Water Safety Academy

The Reston Community Center's Water Safety Program is designed to meet the certification needs of individuals interested in being Lifeguards, Water Safety Instructors, and/or Pool Operators. For specific class dates and times, click here to access RCC's on-line program guide.

Guard Start (Ages 13 and 14)

The Guard Start program provides a foundation of lifeguarding and life skills.  For youth with swimming skills, this program makes an ideal transition between the Red Cross LEARN-To-SWIM and the Lifeguard Training course.  This program focuses on the prevention of aquatic accidents, fitness and swimming skills, response to an emergency, leadership skills, and professionalism of a lifeguard. 
Prerequisites: Participants must be able to swim the front crawl for 25 yards continuously while breathing to the front or side, tread water for 1 minute using arms and legs, and submerge and swim a distance of 10 feet underwater. 

Pre-Lifeguard Stroke Evaluation/Improvement (Age 15 and older)

This session is the pre-test that everyone must pass in order to take Lifeguard Training. The student will be expected to swim 500 yards continuously using these strokes in the following order:

• 200 yards of front crawl using rhythmic breathing and a stabilizing propellant kick.  Rhythmic breathing can be performed either by breathing to the side or to the front
• 100 yards of breastroke
• 200 yards of either front crawl using rhythmic breathing or breaststroke. These may be a mixture of front crawl or breaststroke. The student will also swim 20 yards using front crawl or breaststroke, surface dive to a depth of 7-10 feet, retrieve a 10-pound object, return to the surface, and swim 30 yards back to the starting point

Lifeguard Training (Age 15 and older)

This course provides the American Red Cross (ARC) training required to obtain a job as a lifeguard in any national facility using ARC-certified lifeguards. The course includes: Lifeguard Training, First Aid, CPR for the Professional Rescuer, and Preventing Disease Transmission.

Fundamentals of Instructor Training

This program is a prerequisite to all American Red Cross instructor-level courses. It will provide the new instructor with information about Red Cross administration procedures, learning theory and teaching methodology.  

Water Safety Instructor Pre-course (Age 16 and older)

This Water Safety Instructor Pre-course session will cover the water portion of the required prerequisites for the American Red Cross Water Safety Instructor course. Participants' swimming skills will be evaluated against the American Red Cross Stroke Performance Charts, Level 4. Stroke Performance charts are available at the Aquatics Information desk:

• Front crawl, 25 yards
• Back crawl, 25 yards
• Breaststroke, 25 yards
• Elementary backstroke, 25 yards
• Sidestroke, 25 yards
• Butterfly, 15 yards
• Maintain a position on back for 1 minute in deep water (float or scull)
• Tread water for one minute

Water Safety Instructor (Age 16 and older)

This American Red Cross program is for those interested in teaching basic swimming classes. The course includes methods of teaching swimming to infants and preschoolers, the Learn to Swim Program, Community Water Safety, and, for those students meeting the criteria, Safety Training for Swim Coaches. This course does not provide certification to teach Lifeguard Training. Students must demonstrate swimming skills consistent with stroke performance for Level 4:

• Front Crawl
• Back Crawl
• Breaststroke
• Elementary Backstroke
• Side Stroke
• Butterfly