According to local paper the Daily Pilot, World Record holder and 5-time Olympic gold medalist Aaron Peirsol will begin a new job in the water on Saturday – as a rookie, seasonal lifeguard in Newport Beach.
In other words, the 30-year old swimmer, one of the most decorated backstrokers in history, is starting at the bottom, and that’s just fine with him.
“It’s one of the most natural things for me in the world,” Peirsol said of becoming a lifeguard. “I want to do this because of the respect I have for the local environment. I feel like I always had something drawing me to being a lifeguard. It’s exciting for me. It really is something I wanted to do since I was a kid. It’s a huge part of who I am. I’ve always looked up to those guys. They love what they do. How can you not dig that? I’m looking forward to this for sure.”
Peirsol has long been a vocal proponent for protecting the ocean and its many inhabitants, and this job is a natural extension of that.
Newport lifeguards start at $17.10 per hour, so it’s not to say that this is by any means your typical summer lifeguarding job. But as with most beach lifeguard departments, it’s a bottom-up system. Even the great Aaron Peirsol has to work his way up the food chain.
Someone familiar with the system says that new beach guards usually start as seasonal tower guards, working long hours in the summer (with overtime) when the beaches are busiest and demand is highest. These seasonal guards are often high school teachers, who have summers off, or simply those who love the lifestyle – they will often go on unemployment in winter months and travel.
Eventually, guards become permanent year-round employees, which means that they are employees of the local fire department.
And that’s where the gig gets good. While that can take most mortals up to 15 years to achieve, Peirsol may move up the ranks a little faster, given that he’s a Newport Beach native and has a few medals around his neck.
Full time lifeguards can make anywhere from $58,000 to over $100,000, with an impressive benefits and retirement package to boot. While the city is looking at solutions to cut back on those costs, for those not familiar with beach guards: this is far from the summer job that guards in land-locked municipalities have in high school, making minimum wage to babysit rowdy tweens.
So, if you think you see one of the greatest and most recognizable swimmers of the decade this summer while strolling on the beach, make that double take, because it’s just possible that you have. But don’t harass him too much – he’s got an important job to do.
One of the legendary lifeguards at Newport was Buddy Belshi a fine swimmer in his day and a great person to know. Met him when he was swimming and years later on the beach when he was wheeling one of those ballon tired vehicles.
And people wonder why CA is bankrupt.
California is bankrupt of a couple of reasons, but it has nothing to do with paying lifeguards well enough so they can live where they work. Proposition 13 is probably a good start to investigate the financial woes of the Golden State
As a former Guard I’m happy he’s joining the ranks. We need good men like him to watch our water. Wish I was still in the water… but, someone’s gotta fight fires around town. haha hope he loves the job as much as I did.
You go Bro!
My kids are Los Angeles County Beach Lifeguards and have never applied for unemployment (didn’t know it was an option)(Need to check into that)! For those who are critical of the profession – Where else can one get over $23.00 per hour starting pay with a 13% bonus for EMT and a deferred compensation account. Like Braden stated above, the benefits and pensions are amazing for permanent personnel. There is so much more to these organizations than most people realize (swift water rescue teams, SCUBA teams, Paramedics stationed on Catalina Island, boat operations, cliff rescues, Junior Lifeguard Instructors, etc, etc.). There are also competitions (local, regional, national and international). It’s a profession to be PROUD of. Good Luck Aaron!!!
Rebecca Gilman from the 90’s is an LA lifeguard.
Sorry, for how you feel, Brain Goodell sells Real Estate and Shirley Babashoff is a postal Worker not everyone is going in management or become a doctor or lawyer or engineer. Mr Perisol probably still makes some money from his past swimming days as well. The job market may also be bad in his area, its his choice.
Hello people! This crazy Aron Peirsol as lifeguard ?
Is Ryan and Micheal will end up there too. Can we put them to Better service to
Swimming community.
my guess is that it is by choice, not because he has to. I think Aaron set up some life goals when he was young that looked like the following:
1. Make Olympics
2. Win Gold Medals and Set WR’s
3. Become Famous
4. Sign Endorsement Deals and Make $$$
5. Get Paid to Spend Time at Beach
6. Never Lose Cool Attitude/Lifestyle