May 2005

Always enter the pool feet-first, except when doing racing starts during meets and warm-ups under coach supervision!

  Just step or slide into the pool and start swimming.  Only dive into the pool when you're practicing a racing start under direct coach supervision or starting during your event.  Diving is very dangerous and you can easily injure yourself and/or your teammates.  This advice applies during practice, too. 

June 2005

When you see a swimmer hit her / his head on the wall or bottom of the pool, notify the life guard immediately, then the coach.

Head and neck injuries may result in serious brain or spinal cord injury.  Life guards are trained to quickly assess the injured swimmer and immobilize the head and neck in a special lightweight “cervical collar.”  The swimmer should also be placed on a rigid “backboard” to further mobilize the neck and prevent spinal cord injury from a fractured vertebra.  Swimmers generally do NOT want to be placed in the cervical collar or on the backboard, but the risks of not doing so are potential paralysis of the legs and arms.  The stakes in such an injury are high, so it is paramount to take the proper precautions with immediate immobilization of the neck and back after a  head / neck injury in the pool venue.  The swimmer should then be transported by rescue squad to the nearest emergency room for X-Rays of the vertebra and possibly a head CAT scan if the swimmer lost consciousness after the injury.

As Marshal, strutting around the swimming pool venue in your gaudy vest, you may be approached by a swimmer who informs you that an adult had been staring at her (swimmer could of course be either gender) for a long time and had actually followed her to the locker room door.  The swimmer states that she is afraid of this adult stranger on the deck.  As Marshal, what do you do?  More ...