Camp Counselor Water Safety Training

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson, participants will be able to:

• Explain the counselor's job at swim time and how it differs from the lifeguard's.
• Run a buddy system: pairing by ability, checking in and out, and a buddy check at least every 15 minutes.
• Keep campers in the area that matches their tested swimming ability.
• Scan an assigned zone and recognize the quiet signs of drowning.
• Carry out your camp's lost swimmer plan in the right order.

Materials

• Your camp's written swim safety plan and lost swimmer plan (every counselor needs a copy)
• A buddy board or accountability chart, and the signal your camp uses for buddy checks (whistle or bell)
• Tape or cones to mark a pretend swim area with a swimmer section and a non-swimmer section
• Colored wristbands or tags if your camp uses them to show swimming ability
• Copies of the Camp Counselor Checklist and Water Watcher cards

Lesson steps

1. Why we drill 10 minutes

   Open with the NYC Health Department's warning (in the Background section) that failure to run a complete buddy system has been a significant contributing factor in every camper drowning it has seen since 1986. Then set out roles: lifeguards guard the water; counselors supervise, account for every camper and back up the lifeguards. Nobody does both at once.

2. Swim tests and swim areas 10 minutes

   Walk through how your camp tests and groups campers.

   • Every camper is tested before swimming. In NYC, the test must be given by a qualified swim instructor (a Water Safety Instructor or equivalent); a lifeguard is not qualified to give it.

   • Campers are grouped by tested ability, for example non-swimmers and swimmers.

   • Non-swimmers stay in water less than chest deep, measured on each camper.

   • If there is no physical barrier between areas, campers wear an ability marker such as a colored wristband. In NYC rules, float lines alone don't count as a barrier.

3. Buddy system drill 20 minutes

   Set up the pretend swim area and run three full buddy checks with staff acting as campers.

   • Pair every camper with a buddy of similar ability. One group of three is allowed per area if numbers are odd.

   • Record each pair on the board as they enter and leave the water area.

   • Call a buddy check no later than 15 minutes after campers enter, then at least every 15 minutes, and any time a child may be missing.

   • At the signal, buddies grab hands and raise them. One leader counts pairs aloud while a second counts silently. Compare the count with the board.

   • A single raised hand means a missing buddy: get that buddy's name, call it out, ask where they were last seen, and immediately tell the nearest lifeguard to start a water search.

4. Scanning and recognizing trouble 15 minutes

   Assign each counselor a zone. Practice sweeping the whole zone and counting heads. Counselors on duty are Water Watchers: no phones, no side conversations, no other tasks.

   • Needs help now: upright in the water, head back, mouth at the surface, not moving forward, not calling out.

   • Needs help now: not making forward progress, can't tread water, or face down and still.

   • In trouble too: yelling and splashing. They may still be able to grab a pole or ring.

   • Drowning is usually silent. Look, don't listen.

5. Lost swimmer drill 15 minutes

   Run your camp's lost swimmer plan as a timed drill. In NYC camp rules, the order is:

   • Tell the nearest lifeguard a child is missing and request an immediate water search.

   • Clear the water of all children and gather campers in a safe place away from the water, with counselors assigned to supervise them.

   • Assigned staff begin the land search, high-risk areas first, while the camp director is told.

   • Expand the search and keep in contact with the director. If needed, notify parents, law enforcement and the local health department.

6. Trips, boats and water parks 10 minutes

   Cover off-site swimming: tell the facility you've arrived and how your buddy checks work, swim only in designated areas, and keep the buddy system running. On any boat, every camper wears a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket that fits; federal law requires one for children under 13 on a moving boat.

7. Assessment and sign-off 10 minutes

   Each counselor answers the scenario questions below out loud, then demonstrates one buddy check as the leader. Sign off counselors who can run both drills without prompts; repeat the drill for anyone who can't.

8. Take-home

   Every counselor keeps the Camp Counselor Checklist in their swim bag and a Water Watcher card on a lanyard.