Junior lifeguard training for children 9 to 14 begins this weekend in East Hampton, Amagansett, and Montauk. The programs not only give kids the training they need to become lifeguards in the future, but they also teach them “the skills to be safe in the ocean,” according to the East Hampton Town website.
The town runs the training at Kirk Park Beach in Montauk and Atlantic Avenue Beach in Amagansett, while East Hampton Village oversees junior lifeguarding at Main Beach.
The town and village programs are held Saturdays and Sundays from 9 to 11 a.m. through the first weekend in August.
For the town program, new and returning participants must have first been evaluated and tested over the winter and spring at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter. A village flier says junior lifeguards are “strongly encouraged to pass the RECenter swim test.”
At Main Beach this weekend, children will begin with a required open-water swim and take part in runs. Sign-up will be open through July 9. The village’s lifeguard chief, Drew Smith, can be emailed for details at [email protected]. The cost is $150.
Sign-up for the town junior lifeguarding is through the Recreation Department, online at by clicking here. The cost is $90.
For younger children ages 6 to 8, the town’s Nipper Guard program — starting this week and running through Aug. 1 — offers a modified version of the junior lifeguard training at Albert’s Landing Beach in Amagansett or East Lake Beach in Montauk. In Montauk, sessions are on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 to 10:30 a.m.; in Amagansett, they’re on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the same times. The cost is $60, and registration is also through the town’s Recreation Department.