vdill99

I believe the issue is with lack of "clarity" with the requirement, And its implementation I know of 2 youth and one adult that could not do this in 100 sec. and thus did not complete BSA Lifeguard. TVA manmade turbid lake, loosing site of the white disc at I'm guessing 2 ~ 3 ft. I have been a BSA Lifeguard for 10 years, and also an Ellis licensed YMCA lifeguard, and I do not know if I could pass requirement 5. I can swim 25 yards holding a 10lb weight out of the water, I just did it a couple months ago. I think this requirement is too subjective. I don't see Scout Camps teaching BSA L

Agreed, to a point, I too am in the South. Not specifying the density / size of the object also makes this requirement difficult to administer fairly across the country. A measure for meeting a minimum requirement for strength, swimming and diving ability is necessary. But typically a 10 lb weight used to test for this is small, (mushroom boat anchor, concrete block or dumbbell), and finding this blind in a muddy bottom of a lake can be attributed as much to luck as ability. I hope the new BSA Lifeguard Counselor Guide addresses this.

Prerequisite Requirement A-5 Starting in the water, swim 20 yards using a front crawl or breaststroke, surface dive 7 to 10 feet, retrieve a 10-pound object, surface, swim with the object 20 yards back to the starting point, and exit the water, all within 1 minute, 40 seconds. There is no mention of water clarity, in this requirement, doesn't that create a extreme disadvantage to those trying to accomplish this depending on the location. I assume some are working on Lifeguard in pools and some are doing this in the lakes. Has this been addressed, or what is the answer?