Dive in! Ocean Pines retirees help at local pools

 
(Oct. 14, 2022) With a national shortage of lifeguards affecting pool operating hours, several local retirees have helped keep the pools running in Ocean Pines.
 
Dave Blazer has worked as a lifeguard in Ocean Pines for three years. Originally from Catonsville, he moved to Ocean Pines with his family in 1999 and served as director of the Maryland Coastal Bays Program for nine years.
 
Blazer worked for Ocean City Beach Patrol while in college and had experience before that lifeguarding for the YMCA and the Forest Hills Swimming Club in Ellicott City. 
 
“I always loved lifeguarding. To this day, when I go to the beach, I still have to watch the water and watch people there. It's just something that’s ingrained,” he said. 


 
At 62, Blazer still competes in triathlons and open water events. 
 
“I swam across the Chesapeake Bay one year in the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim, and I’ve been doing the Choptank River Swim every year in May. So, I just love swimming and I love being in the pool,” he said. “Pools have been a very integral part of my life, ever since I was little.”
 
After retiring a few years ago, Blazer said he decided to fill some of his free time by working as a lifeguard. He became recertified and approached Ocean Pines Aquatics Director Kathleen Cook about a part-time position. 
 
“Aquatics is a great group of people,” he said. “I work two days a week, I open the pool up, and then I’m done at 1 o’clock and I get the rest of the afternoon to do other things.”
 
Blazer has also worked to recruit other potential lifeguards. He encouraged anyone who is a strong swimmer to consider taking a job. 
 
“If you can swim 300 yards, the rest of it we can train and help them pass their certification,” he said. “And it’s a great job. You get to meet a lot of people, and if you love being in the water it’s a lot of fun and it’s a great experience.”


 
Mike Castoro started working at the Sports Core Pool just this week.
 
He’s originally from Ocean Port, New Jersey and spent 35 years in the IT sector working for companies like Microsoft. At age 50, he retired, went back to school and earned a master’s degree, and became a special education teacher. 
 
Castoro and his family moved to Ocean Pines in 2017. More recently, he was among the active swimmers at the Sports Core Pool who Blazer tried to enlist. 
 
“I’ve been a swimmer all my life, and I had been taking advantage of swimming at the Sports Core Pool since we moved down here,” he said. “Coincidentally, my oldest daughter is the director of a YMCA in New Jersey and she had been talking about the complete lack of lifeguards and how she couldn’t hire anybody. Keeping her pools staffed was difficult. 
 
“It’s a nationwide problem and it’s just everywhere,” Castoro continued. “We were just out in California, and it was the same issue – they're all looking for lifeguards.”
 
When Castoro saw issues in Ocean Pines he thought, “Gee whiz, maybe I could help with this.”
 
“I talked to some of the lifeguards at the Sports Core Pool and they said, ‘Give it a shot.’ So, I did,” he said. 
 
Castoro took a precertification test in Ocean Pines, and then became certified through a Red Cross program in Salisbury. 
 
A 70-year-old, Castoro said the test was strenuous, but he had no more trouble passing than some of the other candidates who were 17 or 18. 
 
“If you can pass a prequalification test, you’re strong enough to do what has to be done,” he said. 
 
Castoro said the prequalification process includes swimming 300 yards – roughly 12 lengths of the Sports Core Pool – and treading water for two minutes. 
 
In the final test, “they drop a brick in the deep end of the pool, you swim the length of the pool, dive down to the bottom, pick the brick up, come up to the surface, and then swim with the brick on your back the length of the pool,” he said.
 
“That’s the physical strength, stamina and duration required to take the course. The bottom line is, you need to be a strong swimmer,” Castoro said. 
 
He encouraged others to take the plunge and join the team at Ocean Pines Aquatics. 
 
“If you’ve got the idea, you should go forward with it,” he said. “You’re helping the community and giving back, besides picking up some great skills for yourself in terms of being able to swim better. And you have the capability of saving somebody’s life.
 
“I would say to anybody who is considering it, that it’s a worthwhile endeavor that will build your own self-esteem, your own skills, and allow you to give back to the community,” he added. 
 
For more information on becoming a lifeguard in Ocean Pines, contact Kathleen Cook at 443-299-9949.
 
Spring lifeguard certification classes are scheduled April 21-23 in Ocean Pines. The Association will waive the class fee for anyone hired as an Ocean Pines lifeguard. Applicants must be 15 by the date of the last class.
 
Certifications are also available through the YMCA in Salisbury.