Jones Beach Junior Lifeguard Program trains kids 10-16 to watch over Long Island beaches

Emma Cronin, 15, of Smithtown, wants to be an ocean lifeguard at Robert Moses State Park’s beaches one day. Cronin’s older sister is 19 and a lifeguard at Robert Moses.

"I started [training to be a lifeguard] because she loved it so much and I wanted that joy, and I really have that same exact joy that she has for it too," Cronin said of the sisters' shared passion.

Cronin is part of the Jones Beach Junior Lifeguard Program, where she practices swimming drills and rescues during simulated exercises. She said all the activities were really fun and useful for her future career as a lifeguard.

She is especially good at boards, or using a surfboard to rescue someone, she said. Cronin started in the program after the pandemic ended.

"A lot of my closest friends are from here, since we met when we were 12 years old," she said.

The Junior Lifeguard Program started out with 20 participants in 1998. It grew to about 250 kids training on Sunday mornings from 8 to 10 a.m.

The eight week program is for kids ages 10 to 16. It is led by lifeguards DJ Paulson, Brad Hepworth and Michael Scanlon, from the last week of June to mid-August.

Scanlon, 60, of Babylon, said the program was helping kids, and also helping Jones Beach recruit more qualified lifeguards who were already educated in water safety and rescuing.

Scanlon, a retired NYPD detective, is in his 44th year as a lifeguard. His daughter, Teagan, also works as a lifeguard at Jones Beach. Teagan Scanlon, 20, was part of the junior lifeguard program for seven years, and is now an program instructor.

"I just really enjoy being a part of the process and helping these kids become more comfortable in the water, and then hopefully become lifeguards themselves," she said.

DJ Paulson, 37, of Seaford, is in his 21st year as a lifeguard, and was a junior lifeguard for several years before that. Paulson said the idea of the program was to teach kids water safety, ocean rescue techniques, how to identify rip currents and how to use professional lifeguard equipment, including buoys and surfboards.

Paulson also is a science teacher in Old Westbury, and coaches cross country and track & field. Many of Jones Beach’s lifeguards are teachers and first responders.

Camaraderie and competition

For kids trying out in the 10-year-old category, there are 25 openings. Sometimes there are openings in older age groups, but usually kids stay in the program and just move on to the next group.

Paulson said the number of spots available was based on the number of returning athletes. If a group had no openings, no new athletes were selected — a rule that has no exceptions, according to their website.

Paulson said for 10-year-olds, around 20 kids were turned away this year after try outs. New athletes are selected based on the fastest swimming times from a 100-yard pool swim.

"I think the fact that we do have a test to try out for the program really helps to hone in the fact that you want to be here, and you had to earn your way here," he said.

Despite the competitive nature of the program, "the most important thing is everybody makes it home safely and alive, "Scanlon said of both the lifeguards and beachgoers.

The minimum age to be a lifeguard was lowered this year from 17 to 16, the first time since 1929.

"We used to only hire lifeguards at 17 years old," Scanlon said. "This year [Jones Beach] moved to hiring at 16 years old, because ... juniors that we instructed [were] competing for other agencies because they wanted to work at 16 years old ... So now we're hiring at 16 years old. I think that's very good for our retention."

Instructors

Each Sunday, Paulson said, between 50 and 60 instructors lead the kids in swimming and rescuing drills.

Natalie Ortof, 25, of Manhattan, is a junior lifeguard instructor at Jones Beach. She teaches the 15 year olds. Ortof said she became best friends with Sam Lettieri, another junior lifeguard instructor, when they were both 10.

Ortof and Lettieri went through the program together, and then started coaching kids side by side once they became professional lifeguards.

"This program really means a lot to me," Ortof said. "My brothers did it, my parents are lifeguards here, so I’m a big ‘legacy’ kid, so I’ve grown up at Jones Beach ... I’ve been here every single summer my entire life ... it’s a really meaningful place to me."

Ortof ran line-pulling drills with her students on Sunday, during the sixth week of the program. She said lines, or ropes, were used for rescuing people having medical emergencies in the water, to pull them back to land quickly.

Ortof is in her eighth summer as a lifeguard; so far this summer she said she had rescued about 10 people. Ortof had more rescues than usual during COVID, she said, because the beaches were packed with people socially distanced six feet apart. During her entire career, Ortof said, she has rescued about 100 people.

During busy days at Jones Beach, Scanlon estimated there were sometimes between 100 and 125 rescues across the entire beach for all lifeguards.

Ortof usually works with the same kids every summer, continuing with them as they go through their training.

"Watching them go through the program and just get better and learn more," she said.

Jones Beach hires around 30 to 40% of their professional lifeguards from the junior ranks each year.

Kimberly Breud, 10, of Queens, wants to be a lifeguard when she is older, probably at Jones Beach, she said.

She practiced jumping off a lifeguard stand and entering the water on Sunday. She also was learning to paddle on a surfboard.

Her favorite parts of the program are her coaches and friends, and paddleboarding, she said. Kimberly likes being in the program "because you can think of your future, and what you’re gonna be some day."