Ready to Dive In? Become a Lifeguard and Make a Real Difference
Whether you're supporting your kids at Junior Surf, volunteering to keep beachgoers safe, or fully immersing yourself in club life, there are countless ways to get involved. Our lifeguard training courses are designed to fit your schedule and goals - choose from our Standard Course for a paced, comprehensive learning experience, or the Intensive Course for a fast-tracked, immersive programme.
Standard Course: run over a 10-week period with training days on one weeknight approx. 5pm – 7pm and one weekend day 9am – 12pm, depending on candidate availability.
Intensive Course: these courses run over four weekend days. All candidates must be registered with the club and have completed online training modules and workbook before training begins.
Locations: sessions take place at either the Pāpāmoa Surf Club or Fulton Swim School (15 Market Place, Pāpāmoa).
Pre-requisites: 14 years old or above on the exam date, and a member of a surf life saving club.
The first lifeguarding training course of the season starts in September 2025. More details to follow soon on how to register.
The Surf Lifeguard Award certifies that the holder has the skills and knowledge to be a Surf Lifeguard, and is the first step on the Surf Life Saving New Zealand Lifeguard pathway.
Exam components
- 400m pool swim under 9 minutes
- Run-Swim-Run in the surf
- Tube rescue in the pool and surf
- First Aid and CPR
- Communication signals
- Radio communication
- Theory questions
- Rescue tows and releases
Topics covered
- Introduction and risk management
- The physical environment
- CPR
- First Aid
- Roles and responsibilities
- Surf Lifeguard skills and knowledge
- Communication
Outcomes
At the completion of the qualification candidates will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of health and safety issues relevant to Surf Life Saving members.
- Describe the features of the surf environment.
- Identify and describe the roles and responsibilities of a Surf Lifeguard.
- Demonstrate knowledge of effective communication.
- Demonstrate knowledge of effective scanning techniques and victim identification.
- Perform retrieval of underwater objects.
- Perform releases and tows in an aquatic environment.
- Demonstrate Surf Life Saving signal communication and demonstrate knowledge of graphic communication.
- Communicate using a two-way radio.
- Perform a tube rescue.
- Provide resuscitation (no unit standards).
- Provide first aid (no unit standards).
For more information on anything to do with lifeguarding, please email lifeguards@papamoalifeguards.co.nz
