For the Seal Beach Junior Guards, the last day of the program upholds a tradition: pier jumps. The steady beat of bare feet hitting wood can be heard as guards of all shapes and sizes run down the pier, hoping to get in as many jumps as they can.
Since 1985, the Seal Beach Lifeguard Department has been offering a Junior Lifeguard program that is both fun and physically demanding. Participants learn about the ocean and how to live with it rather than in it- respecting the environment and emphasizing the importance of safety.
However, locals know Jr. Guards is less of a summer program and more of a rite of passage. There is a certain Seal Beach christening that happens after a certain amount of two-mile Tuesdays, lifeguard tower runs, pier swims, and unfortunately, sun burns.
From the pier, you can hear some of the AAs, the oldest group of Jr. Guards, mourning what very well could be the last jump of their lives as they chat amongst each other on the pier, choreographing their final descents. That is unless of course, they decide to become lifeguards. While younger Bs and Cs know that this is only the last jump of the summer, the end of another season carries a certain sadness.
Of course, there are always those whose parents have enrolled them in the program largely against their will and the end of relay swims, push-ups, and hauling a buoy with them makes the impending school year seem like less of a lesson and more of a blessing.
For many, the last day of Jr. Guards means the final opportunity to garner the courage to jump off the pier as they have been on the edge literally, all summer. “Jump, jump, jump!” You can hear the Jr. Guards shout from the water, as the first-timers stand on the plank, knees shaking, anxiously holding the railing. The pressure is as palpable as the sunlight warming the skin, sandwiched between parents crowding together with cameras and kids beckoning them in from the ocean. “Do it for your Dad!” “Do it while the rescue boat goes by!” “Just do it!”
Some will take that first jump on the last day while others will climb back off the planks and back onto the pier, ready to try again next year.
While some are relegated to penciling their way down, the older and more experienced have the freedom to get fancy, flipping and dropping in duos. For Dylan Demos, 14, a 5th year Jr. Guard who says he’s easily jumped off the pier over 100 times, Jr. Guards has had a huge impact on his life. “I may want to become a lifeguard when I’m older. I’ve made so many new friends. Doing this has taught me how to stay safe in the water and impacted my view of the ocean.”
When asked just what Demos’ view of the ocean was, he responded with: “It’s better than the land.”
Perhaps that sums up the point of Jr. Guards: to baptize another generation into the beauty and mystery that seems to surround this little town- a body so vast and passionate, it seems to have a life of its own.
