Kiwi junior lifeguards enjoy their time in Surf City
A group of junior lifeguards from New Zealand did a pier dive off the Huntington Beach Pier earlier this week.
Bella Muir, 19, said it was a sort of leap of faith.
“It was something scary, out of our comfort zone,” Muir said. “We don’t have any piers, really, in New Zealand, so it was something different. We do a lot of cliff jumps at home, but nothing like that, so it was quite scary.”
Muir and her Kiwi counterparts have been in Surf City since July 7, learning culture and also lifeguard tricks of the trade as part of the Huntington Beach City Junior Lifeguard exchange program with New Zealand.
The program, established in 1979, typically runs every three years, though this is the first year it’s happened since 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic. About 30 Junior Lifeguards from Piha and Tairua Surf Lifesaving Clubs, on the west and east coasts of New Zealand’s North Island respectively, made the trip along with a few coaches.
“We got to be in the towers for a bit, shadowing the lifeguards,” said Muir, who lifeguards at Tairua back home. “I did a rescue. It was my first rescue in America, so that was pretty cool. I think it boosts our confidence. We’re all qualified lifeguards in New Zealand, and some of us haven’t done rescues before. I think it’s a good opportunity for us to boost our confidence, knowing we’re capable of doing that so we can go back to New Zealand and be confident when we’re patrolling.”
The Stevens family of Huntington Beach, which has both James and Peter in the exchange program, has been hosting two New Zealand junior guards this month. The larger group of teenagers has also done other fun activities together — an Angels baseball game and a visit to Disneyland last weekend, and a Catalina trip on Wednesday.
On Tuesday night, the New Zealand junior guards performed a special haka dance at the City Council meeting.
Kelli Stevens said it’s been a valuable experience for her family. James, a Junior Guards captain and incoming junior at Huntington Beach High, and incoming freshman Peter are two of the Huntington Beach contingent who will head to New Zealand in December to complete the exchange.
“As a parent, I love to just sit and listen to them communicate,” Kelli Stevens said. “They’re talking about the similarities and differences between the food and the culture and the life-saving techniques … It’s fun for them to have a friend across the world. I know my boys can’t wait to go and visit their families and see them again.”
Huntington Beach Marine Safety Battalion Chief Doug Leach was part of a similar program, run through the California Surf Lifesaving Assn., in 2006 and 2007. He returned each year for several years, working as a seasonal lifeguard in Surf City during summer before heading back to New Zealand for the summer down under, which stretches from December through February.
He understands the importance and legacy of the Junior Guards exchange program as well.
“I know how many of our staff members have been over there when they were younger, and how influential it was on them,” Leach said. “Personal growth as a young person, the relationships they’ve built with their Kiwi counterparts, it’s just such a cool and unique thing.”
Jack Tyler, 16, is another of the New Zealand teenagers on the trip, which ends Friday. He said Piha Beach is much smaller than Huntington Beach. The lifeguards there set up flags for the safest areas for people to swim, an impossibility on the vast Surf City sands.
On one surf session on his lunch break this week, Tyler said he ran into a surfer from Spain.
“It was just a super-cool environment, and everyone was super-friendly,” Tyler said. “It’s just been a fantastic experience.”
The junior lifeguards went on a jetty run together Thursday morning — more than five miles round trip — which James Stevens said was a nice bonding moment.
The Huntington Beach Junior Lifeguards are about 40% of the way toward meeting their $125,000 fundraising goal for the December trip, Junior Lifeguard program coordinator Samantha Dieterman said. A pancake breakfast is scheduled for July 27 at Lake Park, and a portion of the $6 cost will go toward the travel expenses.
“Overall, I’d say it’s a really good experience and it just boosts the relationship between the countries and the life-saving clubs,” James Stevens said of the program. “I’ve learned some stuff too, like the releases and the grabs and stuff. We don’t really do that down here, at least not as far as I’ve progressed. It’s just learning new things, and being able to do adapt better to different scenarios. It’s been awesome.”
Come December, the Kiwis look forward to treating the Southern California kids to a slice of their life as well.
“It’s going to be exciting, like an extra sibling in the house, I guess,” Muir said. “It’ll be good to return the favor.”
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