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Interview with Thomas Ritchie, founder of the Santa Teresa Lifeguards and his daughter Avalon about their incredible work in Costa Rica.
13 Plays1 month ago
Lifeguarding skills present opportunities to work all over the world, so just imagine working in Santa Teresa Costa Rica. Enjoy the replay of this inspiring chat is with Thomas Ritchie, founder of the Santa Teresa Lifeguards and his daughter Avalon, one of the volunteer lifeguards. A service founded by need in the community and run totally by volunteers enjoy the inspirational chat about what the team are doing keep their beaches safe and the hundreds of lives they have saved over the last 9 years since they formed in 2014.
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Transcript
Introduction to Live, Learn, Survive
00:00:10
Speaker
Hi, I'm Trent Maxwell.
00:00:11
Speaker
And I'm Lee Mason.
00:00:12
Speaker
And we want to welcome you to our Live, Learn, Survive podcast.
00:00:15
Speaker
Since 2018, Lee and I travel the globe and met face-to-face with over 26,000 children in six countries across three continents.
00:00:22
Speaker
We created a series of award-winning children's books, Max's Rescue Squad, and are now founders of our Live, Learn, Survive charity.
00:00:28
Speaker
All focused on teaching teens and young adults' life skills and not only help themselves, but help others too.
00:00:33
Speaker
We take what we do very seriously ourselves, not so much as you assume we're here.
00:00:37
Speaker
So let's spend the next half an hour together with some fun, inspiration and kindness, and we'll try and learn something too.
00:00:43
Speaker
How are you
Guests from Santa Teresa Lifeguards
00:00:44
Speaker
this week, Lee?
00:00:44
Speaker
Maxie, I am good because, um, as you kind of know, we're still, we're still on holiday, but we're at the moment, we're not yet on holiday and, um, we've got another special guest.
00:00:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:55
Speaker
So I'm very excited to speak.
00:00:56
Speaker
I'm so excited today.
00:00:58
Speaker
So they, they reached out a couple of weeks ago.
00:01:03
Speaker
you know, on the other side of the world.
00:01:04
Speaker
The power of social media.
00:01:06
Speaker
Very similar to what I do as a lifeguard here in Sydney.
00:01:10
Speaker
And I can't wait to hear their story and what they're doing in Costa Rica.
00:01:14
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:01:15
Speaker
So using social media for good, these friendships develop.
00:01:20
Speaker
So today we are joined by the Santa Teresa lifeguards from Costa Rica.
00:01:27
Speaker
So we have Thomas Ritchie, who is the founder of the Santa Teresa lifeguards.
00:01:31
Speaker
He's a surfer, a waterman, and a pillar of the community, I hear.
00:01:36
Speaker
And also we've been joined by his daughter, Avalon, who is one of the volunteer lifeguards for the Santa Teresa lifeguards.
Founding and Impact of Santa Teresa Lifeguards
00:01:44
Speaker
They founded the lifeguards in 2014, established after three tragic drowning events.
00:01:50
Speaker
And what we want to do today is showcase lifeguard in their part of the world.
00:01:55
Speaker
So welcome, Thomas and Avalon.
00:01:58
Speaker
Welcome, guys.
00:02:00
Speaker
Thank you.
00:02:01
Speaker
Thank you.
00:02:02
Speaker
Nice introduction.
00:02:03
Speaker
We're happy to be here.
00:02:05
Speaker
Oh, we are thrilled to have you.
00:02:07
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:02:08
Speaker
So I'll start off.
00:02:10
Speaker
We're going to ask you a few questions.
00:02:11
Speaker
So the first thing for anybody that doesn't know your beautiful part of the world, tell us about Santa Teresa and Costa Rica.
00:02:21
Speaker
Well, we are located on the Nakoya Peninsula.
00:02:26
Speaker
It's in the middle of the country.
00:02:28
Speaker
You can take a ferry here or a long drive about six hours out of the capital.
00:02:34
Speaker
And we're a new town, only really about 20 years old as a destination.
00:02:41
Speaker
We've been living here for 33 years.
00:02:44
Speaker
The first five years without electricity.
00:02:46
Speaker
So it was very quiet, just a few people.
00:02:49
Speaker
And it got going around 2000.
00:02:52
Speaker
and the numbers started to increase and it's a very beautiful land and surf area and very tropical.
00:03:01
Speaker
And we're based in beside the Cabo Blanco reserve.
00:03:05
Speaker
And most people come here for surf and yoga and a lot of partying.
00:03:11
Speaker
It's a lot of young people.
00:03:13
Speaker
It's kind of weird dynamic.
00:03:16
Speaker
It's yeah, it's just there's a night crowd and a day crowd and
00:03:21
Speaker
So a lot of, uh, drugs and alcohol and, uh, you know, a lot of, uh, you know, uh, uneducated people, uh, for a surfing and a lot of currents and, um, a lot of geographical, you know, so many
Challenges and Volunteer Program
00:03:38
Speaker
beaches that are unprotected, no education in, uh, the surfing, you know, you know, the schools.
00:03:44
Speaker
So we're at the brunt of that down here in this beautiful paradise and, uh,
00:03:49
Speaker
It's we're just trying to educate too and let everybody know what's going on.
00:03:54
Speaker
You can see how, when you said all those different factors to how you do your lifeguarding, there's so many things going on.
00:04:02
Speaker
So I could feel Maxie's shoulders tense in every bit of that conversation of like, whoa, exactly.
00:04:10
Speaker
Sorry about that.
00:04:12
Speaker
It's a risky disaster.
00:04:16
Speaker
And it's amazing that you guys started in 2014 to make the place better, more safer.
00:04:22
Speaker
So a really big pat on the back to you guys.
00:04:27
Speaker
That leads us into the next question.
00:04:30
Speaker
Tell us about your lifeguard service.
00:04:33
Speaker
Just your service.
00:04:34
Speaker
Tell us, you know, your team, what you guys do for training.
00:04:38
Speaker
So almost nine years old.
00:04:39
Speaker
So 10 year anniversary next year.
00:04:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:43
Speaker
How do you recruit?
00:04:47
Speaker
So we run solely on volunteer lifeguards all year round.
00:04:53
Speaker
We have about three, three lifeguards, myself included that live here full time year round.
00:04:59
Speaker
And most, yeah, most of us are volunteers from all over the world.
00:05:06
Speaker
We,
00:05:07
Speaker
People can come here.
00:05:09
Speaker
Obviously they have to be certified lifeguards and they come here for a shortage of a minimum of two weeks, six weeks, four weeks, four weeks to three months.
00:05:21
Speaker
And they live in our lifeguard house and our headquarters.
00:05:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:26
Speaker
We fit 17 and yeah.
00:05:29
Speaker
And basically all they have to do is it's an exchange.
00:05:32
Speaker
They work one shift six days a week.
00:05:38
Speaker
So they get one free day and the shifts are only five hours.
00:05:41
Speaker
We open our towers from 8.15 to 6.15 every day.
00:05:43
Speaker
Five towers.
00:05:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:49
Speaker
So five towers every day, 365 days a year.
00:05:54
Speaker
And for someone that's listening that is potentially got the qualifications and they want to get in touch, they'll see how to get in touch with you guys.
00:06:04
Speaker
But is it as easy as sending an email or reaching out?
00:06:09
Speaker
Yeah.
Recruitment and Training
00:06:10
Speaker
Yeah, you send an email to our...
00:06:14
Speaker
the main lifeguard organization email, santeresalifeguards at Gmail, I think it is.
00:06:20
Speaker
And yeah, basically you send your swim times and they look over your application and then, yeah.
00:06:27
Speaker
You basically were looking for lifeguards with ocean experience.
00:06:31
Speaker
Yes.
00:06:32
Speaker
He looks for surfers.
00:06:33
Speaker
He wants surfers.
00:06:34
Speaker
Well, you know what?
00:06:36
Speaker
Down at Bondi, we work with the surf clubs, the volunteers, but we also admire and look for lifeguards.
00:06:45
Speaker
Sorry, surfers.
00:06:46
Speaker
They're out and surf every day.
00:06:49
Speaker
We get a lot of the grassroots of young surfers.
00:06:53
Speaker
people that have grown up on the beach to join the lifeguards, not necessarily having a life-saving background.
00:06:59
Speaker
But yeah, I could see what Thomas was saying.
00:07:01
Speaker
It's always good to get some surfers because they're... Waterman skills.
00:07:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:05
Speaker
And a lot of the time when tragedies do happen, and as you'd probably both know, being surfers, is sometimes the lifeguards will be in the towers or they'll be doing their patrols.
00:07:15
Speaker
There'll be a medical episode or something will kick off out and surf.
00:07:18
Speaker
A lot of the time the surfers are potentially first on scene.
00:07:22
Speaker
There's numerous amount of programs where we're trying to educate surfers as well, not just the, um, the people around the waterways, but the surfers to be fast and quick first responders as well.
00:07:32
Speaker
So it's awesome.
00:07:34
Speaker
I have a, one nice thing to say about Australia for you guys.
00:07:43
Speaker
We want to thank Australia.
00:07:45
Speaker
And I think it was, uh, Mike or Mark Banting.
00:07:50
Speaker
one of the pro servers who started 24 seven.
00:07:54
Speaker
That's what I was gonna say, 24 seven.
00:07:57
Speaker
Yeah, well we copied that program.
00:08:00
Speaker
And we've made it into like sometimes a two and three day courses.
00:08:05
Speaker
And we've taught over 150 surfers randomly over the last nine years.
00:08:11
Speaker
We give them a rash guard.
00:08:12
Speaker
It's called, you know, a guard to surf, surf guard.
00:08:17
Speaker
And they learn the whole 24-7 program plus a little bit more CPR, a little bit more.
00:08:23
Speaker
We've extended a little bit.
00:08:24
Speaker
It's still, we offer it as a free course.
00:08:27
Speaker
You get a rash guard at the end.
00:08:29
Speaker
And we really believe here that the more surfers and local surfers that we can get that are strong watermen, are water women to learn that water safety, to put your board first and let the people grab the board so they don't drown you and defuse the people.
00:08:47
Speaker
And one of the things we ask, one of our more, from a lesson that we learned is we try to get every lifeguard to ask how many people in your party
00:08:57
Speaker
Who is with you?
00:08:57
Speaker
Is there any other people there?
00:08:59
Speaker
One question that people seem to not remember in the time of a rescue, they concentrate on the people and they didn't know that there was just somebody who drifted off just very close.
00:09:12
Speaker
And how we started was from a big rescue that happened where a group of like seven drifted out at sunset around some rocks and about six guys went out with boards and went around the corner, grabbed them,
00:09:29
Speaker
all came back in and in the whole commotion didn't realize there was seven and they only rescued six and the other one was there wow yeah situational awareness is very important you need to know your surroundings you need to know how many people how many people are in the party and so on but the the skills that uh surfers can learn yeah can be life-saving
00:09:53
Speaker
And the technique of the paddling with your feet up and getting the patient to lie on, you know, or the victim to lie on your back with their head on their butt is like,
00:10:03
Speaker
Ingenious when I learned that from that, you know, that course, I was like, wow, that's a game changer for dragging people, you know, in.
00:10:11
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
00:10:12
Speaker
And then using the currents and the surf to your advantage to be able to get that person in as quickly and as safely as possible as well without losing them.
00:10:20
Speaker
So you can do the leg tuck, like you're saying.
00:10:22
Speaker
And yeah, it's called the leg tuck.
00:10:25
Speaker
Okay.
00:10:27
Speaker
Another thing I wanted to touch on was just recently within two months ago, we had a body surfer, an older gentleman,
00:10:38
Speaker
you know, body serving by himself in a little lone stretch of the beach with a pretty solid shore pound and must have tucked into some kind of barrel and bam, slammed the bottom, hit his head, knocked himself unconscious, gave him a big strawberry.
00:10:54
Speaker
And with, you know, people were walking by, we had reports of them watching him and,
00:11:00
Speaker
And, uh, before tower hours, the four towers.
00:11:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:04
Speaker
Early in early six, seven in the morning or whatever.
00:11:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:07
Speaker
It was great.
00:11:09
Speaker
We, the reason we got there was because we had the 7.00 AM training on Tuesdays and Fridays.
00:11:14
Speaker
We have a physical training that's mandatory.
00:11:17
Speaker
And it's basically we practice rescue techniques and we work on cardio and running, swimming, entering classic lifeguard workouts.
00:11:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:26
Speaker
So they were there and got to the victim, but it was a little bit too late.
00:11:31
Speaker
So I just say, well, again, what our rule, what we were trying to,
00:11:37
Speaker
learn from this lesson is you know the buddy system and if you would have been with a friend or somebody else or somebody you know the chances of survival is so much more yeah so we you know tried to turn it around in a positive way and that's how our lifeguard association got formed was a double drowning uh in 2014 with a two-year-old baby and a lady the baby walked off into the water she found she's seen it she came up and grabbed the baby by the time she had the baby she was in
00:12:07
Speaker
up to her waist and just couldn't walk out and just kind of floating out.
00:12:11
Speaker
It was very small waves, very dead low tide, a little bit of current sucking out.
00:12:15
Speaker
And before you knew it, she was floating and trying to hold the baby and, uh, very shortly drowned.
00:12:22
Speaker
And, uh, that affected our community so much that, um,
00:12:27
Speaker
It brought everybody together, you know, and also there was a thing that happened about a year before that, the Costa Rican government realized that they needed to make all lifeguard or all surf instructors take a basic CPR lifeguarding course.
Community Support and Funding
00:12:46
Speaker
So it just so happened about a dozen of our local guys had gone down to Hakko to another beach community, taken a five-day course with Marvin, this local guy, and had been certified over this last year.
00:12:59
Speaker
Just with CPR skills.
00:13:01
Speaker
Just with CPR.
00:13:01
Speaker
Very basic, like a very crude lifeguard.
00:13:04
Speaker
They all thought they were lifeguards, these guys, you know, like when they came back.
00:13:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:09
Speaker
It was like a 24-7 course, you know, a little extended kind of work.
00:13:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:13
Speaker
And anyway, so they all stepped right up.
00:13:16
Speaker
Like, they're like, hey, let's get together.
00:13:17
Speaker
Come on.
00:13:18
Speaker
We want to help.
00:13:19
Speaker
So we raised $16,000 from the community.
00:13:22
Speaker
We had enough to pay, come up with $2,000 a month, you know, and we've had some other donations.
00:13:28
Speaker
But it was just to pay the lifeguards on Saturdays and Sundays.
00:13:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:33
Speaker
$500, you know, 250 Saturday, 250 Sunday, five guys, five different towers.
00:13:38
Speaker
They donated some time too, but that was the beginning of it.
00:13:42
Speaker
That was the beginning of it.
00:13:42
Speaker
So it was to start off as a paid program.
00:13:45
Speaker
And we realized, you know, even when people donated, they would say, Hey, we donate the money for your lifeguards.
00:13:50
Speaker
And then we don't see them all week.
00:13:53
Speaker
And I'm like, well, we're, don't have enough funds to keep the lifeguards on the top seven days a week.
00:13:58
Speaker
So that's when we knew then that we were gonna have to go to some kind of other solution.
00:14:04
Speaker
And as the years went on, it just turned out that a piece of property came up in front of my property that had a building existing from like a youth hostel.
00:14:14
Speaker
And Matias, my Argentinian friend, who was also more of the push, who's a real certified lifeguard from us, Marta Plata in Argentina, he had been monitoring the beaches for a few years in 2010, say to 2014.
00:14:32
Speaker
with two or three friends, you know, with the fans just walking because our numbers were growing so much and we were having these drownings, you know, a couple here, a couple there, you know, like numbers were growing, drownings were growing.
00:14:45
Speaker
It was like, it was starting to be an issue.
00:14:48
Speaker
Costa Rica had more drownings than the U.S. Wow, that's scary.
00:14:55
Speaker
Just to get you on a little bit of our statistics, you know, I had no idea when I got into it.
00:14:59
Speaker
Matias approached me
00:15:01
Speaker
to build, uh, some towers, some sort of tower out of some bamboo that I grow for this coming up some on a Santa, you know, Easter, Holy week kind of thing where the numbers of the people just come down and, and they like to drink and they like the party.
00:15:17
Speaker
They like to fish off the rocks, you know, and they get off the rocks, you know, a lot of drunken fishermen.
00:15:25
Speaker
It's all, there were always, these people were drowning and, um,
00:15:28
Speaker
So they came to me and I said, yeah, I can make you some towers.
00:15:32
Speaker
You know, how many towers do you need?
00:15:33
Speaker
And he goes, we only need three because two for Santa Teresa, one for Carmen.
00:15:38
Speaker
And I said to him,
00:15:40
Speaker
What about Playa Hermosa or another beach a little farther up the coast?
00:15:45
Speaker
And it's very popular, but there's a gap of long, flat coastline that there's no real people.
00:15:53
Speaker
And so it's a separated zone kind of thing.
00:15:54
Speaker
And he goes, listen, we don't have the manpower.
00:15:56
Speaker
We only got like five or six guys.
00:15:58
Speaker
We're going to work these three towers.
00:16:00
Speaker
We got it figured out.
00:16:01
Speaker
And I made a joke.
00:16:02
Speaker
I said, you know, we don't care about the people in Hermosa kind of thing.
00:16:05
Speaker
Right.
00:16:06
Speaker
You know, and he goes, just we don't have the manpower.
00:16:08
Speaker
It's just not possible.
00:16:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:10
Speaker
I'm like, OK, I'll make you three towers.
00:16:12
Speaker
And I didn't think anything about it.
00:16:13
Speaker
About three days later, that's when the double drowning happened in Hermosa.
00:16:17
Speaker
And I was like, oh, my God, like we're making another tower first off.
00:16:22
Speaker
And we've got to do something.
00:16:23
Speaker
And then everybody just met at our place.
00:16:25
Speaker
The association just basically formed like with so much passion, a retired lifeguard named John.
00:16:33
Speaker
from Florida came and was living here and he came down and hung out and kind of guided everybody and helped and his wife.
00:16:38
Speaker
And then we're like, yeah, let's make this association.
00:16:40
Speaker
Let's get the domain name.
00:16:41
Speaker
Let's start it.
00:16:42
Speaker
We printed shirts, we made stickers.
00:16:44
Speaker
We kind of got the energy, a lot of fundraisers, a lot of pizza parties, a lot of, you know, events and bike races and competitions and different things.
00:16:54
Speaker
Isn't it incredible like the power of community when everyone comes together and what can be achieved?
00:16:59
Speaker
And the passion as well.
00:17:01
Speaker
I can see how much passion you guys have and it's very admiring to see.
00:17:04
Speaker
You know, sometimes through adversity and through tragedies like the Double Drowning Hemosa, the fact that, you know, you guys go, no, I'm building that extra tower, I'm doing these things.
00:17:15
Speaker
We're creating this amazing centuries of lifeguard service, community, and, yeah, hats off to you guys.
00:17:23
Speaker
It's amazing.
00:17:23
Speaker
You just mentioned there, Thomas, statistics.
00:17:27
Speaker
So how many rescues and how many drowners?
00:17:30
Speaker
Give us some of your statistics.
00:17:32
Speaker
Last year we had 1,642 preventions, 108 first aides, 192 rescues and three CPRs.
00:17:54
Speaker
Wow.
00:17:55
Speaker
Did you have any drownings last year?
00:17:59
Speaker
And last year, no, we had zero.
00:18:02
Speaker
We haven't had any drownings until this year.
00:18:06
Speaker
With a lifeguard on duty.
00:18:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:08
Speaker
Yeah, we've had some below.
00:18:09
Speaker
Eight years straight, we had no drownings.
00:18:11
Speaker
The body surfer drowned from hitting his head.
00:18:13
Speaker
He was unconscious, you know, quickly.
00:18:15
Speaker
That is incredible.
00:18:16
Speaker
Just think of the lives you've saved.
00:18:19
Speaker
Think of the lives of lifeguards.
00:18:20
Speaker
It's amazing.
00:18:22
Speaker
We do all that with a lack, with a shortage of lifeguards.
00:18:25
Speaker
In the rainy season is when we have a shortage.
00:18:29
Speaker
Even though we have less lifeguards, we still manage to not have any deaths.
00:18:34
Speaker
So that's amazing.
00:18:35
Speaker
That's a good point.
00:18:36
Speaker
When she's just mentioned there that the September, August and October are our three hardest months to find volunteers.
00:18:47
Speaker
So that's what we've been trying to reach out to Australia and New Zealand for nine years and get you guys on board.
00:18:52
Speaker
And I know your clubs and your swimming, your life saving, your nipper, everything's so strong.
00:18:57
Speaker
And they love to send people away.
00:19:00
Speaker
You know, like I've been, I spent one trip in New Zealand a long time ago with some, the all black hopefuls and rugby world.
00:19:07
Speaker
And I know how the Kiwis really like the Aussies like their clubs.
00:19:11
Speaker
and they really want to send their crew abroad, you know, and then take in, you know, visitors from abroad.
00:19:17
Speaker
It's always kind of that style that I'd always admired of Australia, you know, and with their surf club fishing, you know, or the swim club.
00:19:25
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:19:26
Speaker
They'd be on clubs.
00:19:27
Speaker
Whatever it is, you know, so.
00:19:29
Speaker
uh let me try to get that that gap you know filled and we've had like only one kiwi from taranaki we've had a couple aussies you know uh very few you know it's mostly you know rgs number one percentage and then we have uh chileans and uruguay come in there probably and then some french are filling in a lot in english
00:19:53
Speaker
England and a lot of Americans too.
00:19:56
Speaker
So it's a real mixing pot and it's international.
00:19:59
Speaker
The guys love it.
00:20:00
Speaker
They're always rotating through and they get, they bond together while they're there.
00:20:05
Speaker
They get in shape, they train, they got the use of the gym, they got bikes to ride around.
00:20:11
Speaker
They got surf a hundred meters away.
00:20:14
Speaker
You know, the town's full of a lot of young people, you know, a lot of young girls.
00:20:17
Speaker
Right.
00:20:17
Speaker
And so,
00:20:19
Speaker
everybody's kind of happy, you know, like it's a young party scene a little bit.
00:20:22
Speaker
We have to keep them on your way.
00:20:26
Speaker
Maxie will be on his way.
00:20:27
Speaker
I was just going to say, it's definitely something, I'm just getting my mind thinking now, we do do a lot of traveling with Live and Survive, but I'd love to come and see you guys one day.
00:20:38
Speaker
We will be on the way.
00:20:39
Speaker
To be able to
00:20:42
Speaker
to be able to just see how you guys work in the flesh, just to watch you guys.
00:20:47
Speaker
And then also to share a bit of knowledge from what I do and then learn some stuff from you guys as well.
00:20:53
Speaker
It's not always a one-way street and that's what I always try to educate people.
00:20:57
Speaker
There's certain skills and ways that you do things that we probably don't do in Australia, but probably would work here in Australia.
00:21:04
Speaker
I'd love, yeah, we'll be in touch.
00:21:06
Speaker
We'll be making sure.
00:21:07
Speaker
And I'd love to come over and do a week or so.
00:21:10
Speaker
I have researched the nearest airport, Maxi, just out of interest as I was doing my geography homework.
00:21:19
Speaker
So you just talked on your... I wanted to just talk a little bit about...
00:21:26
Speaker
That Costa Rica gets 150 drownings per year.
00:21:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:29
Speaker
Okay.
00:21:30
Speaker
And outside of America, more Americans drown in or die in Mexico.
00:21:36
Speaker
And the second country where Americans die is Costa Rica.
00:21:39
Speaker
Costa Rica.
Global Drowning Prevention Efforts
00:21:40
Speaker
So there, you know, there is the American embassy is aware of this and they're trying to put money into this and fight this problem.
00:21:49
Speaker
There's about seven or eight towns, Tamarindo, Limon, Puerto Viejo, Nosara, Jaco, Capos, Manuel Antonio.
00:22:00
Speaker
These beaches are all funded by the government and there is government support, but they get private support too.
00:22:05
Speaker
We're just one of the newer eighth or ninth on the list.
00:22:10
Speaker
of associations where we do not receive funding.
00:22:15
Speaker
We're kind of independent.
00:22:16
Speaker
We kind of like it that way.
00:22:17
Speaker
We do have some high profile people that support us and buy some quads here and there.
00:22:21
Speaker
We have two quads that we run on rescue.
00:22:23
Speaker
We have a hotline number.
00:22:26
Speaker
We're covering, I don't know, about six or seven kilometers.
00:22:30
Speaker
Suns race is two kilometers and then it goes a little bit into Malt Pais.
00:22:34
Speaker
There's another beach.
00:22:36
Speaker
We it's a fair range.
00:22:37
Speaker
We send our guys out on bikes.
00:22:39
Speaker
And so we're, you know, we're always looking for, you know, social media help to help support us on social media.
00:22:46
Speaker
You know, they get our funding in our base up.
00:22:49
Speaker
We're around 7000 followers.
00:22:50
Speaker
We're trying to get it up a little bit to do some GoFundMe and kind of thing, you know, accounts and we're always looking for medical supplies.
00:22:58
Speaker
We're looking for fitness equipment.
00:23:01
Speaker
Yeah, fitness equipment.
00:23:02
Speaker
Everyone has anything.
00:23:03
Speaker
Psychological support.
00:23:04
Speaker
Like we meet psychologists in town and when we have trauma or near death or drowning, you know, kind of victims and stuff like that, we're like, hey, contact this person.
00:23:15
Speaker
Different languages.
00:23:16
Speaker
We need French.
00:23:18
Speaker
English, Spanish, you know, different languages to help our volunteers if there's a problem.
00:23:24
Speaker
You know, we hope we can hook up the number and Skype somebody to decompress them a little bit, you know.
00:23:30
Speaker
Incredible.
00:23:32
Speaker
Also, I just want to talk about one thing before I wrap up.
00:23:35
Speaker
I think the United Nations has recognized that drowning is like the number three cause of unintentional deaths.
00:23:41
Speaker
Yes.
00:23:43
Speaker
Aware of that kind of deal, right?
00:23:45
Speaker
So to me, we were lucky that our model worked where we had the means to purchase this piece of land and renovate it because Matthias was a fitness instructor and had a small booty camp thing going on the beach with a small gym at his house.
00:24:01
Speaker
So we kind of moved the gym over to this building and just extended the roof and made this
00:24:06
Speaker
outdoor jungle gym that's just taken off and that's the how the moneymaker that runs the proceeds to cover our six is what i was going to ask you about next yeah that's how it runs that and it so some months and we're busy and everybody's in and we're pumping we have david hayes world champion boxers we just have the the german uh goalie for the national team the olympic team in the gym right now so we have some high profile but it's we have a lot of down time so it's hard to
00:24:36
Speaker
the association never makes money we're always you know buying more shirts or buying more gear or buying stuff we need to grow yeah and our long-term thing is we only have like one headquarters for santa theresa but there's three beaches there's playa hermosa that needs a headquarters we just had an academy where avalon was uh teaching tell them about the academy
00:24:58
Speaker
Yeah, we held a seven day academy in May.
00:25:02
Speaker
It was the first one and it ran really well.
00:25:05
Speaker
We had some local instructors and also Matias, the co-founder and also some doctors, paramedic EMTs.
00:25:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:14
Speaker
EMTs.
00:25:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:16
Speaker
And yeah, it was 16.
00:25:18
Speaker
There were 16 participants.
00:25:20
Speaker
Some of them that live in Hermosa.
00:25:22
Speaker
And so we donated, we gave them, we gifted them a torpedo, a buoy and some fins and they're going to start doing their own.
00:25:32
Speaker
We have a tower we built up there for them.
00:25:34
Speaker
Just like a couple hours a day.
00:25:34
Speaker
They're going to start doing guards there.
00:25:38
Speaker
That's awesome stuff, guys.
00:25:39
Speaker
This is incredible.
00:25:40
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:25:41
Speaker
Third training we've done in nine years.
00:25:43
Speaker
Haven't done a lot of certification.
00:25:45
Speaker
That leads us to the serious issue of why the United Nations recognizes that drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional death.
00:25:54
Speaker
is I believe that you guys are doing amazing work and your style of information education is a key factor.
00:26:01
Speaker
Early on.
00:26:01
Speaker
Teaching swimming, teaching basic survival instinct, buddy system, learning basic knowledge of ocean safety, land safety, everything, that stuff is awesome.
00:26:15
Speaker
And you're using a first world program in a first world country.
00:26:20
Speaker
But there is second kind of world countries and there's third world countries.
00:26:25
Speaker
And so the current means of how we get certified life instructor life, you know, lifeguard instructors, there's not many of them in this world, but get that certification to teach.
00:26:38
Speaker
Okay.
00:26:39
Speaker
Then you've got to pay them.
00:26:42
Speaker
to come to your place to teach a course.
00:26:46
Speaker
So then you gotta block out a week or two weeks of time and advertise before to the, you know, trying to get people interested in taking this course.
00:26:56
Speaker
They have to stop work for two weeks.
00:26:58
Speaker
They have to come up with the money for the course
00:27:01
Speaker
Right.
00:27:01
Speaker
And in second and third world countries, these are huge problems.
00:27:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:05
Speaker
Trying to get this together.
00:27:07
Speaker
Hence, that's why we've only had three certification courses in nine years.
00:27:12
Speaker
OK.
00:27:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:13
Speaker
So and that's just us.
00:27:15
Speaker
And we're like, you know, we're a second world.
00:27:17
Speaker
We're not first.
00:27:17
Speaker
We're not third.
00:27:18
Speaker
You know, we're in between kind of thing.
00:27:20
Speaker
So.
00:27:21
Speaker
But we recognize this from the South Africans who had the United Nations had a convention in Cape Town a couple of years ago before COVID talking all about the problems and how they were going to address this drowning issue with more education.
00:27:36
Speaker
And I know
00:27:38
Speaker
You guys probably know too that it's kind of a strange thing.
00:27:41
Speaker
Over the last 5-10 years, there was a lot of countries that took out money from swimming and education in a lot of different countries around the world.
00:27:47
Speaker
And it was restricted.
00:27:49
Speaker
And then they learned as drowning got more, you know, numbers went up that they're like, now they're on the back burner and the money's kind of coming back and the awareness is coming.
00:27:57
Speaker
You know, like I heard even like a year or two ago that Germany had for the first time ever more kids that didn't know how to swim ever before in the history of Germany.
00:28:07
Speaker
I hear this random stuff.
00:28:09
Speaker
So I'm saying to me, it's like we need to change the model, right, of how we go about this, saving the lives, right?
00:28:17
Speaker
And so the only thing we can think of is something that just happened naturally for us is that we went from a jungle and we still are very grassroots, very jungle run.
00:28:26
Speaker
You know, we just do everything we can to stay alive and keep people on the towers.
00:28:30
Speaker
We have...
00:28:31
Speaker
you know, jealousy of our, of our locals who don't like the idea of foreigners working the towers and their beach town, you know, they're a little bit macho with that whole thing.
00:28:42
Speaker
Right.
00:28:42
Speaker
So we're, we're always being political and dealing with that and keeping that image strong.
00:28:48
Speaker
But like, for instance, in Nicaragua, there's a lady up there at the beach and a little town where there was been some drownings a lot on her beach.
00:28:57
Speaker
And she's like,
00:28:59
Speaker
maybe willing to put a little space where we can make a small bodega, make a little roof, put some weights in there, make a makeshift gym on the beach and pick a few of the kids from the community that are water kids, that are surfers, that have interest in health and fitness and get them into the club and say, hey, start working out.
00:29:21
Speaker
Here's the weights.
00:29:22
Speaker
You can work for free, train.
00:29:24
Speaker
get the healthy see the ones that are focused see the ones that are working out okay run them swim them getting all then do some cpr do some courses and then get lifeguards to go around the world to these little areas kind of connect them so you've got a local that's running this little makeshift gym now they need a lifeguard to come in and really get them up to like more code more levels teach more information they don't have to be a teacher they don't have to be certified
00:29:51
Speaker
You know, they know they've taken the courses, they're up to snuff, but now they can help out that person there and say, listen, okay, let's pick a couple.
00:29:59
Speaker
Let's do a course.
00:30:00
Speaker
We're going to do a certification course and it's going to be a jungle certification course.
00:30:04
Speaker
Okay.
00:30:05
Speaker
It's not going to be international recognized, but at least we're going to have more people in the community that know how to rescue, start that hell.
00:30:12
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:30:14
Speaker
Start that model and just try to duplicate this on small scales or bigger scales and move it around, you know, and try to spread that thing.
00:30:24
Speaker
And so I think we should be making like a little a documentary about our jungle experience and how we made this jungle gym.
00:30:32
Speaker
And then try to bring it up in Nicaragua and shoot it and make it from grassroots and just go for this project.
00:30:38
Speaker
That's my vision.
00:30:39
Speaker
And maybe inspire other people to do it in different countries or whatever.
00:30:42
Speaker
But somehow the model needs to change.
00:30:45
Speaker
What we're dealing now with, like I said, very few instructors teaching more people how to be lifeguards.
Innovations in Lifeguard Training
00:30:50
Speaker
If we want to get the numbers up, we've got to just do it a little bit more underground, I think.
00:30:54
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:30:57
Speaker
I don't know how you feel.
00:30:58
Speaker
Some of the things that we do, it's like we're not a course, but it's just that little bit of information that might spark curiosity, that might send them on the next, asking the next question a little bit more interest.
00:31:10
Speaker
They may want to be a lifeguard like Maxie.
00:31:13
Speaker
They may want to be just those simple steps that will make a second count on the ground in that moment when something goes wrong.
00:31:24
Speaker
They know exactly what to do.
00:31:25
Speaker
They know what to do.
00:31:26
Speaker
It can change a life.
00:31:27
Speaker
Yeah, I really admire.
00:31:29
Speaker
That would be a really cool idea.
00:31:31
Speaker
You know, I'm sure someone, if you build up the script or how it would look to do that, but that Jungle Rescue would be pretty cool.
00:31:40
Speaker
I reckon that would be awesome to see because it would be inspiring for people all across the world.
00:31:46
Speaker
to go hey i've got this backyard we have a lot of drownings we have these situations um we've got kids or people that are in and out of the surf all the time let's teach them some skills like these guys and yeah so awesome so with with your gym now do people so i'm curious to know how you we you know like with the funding and like you all your lifeguards are volunteers so do people pay to use the gym and then that helps
00:32:09
Speaker
You know, keep the lights on and if you've got people coming in from, you know, other areas and things like that.
00:32:16
Speaker
Is that how it works?
00:32:18
Speaker
Yeah, we, tell them what the restaurant programs are.
00:32:22
Speaker
You should tell them about it.
00:32:23
Speaker
You like the food.
00:32:25
Speaker
We love food.
00:32:26
Speaker
Tell us about the restaurant.
00:32:28
Speaker
It's the best part.
00:32:30
Speaker
It's all the donated meals.
00:32:31
Speaker
She works for bananas, we say.
00:32:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:34
Speaker
I love it.
00:32:35
Speaker
I love it.
00:32:37
Speaker
We made a deal with a lot of the restaurants.
00:32:40
Speaker
Yeah, basically, so we have a lady, Dina, who comes and cleans and cooks for the house, for the lifeguard house.
00:32:47
Speaker
She's from Nicaragua.
00:32:48
Speaker
And...
00:32:50
Speaker
Yeah, and so she cooks a meal five days a week, Monday to Friday.
00:32:54
Speaker
Breakfast and lunch?
00:32:57
Speaker
No, just lunch.
00:32:58
Speaker
Just lunch.
00:32:59
Speaker
And then on the weekends, we have restaurants around the town.
00:33:03
Speaker
They donate two or three meals, free meals for our lifeguards.
00:33:08
Speaker
And it's a really nice program.
00:33:10
Speaker
It's an easy way that they can support us financially because economically, it's really expensive to have businesses here.
00:33:18
Speaker
But yeah, they don't have enough money to donate monthly to our program.
00:33:23
Speaker
So instead they just give like a meal or two.
00:33:26
Speaker
So the life gods will come in to volunteer.
00:33:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:31
Speaker
We have one place that donates four meals, but most of them are two.
00:33:36
Speaker
We have different meals for Saturday.
00:33:38
Speaker
But there's like 10 restaurants, you know?
00:33:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:41
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of restaurants.
00:33:42
Speaker
So they're always constantly going for dinner here, dinner there.
00:33:45
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:33:47
Speaker
So the lifeguards come and work their time volunteering, but now they've got somewhere to stay and the town will look after them for food and things like that.
00:33:56
Speaker
So it's an amazing experience.
00:33:58
Speaker
They come up with their breakfast money.
00:34:01
Speaker
and yeah they they have some uh like uh commodities in the house they have like free coffee tea um oats some free fruit and then yeah basically they get free accommodation one free meal a day and they have a free gym so it's really nice for the community to like work out side by side with guards you can meet lifeguards what an opportunity for a young lifeguard traveling
00:34:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's really nice for them.
00:34:30
Speaker
And then they surf all morning and then they just have to work half of the day.
00:34:34
Speaker
Yeah, these groups, guys, we had a group of two or three that came from the Baltic area.
00:34:41
Speaker
From Poland.
00:34:42
Speaker
Yeah, Baltic Rescue.
00:34:43
Speaker
Yes, we know Rob and the crew at Baltic Rescue.
00:34:47
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:34:50
Speaker
We know Rob.
00:34:51
Speaker
We've done some stuff with Rob.
00:34:54
Speaker
We've done some stuff with Rob in the past.
00:34:57
Speaker
He's part of our online program that we started, which we're in the process of making it bigger and better.
00:35:03
Speaker
But, yeah, we met Rob through our online program.
00:35:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:07
Speaker
And he's a champion.
00:35:08
Speaker
He does stuff up at Myrtle Beach as well, up in North or South Carolina.
00:35:13
Speaker
One of the Carolinas.
00:35:14
Speaker
I'm not sure which one it is.
00:35:16
Speaker
But I've...
00:35:18
Speaker
After this chat, I'm going to go through and I'm going to Google map that whole area you're talking about, the beaches.
00:35:23
Speaker
I'm just going to like visualize just to get my head around.
00:35:27
Speaker
But yeah, Rob, I vaguely remember Rob going down to you guys.
00:35:30
Speaker
So I'll check it out.
00:35:33
Speaker
I'm interested in your educational program, teaching the kids about ocean safety and ocean blindness.
Future Goals and Global Collaboration
00:35:41
Speaker
If we could get any of that stuff, we could translate it to Spanish, you know?
00:35:47
Speaker
Yes, we have just had... It's like the Cuban Spanish, you know, and, you know, Barceló and our Tico Spanish.
00:35:57
Speaker
We have to make it Tico Spanish, right?
00:35:59
Speaker
Yes, and I'm not sure if you're on there, but we'll get some sent to you.
00:36:05
Speaker
So we have the books and we have some lifeguards in Mexico that have translated their first book into Spanish for us.
00:36:14
Speaker
Oh, beautiful.
00:36:16
Speaker
And one of our goals is to get the books into, you know, into Spanish so that, you know,
00:36:24
Speaker
children in your area of the world can get the books and be reading and learning because the books are all about
00:36:30
Speaker
You know, the first book is all about water safety, what to do if you get caught in a rip.
00:36:35
Speaker
You know, they're great little books.
00:36:38
Speaker
So what we, there's truth, you know, my brain is going a million miles an hour now at the moment.
00:36:43
Speaker
But one of the things we can definitely do, I will get you some books then, currently they're in English.
00:36:50
Speaker
But then the other thing that I will do, now we have the charity,
00:36:55
Speaker
we are looking at our online program and how we are, we're going to actually just like do a bit of a refresh of it all.
00:37:04
Speaker
And we will be able to, our charity will be able to sponsor some of your younger people into there.
00:37:11
Speaker
To learn some skills.
00:37:12
Speaker
So they can listen to the videos that Maxie does and learn some skills.
00:37:16
Speaker
So we will 100% organise that.
00:37:18
Speaker
And those skills are not just water or lifeguarding background.
00:37:22
Speaker
That's fire safety, that's first aid, CPR, education.
00:37:26
Speaker
Dislocations, things like simple things like the concussion.
00:37:31
Speaker
Concussions, epipens, so antithelastic reactions.
00:37:35
Speaker
We talk about health and well-being as well.
00:37:38
Speaker
You did talk about before about how lifeguards and yourselves deal with stress.
00:37:45
Speaker
And it's very important as a first responder, as a fire, when we go to a real traumatic fatality or a really bad job, we have that support there.
00:37:54
Speaker
But for people like yourselves, you're saying sometimes you don't get that support.
00:37:57
Speaker
It's very important to make sure that, A, you come together as a group and you make sure that everyone's okay by checking in with them, making sure that they have that support and always, not just once, but constantly checking with them.
00:38:12
Speaker
And then if you can, and it's a great idea trying to get a translation into different languages to seek that support and that help because it's very important to look after your mental health
00:38:24
Speaker
and also physical health as well.
00:38:25
Speaker
But mental health is a big part for first responders.
00:38:28
Speaker
So it's something that we... Absolutely.
00:38:31
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:38:32
Speaker
So what is the next... We can translate anything into English, into Spanish, or Costa Rican Spanish, you know, Espanol.
00:38:40
Speaker
Yes.
00:38:41
Speaker
The Mexican would be good too, but any literature you have on any of that stuff, all that stuff is great.
00:38:46
Speaker
And we can make it in, I don't know, somehow we can get the format where we can print it out in pages and we laminate it and make little books.
00:38:55
Speaker
Yes.
00:38:55
Speaker
Have some hard copies.
00:38:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:57
Speaker
to have sitting on the table and the volunteer or we can take to the schools or you know something we'll make hard copy books think of that we're going to print every page and bind it and make a book yeah absolutely and that i reckon that's a good um like you know because a little bit like yourself you know with we have now the charity and every you know
00:39:19
Speaker
printing a book in another language is a whole project on itself.
00:39:22
Speaker
So I think that's a great, you know, midway step.
00:39:27
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:39:29
Speaker
So yeah, I think that's great.
00:39:30
Speaker
That's the next question.
00:39:31
Speaker
So the next question here, guys.
00:39:33
Speaker
So we're towards the back end of the podcast.
00:39:35
Speaker
What is next for Santa Teresa lifeguards?
00:39:37
Speaker
Like what's next?
00:39:38
Speaker
What's on the, what are you, what are you guys planning towards or wanting to achieve?
00:39:42
Speaker
I know we, we spoke about it just before, but what is next?
00:39:46
Speaker
What are your short term goals?
00:39:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:50
Speaker
Short term?
00:39:51
Speaker
We have long term too.
00:39:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:54
Speaker
We have another headquarters in Hermosa.
00:39:59
Speaker
We're helping the Hermosa community design their program, how it suits them.
00:40:06
Speaker
Maybe it's not a gym they need to fund their program.
00:40:09
Speaker
Maybe it's like a restaurant.
00:40:11
Speaker
I don't know.
00:40:11
Speaker
Some kind of business.
00:40:14
Speaker
Also... Carmen.
00:40:16
Speaker
Yeah, we just need, and also, yeah, eventually in the future to get lifeguards at Carmen.
00:40:23
Speaker
We man the towers there, but they need a headquarters as well.
00:40:27
Speaker
It's too far away for us.
00:40:28
Speaker
Sending them on bicycles on long journeys.
00:40:31
Speaker
The thing we can't stress enough is just getting more lifeguards.
00:40:36
Speaker
We need more lifeguards all year round.
00:40:39
Speaker
Instead of getting one Australian per year, it'd be great to get four or five or more.
00:40:44
Speaker
We have...
00:40:47
Speaker
you know, like with, with our social media and we'll definitely, um, you know, put some stuff out for you.
00:40:55
Speaker
One thing that would be good at just, uh, getting closing would be, uh,
00:41:00
Speaker
because the weather here is so good all year round, it doesn't matter what month, whatever month would be good for Australians or the Kiwis to get away.
00:41:09
Speaker
Our rainy season is there a winter.
00:41:13
Speaker
That's right.
00:41:14
Speaker
And so we were thinking about trying to get together like a lifeguard competition, an international competition here.
00:41:23
Speaker
to network, to grow with other lifeguard associations to get more lifeguards.
00:41:28
Speaker
So we always thought this would be a good place to do, to have the swimming race, have the running race, have the torpedo, have a couple, I don't know, you guys do, you have the whole Olympics and everything.
00:41:38
Speaker
An event to bring the community together to watch lifeguards compete, swim, run.
00:41:42
Speaker
Yeah, it would be a good fundraiser thing, volleyball kind of deal, everything, beach, community.
00:41:49
Speaker
Like a mini world lifeguard games.
00:41:52
Speaker
Something like that.
00:41:54
Speaker
That's one of our dreams and visions is to pull that off.
00:41:58
Speaker
I think we plant the seed on that because that might be something that we can put on the date in the calendar in the future and we'll
00:42:10
Speaker
And we'll try and build an event around that.
00:42:11
Speaker
And we'll see what we can make it happen.
00:42:13
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:42:14
Speaker
100%.
00:42:14
Speaker
I also got to give a shout out to my wife, Christine, who's also part of the Lifeguards.
00:42:19
Speaker
We're our whole family.
00:42:20
Speaker
She does a lot of the accounting and behind the scenes.
00:42:23
Speaker
Yes.
00:42:24
Speaker
And looks after a lot of the lifeguards too.
00:42:26
Speaker
Well, we're going to say hello, Christine.
00:42:28
Speaker
Thank you for all your help and for all your, for all your support for the locals of the Costa Rican community of Santa Teresa.
00:42:35
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:42:36
Speaker
Because as a family, what are you, what are you, what you were doing and, and you know, your energy and passion is just coming through the screen to us like in bucket loads and,
00:42:49
Speaker
You know, it's hard to, you know, when you say what's a short term vision, because I get very much a sense of feeling you're like Maxie and I, we have big goals, we have big visions.
00:42:58
Speaker
We, you know, when you just take them off, don't you?
00:43:01
Speaker
Bite-sized chunks and one step leads you to the next step.
00:43:05
Speaker
And look what you've achieved in nine years.
00:43:07
Speaker
Congratulations, guys.
00:43:09
Speaker
It's an absolute testament to the people you are and what you've done for your community.
00:43:15
Speaker
And it's a lifestyle as well.
00:43:17
Speaker
It's something that you're so fortunate.
00:43:19
Speaker
You have a really tight family that can give so much to people and it's a testament in time.
00:43:26
Speaker
So keep up.
00:43:27
Speaker
And I know what you're saying about your climate.
00:43:29
Speaker
I've looked and I think that your climate would be very similar to far north Queensland in Australia.
00:43:36
Speaker
So Cairns and that kind of area.
00:43:38
Speaker
And they almost have a separate, their wet season is, so their season is winter.
00:43:45
Speaker
for the South of Australia and their wet season is summer.
00:43:49
Speaker
So when like November, November to March is their wet season.
00:43:55
Speaker
And quite often they may get cyclones and things like that.
00:43:59
Speaker
It's kind of, so they are like the opposite to basically anywhere that if you know sort of Australia, sort of south of Brisbane is like what we would say summer is sort of, you know, November, December, January, February.
00:44:15
Speaker
Whereas, yeah, their wet season, I think would be more aligned with your climate.
00:44:21
Speaker
So like I said, we'll definitely, you know, when this podcast comes up, myself and Lee are on holidays at the moment when this is out.
00:44:28
Speaker
But this is going to be out.
00:44:31
Speaker
We'll make sure that people know about you guys.
00:44:33
Speaker
Yeah, 100%.
00:44:34
Speaker
You're friends now and that's the way we go.
00:44:36
Speaker
We pick people up.
00:44:37
Speaker
We're mates and we, anytime that we can help you.
00:44:41
Speaker
You just like, yeah, message it.
00:44:43
Speaker
Thomas, I'll forgive you, mate, that dad joke at the start.
00:44:46
Speaker
So do you want to tell everyone that dad joke?
00:44:48
Speaker
Come on, give us your dad joke, Thomas.
00:44:50
Speaker
Why does Australians, why do they have 4X?
00:44:55
Speaker
Why do they have 4X, Thomas?
00:44:56
Speaker
Why do they?
00:44:57
Speaker
Because they can't spell beer.
00:45:02
Speaker
That is good.
00:45:02
Speaker
That's the second time I've heard it.
00:45:04
Speaker
You see, we've only been friends now, Thomas, for 45 minutes and the banter has already started.
00:45:09
Speaker
And, you know, I couldn't be happier.
00:45:10
Speaker
I couldn't be happier.
00:45:11
Speaker
So one thing to finish off, I'm not sure if you're aware, but we have a Rescue Squad and a Live, Learn, Survive playlist on Spotify.
00:45:21
Speaker
And everyone that comes on our podcast, we ask them for their upbeat song that, you know, is maybe on in the tower or on at the beach that,
00:45:31
Speaker
It can be two.
00:45:31
Speaker
You can have two songs.
00:45:32
Speaker
Avalon and Thomas.
00:45:34
Speaker
Give us your songs for the playlists.
00:45:36
Speaker
We don't really promote having our lifeguards rocking out on the towers.
00:45:41
Speaker
Okay.
00:45:43
Speaker
All right.
00:45:44
Speaker
Not in the tower then.
00:45:45
Speaker
At the gym.
00:45:46
Speaker
It happens.
00:45:47
Speaker
It happens.
00:45:49
Speaker
At the gym.
00:45:51
Speaker
Getting ready for the tower.
00:45:52
Speaker
At the gym.
00:45:53
Speaker
There's a lot of music there.
00:45:55
Speaker
Alice, you met.
00:45:57
Speaker
She'll help us figure that out and get the right soundtracks to you guys for sure.
00:46:01
Speaker
Okay.
00:46:02
Speaker
So have you got a song, just like your favorite song?
00:46:05
Speaker
Favorite song at the moment then.
00:46:07
Speaker
We're going to say My Hips Don't Lie by Shakira.
00:46:14
Speaker
Because Shakira is in our town right now.
00:46:17
Speaker
Is she really?
00:46:18
Speaker
She's here and she's driving our town.
00:46:30
Speaker
We will take that.
00:46:32
Speaker
Her friends are giving her surf lessons right now.
00:46:37
Speaker
And she's about four and a half feet tall.
00:46:40
Speaker
Okay.
00:46:41
Speaker
And it's incredible.
00:46:42
Speaker
She's hitting me on the tail.
00:46:43
Speaker
I'm not supposed to be talking about it.
00:46:45
Speaker
But yeah, you know, she's here and she's bringing her boyfriend, Lewis Martin here.
00:46:49
Speaker
Lewis Hamilton, the Formula One race there.
00:46:53
Speaker
Oh, we know all about Lewis.
00:46:55
Speaker
We don't even know who he is over here.
00:46:56
Speaker
We don't know who he is.
00:47:00
Speaker
As an English-born girl, I absolutely know who he is.
00:47:05
Speaker
He's a superstar.
00:47:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:07
Speaker
And Avalon, have you got a song, a favorite song that you really like or get your- I would say the new Top Gun song.
00:47:17
Speaker
I think it's by One Republic.
00:47:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:22
Speaker
Oh, yes.
00:47:25
Speaker
Wasn't that a good movie?
00:47:29
Speaker
Finally a good remake.
00:47:30
Speaker
Public.
00:47:31
Speaker
I Ain't Worried, Counting Stars.
00:47:37
Speaker
Sorry, I Ain't Worried.
00:47:39
Speaker
I'm Not Worried, yeah.
00:47:40
Speaker
I'm Not Worried.
00:47:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:45
Speaker
Yes.
00:47:47
Speaker
That song.
00:47:54
Speaker
We've made it some of our Instagram reels because it goes really good with the lifeguard workouts.
00:47:59
Speaker
Yeah, nice.
00:48:00
Speaker
Love it.
00:48:01
Speaker
It's added to the playlist on Spotify.
00:48:03
Speaker
So if you are looking for it, Max's Rescue Squad playlist.
00:48:07
Speaker
Yep.
00:48:07
Speaker
It's on there.
00:48:09
Speaker
And keep an eye out.
00:48:10
Speaker
Yeah, thank you, guys.
00:48:12
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:48:13
Speaker
I should have said my favorite song was the Bee Gees, Stayin' Alive, because that's the CPL song, right?
00:48:18
Speaker
The CPL?
00:48:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:20
Speaker
It's already in there.
00:48:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's already in there.
00:48:23
Speaker
And we've had some gone along the world with kids with Stayin' Alive.
00:48:27
Speaker
Great song.
00:48:28
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:48:29
Speaker
So important.
00:48:30
Speaker
No, this has been a great chat.
00:48:32
Speaker
We've loved it.
00:48:33
Speaker
Thank you so much.
00:48:34
Speaker
And you know what, guys?
00:48:36
Speaker
We'll keep in touch and we'll let people know about what you guys are doing, but we'll do a podcast maybe six months time to see how things are traveling and how things are going.
00:48:45
Speaker
We'd love to come over.
00:48:49
Speaker
I'd love to come over there, guys.
00:48:51
Speaker
We'd love to do some training sessions.
00:48:54
Speaker
And once we get, like, the whole point of us being up in Newcastle right now is to plan the online space.
00:49:00
Speaker
So we will be able to...
00:49:03
Speaker
talk around the table today about how we can incorporate lifeguards on the other side of the world to be able to learn stuff as well.
00:49:10
Speaker
So hopefully we can get that program to you guys sooner rather than later and you can learn all together and be bigger and better and save people's lives.
00:49:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:22
Speaker
Amazing.
00:49:23
Speaker
Stay safe.
00:49:24
Speaker
Give everyone our love.
00:49:26
Speaker
Say hi to all the lifeguards and the team.
00:49:28
Speaker
And we will definitely – we will –
00:49:32
Speaker
Make sure we do this again in a few months and we'll see how we're all tracking.
00:49:37
Speaker
In Costa Rica, we say Pura Vida.
00:49:41
Speaker
Pura Vida.
00:49:42
Speaker
Pura Vida.
00:49:43
Speaker
Love it.
00:49:45
Speaker
All right.
00:49:45
Speaker
Thank you, guys.
00:49:46
Speaker
Take care.
00:49:47
Speaker
Thank you so much.
00:49:49
Speaker
All right.
00:49:49
Speaker
We'll see you.
00:49:50
Speaker
Over and out.