LIFEGUARD TRAINING HEADQUARTERS – Your Center for Life Guard Training
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ToggleA lifeguard training class in Heath runs as a blended course: roughly 6 to 7.5 hours of online coursework, then 2 days of in-person water skills sessions held across the state. You must be 15 by the final day and pass a prerequisite swim. It certifies you for 2 years in Lifeguarding, CPR and AED for the Professional Rescuer, and First Aid.
Most people looking for a lifeguard class near Heath are working to a deadline, usually a summer season or a facility that needs cover. The useful planning question is not where the nearest class is, it is how far ahead of the job you need to start.
Lifeguard Training HQ offers blended Lifeguard Training Course in Heath, Ohio courses featuring roughly 6 to 7.5 hours of online coursework combined with 2 days of in-person water skills sessions across the state.
Two days sounds short for a safety qualification. It works because the classroom portion has already happened online, so the contact time is spent almost entirely wet: rescues, carries, backboarding and compressions, repeated until they are automatic.
Three things decide whether you can take the course at all.
The swim is where most first attempts come apart, and almost never because of fitness. It is the brick retrieval: candidates race the clock, surface dive badly, and run out of breath on the way up. A controlled dive beats a fast one.
Heath sits in Licking County, Ohio. Around 10,489 people live there. A community this size usually supports seasonal water rather than a year round indoor pool, which tends to concentrate hiring into a short spring window.
Across Licking County the decision to hire is made at the pool deck, not at a county office. That decentralisation is worth knowing about, because it means the requirement list you find online may not be the one your employer applies.
The two contact days are built around repetition. Rescues are drilled until the sequence is automatic, because the thing that fails under stress is recall, not strength. Spinal management gets disproportionate time for the same reason. Professional rescuer CPR and AED and pool-deck first aid complete the syllabus, and the course finishes with a written exam and a practical assessment.
Bring a swimsuit you can actually work in. Rescues involve being pulled, kicked and dragged, and anything that shifts will cost you concentration. Add a towel, goggles if you use them, water and food for a long day, and any prescription eyewear secured with a strap. Facilities are usually cool out of the water, so a warm layer for the classroom segments is worth packing.
Two hiring patterns operate across Licking County. Seasonal employers do most of their recruiting in a compressed late-winter window for the summer ahead, and year round indoor pools hire reactively when a guard moves on. Which one you are targeting decides when to take the course.
Expect to keep training after you qualify. The course gives you the transferable skills; the employer supplies the local knowledge through orientation and routine in-service drills. Newly certified guards are commonly paired with experienced staff for the first few rotations, which is the fastest way to learn a site’s particular hazards.
Across the areas this site covers, lifeguards typically earn in the region of $20 to $25 an hour, and instructors who go on to teach courses in the region of $30 to $40. Where you land near Heath depends on the employer type and whether the role carries head guard or supervisory duties.
Both the lifeguarding and the CPR and AED elements expire two years from issue. The recertification route is quicker, but it closes on the expiry date, and after that the full course applies again. Facilities will not let an expired guard sit a stand, so the deadline is practical rather than administrative.
Standard lifeguarding certification covers pools. Open water is a separate endorsement, because the job changes: no clear bottom, moving water, glare, longer distances, and rescue boards or craft instead of a tube. Guards on open water also have to read conditions, including rip currents, which the National Weather Service covers in its rip current safety guidance. If the work you want near Heath is a lake, reservoir or beach, confirm the waterfront module is included before you book.
Yes, open water is a separate endorsement. Ask the employer in Licking County which one they require before you pay, because adding it afterwards means another session.
The minimum is 15 by the closing day of class. That wording matters: an under-15 can begin the online modules as long as the birthday falls on or before the final session.
Plan on about 6 to 7.5 hours online plus 2 full in-person days. A lifeguard training class in Heath splits that way deliberately, so the only fixed commitment in your diary is the pair of water days.
Before a lifeguard training class in Heath begins you must complete a continuous swim test, typically 300 yards of freestyle and breaststroke, tread water for 2 minutes using legs only, and finish a timed brick retrieval. The swim is not timed for speed, but it cannot be broken into rests.
Three credentials on one two year clock: Lifeguarding, CPR and AED for the Professional Rescuer, and First Aid, issued as 2 year national certification.
These pages cover the same ground at a wider radius:
For dates, prices and the full picture across the state, see lifeguard training in Ohio.
Last updated October 6, 2026