Horizons Magazine | July 2019

YOKOTA’S EVERYDAY HEROES
16 horizons
JULY 2019
A
five-year-old girl — having spent the entire
morning swimming in the shallow end of
the busy Sakana Pool — stands beside
the diving board watching in admiration as
the older children and adults flip, cannonball
and dive into the deep end. She’s never swam
where she couldn’t touch the pool floor but her
burning desire trumps her fear of the water. She
bends her knees and jumps into the 12-footdeep
pool.
As soon as she hits the water, panic sets in and
she can’t seem to keep her head above water.
Without a second’s hesitation, the lifeguard on
stand springs into action. He swims to the girl
and gets her out of the water so quickly, many
of the Sakana Pool patrons don’t even notice
the commotion.
Moments like these exemplify the importance
of Yokota’s lifeguards. Their job requires
expertise in swimming, customer service, firstaid
and CPR. They work in time-sensitive, highstress
situations; it only takes 30 seconds for a
person to drown. But these everyday heroes are
highly qualified for the job as they all passed the
rigorous course set by the American Red Cross.
To qualify for the training, applicants must first
pass the prerequisite test: swim freestyle or
breaststroke for 300 yards; tread water handsfree
for two minutes; retrieve a 10-pound brick
from the deepest part of the pool and back swim
25 yards while still holding the brick. The full
course consists of extensive book work, videos
and hands-on training. Students must excel on
two tests — the CPR and first-aid test and the