DESTIN LIFEGUARDS WIN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Courtesy: Savannah Vasquez, TheDestinLog.com
It’s been six years in the making, but this summer the Destin Beach Safety Lifeguards reigned victorious as they were named national champions in their division at the 2015 Nautica United States Lifesaving Association National Lifeguard Championships in Daytona Beach.
“We won!” said Beach Safety Chief Joe D’Agostino, who oversees the program. “We’re the best in the country, no one is better than us!”
D’Agostino explained that the Destin squad falls under the B Division, which pits small beach patrols with 100 employees or less against each other in the lifeguarding competition.
This year, Destin competed against about 20 other teams and edged out reigning champions Smith Point from New York to take the win.
“We’ve tried for a long, long time for this,” said D’Agostino. “The first year we took fifth place, then we’ve taken either second or third place each year since then.”
D’Agostino said this year, Destin’s team bonded together well and were self-motivated to meet the challenge.
“This is all done on their own time,” he said. “We’ve put in a lot of time and effort to get this accomplished.”
The Destin competitive team is made up of 25 participants, 10 women and 15 men. D’Agostino said that every year Destin’s Beach Safety program brings in lifeguards from overseas to help man it’s busy summer beaches, and this year the competitive team saw seven international members mixed in with Florida locals.
In addition to the overall competition win, Destin also had several lifeguards take home individual awards.
“The competition was really a bit bigger than I expected,” said Madeline “Moo” McCullagh of Australia, who took first place in the country for women’s surf ski. “Some of the other girls were really good, but they haven’t had as much experience as I have.”
With a national championship under their belts, D’Agostino said he expects Destin’s lifeguarding program to just keep growing in popularity, especially amongst the locals.
“I think the ultimate achievement is that we are seeing a change in the culture for our local lifeguarding,” he said. “People in this area are gravitating towards this and it’s making things a whole lot better in the community.”
