After a particularly hard day in the pool, Boksburg Aquatic Saints Swimming and Lifesaving Club member and Leeuwenhof Akademie learner Jordan Hughes (16) decided that swimming just wasn’t for her.
Little did she know that she would be back in the pool taking on a new challenge, lifesaving.
“After a really hard training session, I wasn’t sure if swimming was for me anymore and wanted to give up.
“While getting hot chocolate my mom mentioned my decision to one of the club’s members who suggested instead of leaving the pool completely, I should try lifesaving as her children were doing it and loved it,” explained Jordan.
Jordan had second thoughts but gave lifesaving a chance and hasn’t looked back.
Thanks to this love and dedication the Parkhill Gardens resident was recently named as a member of the Gauteng Lifesaving High-Performance Squad, which she qualified for by first achieving and then maintaining South African qualifying times.
This is in addition to her participation in the South African National Lifesaving Championships in Port Elizabeth, in April.
Lifesaving is the act involving rescue, resuscitation and first aid.
It often refers to water safety and aquatic rescue. However, it could include ice rescue, flood and river rescue, swimming pool rescue and other emergency medical services.
On top of all this lifesaving is also a sport where lifesavers compete based on skills, speed and teamwork.
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“I am still not completely sure what it is about lifesaving that I love but I love it.
“I think its biggest appeal is that it is something completely different.
“While everyone is doing running or netball, I am doing lifesaving,” she said.
When asked which of the different events in lifesaving, she enjoys most, she said with a smile, “I love the super lifesaving event, which is everything in one event.”
“In a nutshell, you start the event with a 50m swim followed by 25m swim, where you retrieve a sunken manikin.
“You then swim another 25m with your manikin and then drop it at the edge of the pool.
“You then grab your fins and your tube, sprint to the other side of the pool while putting your fins on, where you retrieve another manikin, this time by clipping it with your tube before finally racing back to the finish,” Jordan explained.
This event takes a lot of training, with a special focus on putting on the fins and clipping the manikin smoothly and seamlessly, and breathing properly.
“It is very technical and it is amazing to watch how quickly the children, through training, are able to put on their fins and retrieve their manikins,” said Jordan’s mom, Melanie.
Lifesaving takes continual hard work, with Jordan taking to the pool for four hours at least three times a week.
She also works on weekends to earn the hours she needs as part of her lifesaving qualifications.
“I think having to plan my time and make sure that I am able to fit everything in will really help me when I am older and in the ‘real world’.
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“I also appreciate my down time more, but know that if I am tired after an outing with my friend I will still have to train,” she said.
Looking ahead, Jordan is working hard for the South African National Lifesaving Championships, where she hopes to qualify for the national lifesaving squad.
“The national squad will travel to the Netherlands, so I am really aiming at making the team, I would love to go overseas,” said Jordan.
Her passion for lifesaving is contagious.
“I really encourage anyone looking for something different and a challenge to give lifesaving a try,” Jordan said.
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