Briggy

I used to be a lifeguard at a well known Dutch vacation park, loved my job. Had to quit unfortunately, now I am studying to be a nurse. Strange fact: I almost drowned once as a child and since then, I was/am still afraid of wave pools, deep water etc. I know, not exactly good characteristics to be a lifeguard right? Well, one of the jobs (listen to and shudder) was to clean the wave pool. Which sometimes included, removing part of the bars, diving through and surfacing in the chamber. There you had to remove leaves and other things from the underwater pool drain (suction for the water slides). You can breathe because not the whole room is flooded. But it feels very scary because of the pressure in the chamber. The first time I dived together with another collegue, because we were together I didn't feel scared. But some time after that I had to go in alone, and got a panic attack in there, I didn't go underwater, I just grabbed a plastic cup floating on the water and got the hell out of there. Luckily that was the only time I had to do that. Good too, because else there would be countless water slide errors because of the pool drain being clogged. There were safety measures when somebody had to dive in there. At the lifeguard post the waves were turned off, and the emergency stop button is in use. And there is somebody waiting at the other side of the bars. In the case they felt it took too long for you to come out, they would come and get you. The wave pool at the swimming pool I worked at. We had to dive through the right bars.