is pretty easy, the only thing i was bit rubbish at was the surface dives, but the pool i did it at had several depths so i was ok, it generaly is just short distance swims, the longest timed swim was swimming 20 metres, then having to tow a casutaly back 20 metres, think you had around 65 seconds to do that, which is more than enough, on the actual test day my times were so about 10 seconds faster than all my practise times i did during the week, must have been the adrenalin lol, must say i was pretty nervous beforehand though

Reply 6

Hrov

OP

2

Bear_Grylls
i take it that you wont be able to wear googles during the course? and did you have to wear t - shirt and shorts?

Reply 7

Hrov

Bear_Grylls
i take it that you wont be able to wear googles during the course? and did you have to wear t - shirt and shorts?

Yeah thats right, i asked if i could wear googles (as i always swim with them) as the intructor laughed at me haha. And yeah you have to wear a t-shirt and shorts, which is fine, as you get used to it during the week.

Reply 8

artorscience?

11

I hadn't swum or done any physical activity (other than 30 minute walks daily or so) for a couple of years when I took the course. The workout you get in the week is enough really. I passed with plenty of time to spare in the end (despite missing the time in practice a number of times).

Reply 9

BibbleJW

I would say that as you had swum for a club previously, you have the technique to do the timed swims, almost without considering your level of fitness. I rarely swim or do any sort of activity, and am still able to do the 2 timed swims that my site has to with a comfortable margin. The three swims that the course says you need to do are:
swim/tow.
20/20 - 65 Seconds
20/10 - 45 Seconds
20/20 - 65 Seconds (with a torpedo bouy)

The last one was the most difficult on the one occasion that we did it (my site doesn't have a proper bouy, so it is not required). The difference between the first two is that the first ends as soon as you touch the wall, but for the second, you need to stabalise the casualty first.

Another thing that you should do is to keep you head out of the water (so as to keep an eye on the casualty), but that is purely up the examiner as to whether or not to enforce it.

Reply 10

Petit chou

15

hodgey90

no, its not a problem. if you swim for a club, then you should pass through the course with ease, even if you havn't swam for 8 months.
some of the requirements are like swim a length in under 60 seconds! many club swimmers could do two in that time!

That isn't a part of the requirements, you must beable to swim 2 lengths in under 60 seconds because you need to do a timedswim of 20 metres swim 20 metres tow and i think you have around 75 seconds to do this within, i'm not exactly greatly fit but a strong swimmer like yourself and can do it with ease in around 45-50 seconds. Don't worry you'll be fine, its the spinal turns and tows you should be worrying about lol. I just renewed my qualificationand the only part people had to redo was spinal stuff, you only get one shot on the day of the examas you'd only really get one shot in real life then you have to come in another day to redo it which is a blag.

Reply 11

Cricky, ive forgotton all the spinal turns and tows lol, been a year since i did the qualification, when you apply for a job do they just go through it all with you in one of them staff training sessions, dont want to make a fool of myself though lol.

Reply 12

Hrov

OP

2

Thanks for replies

Petit chou

That isn't a part of the requirements, you must beable to swim 2 lengths in under 60 seconds because you need to do a timedswim of 20 metres swim 20 metres tow and i think you have around 75 seconds to do this within, i'm not exactly greatly fit but a strong swimmer like yourself and can do it with ease in around 45-50 seconds. Don't worry you'll be fine, its the spinal turns and tows you should be worrying about lol. I just renewed my qualificationand the only part people had to redo was spinal stuff, you only get one shot on the day of the examas you'd only really get one shot in real life then you have to come in another day to redo it which is a blag.

Yeh, ive just been swimming, and did 50 meters in 45-50 seconds, it probably isnt the hardest part. How about the theory side of it, is this difficult? or quite easy as long as you listen/do work etc?

Reply 13

Hrov

Thanks for replies

Yeh, ive just been swimming, and did 50 meters in 45-50 seconds, it probably isnt the hardest part. How about the theory side of it, is this difficult? or quite easy as long as you listen/do work etc?

Fairly easy, you get taught it all pretty well, and the test at the theory test at the end of it is fairly easy, you just get asked a handfull of standard questions, dont worry about it youll be fine mate

Reply 14

artorscience?

11

Hrov

How about the theory side of it, is this difficult? or quite easy as long as you listen/do work etc?

The theory isn't a written exam or anything, just a casual chat with the examiner. And the examiner isn't trying to fail you so they tend to give you hints and suggestions, so you just need to go along with it. If you listen to what you're told and/or read the info in the pack you'll have no problems.

And the first aid part is easy too - that's all about practice, so if you attend the sessions and don't feel too silly talking to a dummy etc. you'll pass that one too.

Reply 15

BibbleJW

What my examiner said to me was that if he would be unhappy leaving his kids with us, then he would fail us, which is fair enough. They don't expect you to know ALL of the theory, as most of it comes with practice, just to be able to recall the important things. I found the 1st aid part most difficult, but then I never was particularly good at just remembering sequences of instructions.

Reply 16

big-bang-theory

BibbleJW

The last one was the most difficult on the one occasion that we did it (my site doesn't have a proper bouy, so it is not required). The difference between the first two is that the first ends as soon as you touch the wall, but for the second, you need to stabalise the casualty first.

You're meant to stabalise the casualty (well in the case of the conscious casualty get them out the water and treat them as you would a real person) in both but this doesn't count in the timed part. Or at least that's how my instructor ran it and we got tested on.

Either way, 40 meters in 60 seconds and 30 in 45 isn't exactly impossible...

Reply 17

big-bang-theory

Bear_Grylls

Cricky, ive forgotton all the spinal turns and tows lol, been a year since i did the qualification, when you apply for a job do they just go through it all with you in one of them staff training sessions, dont want to make a fool of myself though lol.

You should have to attend training once a month for at least a 2 hour session or else do a pool test (like a mini-NPLQ of things chosen at random by your instructor) while you're working. Generally some pools don't actuallly manage to enforce the pool tests all the times but to my understanding this is something they're required to do.

Reply 18

joey!

15

Has anyone got any tips? I start my course in 3 days, it's all packed into one week.

The DM at the pool I'm applying to said it was pretty tough, but what's the most difficult part?

Reply 19

big-bang-theory