For July’s challenge, Team Aqua Gatos of Temecula impressed our judge, Pete DeQuincy, in a backboard drill that required rescuers to achieve perfect in-line stabilization.
The trick was for each of the three lifeguards to transition from the foot to the head of the victim two times without a ball rolling off the victim’s midsection.
Competition was fierce in this round, as all participants put in stellar performances. But Team Aqua Gatos clinched it. The team demonstrated excellent forearm placement for head and chin support, “especially in the transitions, and they were doing the challenge in 4 feet of water, another factor that pushed the rescue team,” DeQuincy observed.
