All of our Water Country USA lifeguards are certified through the American Red Cross. Most of you may know that, but did you know that the American Red Cross visits our park twice a year? During their site visits, they ensure our guards are properly trained and are demonstrating good skills on and off the stand. This week one of the aquatics managers from the national ARC headquarters toured the park as a guest and observed all of our guards.

New this year, Water Country USA will offer a variety of American Red Cross classes to the general public. Our American Red Cross instructors have been teaching our lifeguards for fifteen years and are excited to now have the opportunity to train you.

The first week of 2011 started out extremely busy at Water Country USA, at least for me. I took my Lifeguard instructor class with six other future instructors. We train and certify all team members who are responsible for water safety using American Red Cross lifeguarding and shallow-water lifeguarding classes.

Water Country USA is offering swim lessons for the first time this year. Our swim instructors are certified by the American Red Cross as Water Safety Instructors.

Here at Water Country USA we believe that water safety is vital. Drowning is the second leading cause of unintended, injury-related death for children ages 11-14 in the United States according to the Center for Disease Control. We want to do our part to offer opportunities for children to learn to swim.

This year for the first time, Water Country USA is offering swim lessons. Swim lessons consist of five sessions per class and each session lasts about 45 minutes. The lessons will be taught by certified American Red Cross Water Safety.

Have you ever wondered what kind of training lifeguards at Water Country USA go through prior to sitting in the guard chair at Surfer's Bay?