Dec 18 - Beach Lifeguard Awarded the RLSS’s “Giovanni Sene Award” 2015
Yesterday evening, the Minister for Tourism, Samantha Sacramento, presented Daniel Yeo with the Royal Life Saving Society’s “Giovanni Sene Award” for the best lifeguard to qualify for the National Beach Lifeguard Qualification for the year 2015.
In her address Ms Sacramento congratulated Daniel for achieving this award and praised all the Lifeguards for the excellent and valuable work carried out by them every summer on our beaches.
The President of the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) Gibraltar, Norbert Sene, explained that after consultation with the other RLSS Trainer/Assessors and the Gibraltar Tourist Board’s beaches management team, Daniel had been selected due to his outstanding performance during the training and his exemplary attitude, reliability and diligence on the beach. He added that this was an extra special nomination as Daniel is brother to last year’s winner, Jack.
All the candidates were trained and assessed by RLSS Beach Lifeguard Trainer/Assessors Michael Sene, Stewart Bonavia and Norbert Sene. Five groups were trained and assessed for this year’s bathing season. In the first two groups, potential lifeguards undertook an intensive training course in mid-March in order to gain the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) National Beach Lifeguard Qualification (NBLQ) and be qualified for the Gibraltar Tourist Board’s now established initiative to have lifeguards available on our beaches over the weekends as from start of the Easter week- end before the official bathing season. Two further groups undertook the training and assessment in May. The fifth group, a group of qualified lifeguards re-qualified in June.
The candidates had to achieve a good, basic level of fitness and be competent in the water as well as showing proficiency in the principles of beach supervision and rescue.
The assessment is designed to determine the competence of anyone engaged at any time in the role of Beach Lifeguard or undergoing training towards this role.
The NBLQ is the benchmark for the certification of beach lifeguards in the UK and Gibraltar and is also the standard required for lifeguards by the International Life Saving Federation.
The NBLQ is split into two units:
Unit One relates to principles of beach supervision and rescue and is divided into five elements assessing the candidate’s knowledge and competency on the principles of lifeguarding a beach, risk assessment, casualty identification and administration of first aid and CPR.
During the assessment the lifeguards also achieved the RLSS Life Support 3 award (the highest award available for First Aid and CPR). Together with the RLSS Trainer/Assessors, the Ambulance Service helped in preparing the candidates in the First Aid and CPR module.
The practical assessment incorporated a 400m timed swim in 8 minutes or less which determines whether the candidate continued to the next stage of the assessment. These practical assessments involved good practice in beach rescues and techniques.
Unit Two relates to the application of beach safety management and rescue procedures. It tests the lifeguards on the application of the skills and knowledge demonstrated in Unit One and effectively manage an emergency incident. The lifeguards were given various incidents and were expected to manage these as part of a team. The whole group was highly commended by the Assessors for the efficient and effective management of the incidents presented.
The successful candidates were Hicham Akalay, Euan Beith, Alba Ana Butron, Christopher Cardona, Ayden Collado, Nicola Cowan, Byron Ellis, Jamie Fa, Jake Haefner, Jake Galvez, Trevor Garcia, Philip Gillingwater Pedersen, Soufian Hanafi, David Horner Garcia, Jayce King, Janella Lavagna, Michael Maskill, Kelvin Moreno, Ivan Moreno, Nicole Norton, Jules Origo, Zachary Origo, Johan Randall, Jeremy Sacramento, Alaric Jack Scott, Nicholas Victor, Jayce Webber and Daniel Yeo. Iain Ballantine, Aidan Barton, Zakaria Berrak, Stefan Figueras, Johan Macias, Giovanni Origo, Lydia Oudrassi, Jamal Richardson and James Vella were successful in renewing their NBLQ.
The National Beach Lifeguard Qualification will next year be replaced by the National Vocational Beach Lifeguard Qualification which will be a more intense course requiring eight more hours of minimum training - 40 hours instead of the current 32 hours - and the use of the rescue board.
Trials for next year’s squad will commence in early March. Prospective lifeguards are encouraged to start training at the GSLA pool early on so that they achieve swimming competency for these trails.
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