CHELSEA, Manhattan (WABC) — New York City Parks Department officials are already thinking about sunny skies and 80-degree temperatures. Qualifying exams for hopeful lifeguards are well underway – and if they can make a big enough splash they can earn a $880 training bonus plus $22 an hour come this summer.
Before the next class of aspiring New York City lifeguards can take their post they have to take an eye exam and prove they have what it takes to save lives.
CLICK HERE to find out more about qualifying exams for NYC lifeguard hopefuls.
It was a tryout, but for Makai Podolskiy it is therapy.
“I need something to calm my mind and I wanted to put something out there to help people, so swimming was the best of both worlds for me,” Podolskiy said.
Podolskiy looks up to someone who remembers sitting in the lifeguard chair like it was yesterday.
“My tryout started when I was 14 because I almost drowned,” Podolskiy adds.
Zolan Rodney is now a lifeguard borough coordinator.
“It was that day I realized I’m going to give everyone a fighting chance. It was that day I was a lifeguard from that day,” Rodney said.
Over the summer, Rodney led lifeguards into treacherous waters in the Rockaways to save several people who were drowning. Now he is ushering in the next wave of heroes.
“It’s all joy. I know that they’re going to be out there with us. That they want to be there,” Rodney says.
Once aspiring lifeguards pass the qualifier, the real training begins. Early in the new year they have 16 weeks, 40 hours of rigorous training – so the fun is just beginning.
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