Steve Olpin, 26, can't imagine having to wear shoes or a shirt to work.
He's a lifeguard at Veterans Pool, and it's the perfect job for someone who likes to play in the water, to work out and to spend time in the sun.But being a lifeguard is not all fun and games, Olpin says.
"Someone can die while you are watching them," he said. "You really are their `life' guard."
Being a lifeguard combines life-and-death responsibility and extensive training with minimal pay. There's much more to being a lifeguard than knowing how to blow a whistle and yell "Walk! Don't run" thousands of times a day.
Not all pools require four certifications, but lifeguards working at Veterans Pool must be certified in the following areas: water safety instruction, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, first aid and lifeguard training."If you are not in it for the long term, it's not worth the cost of all the training," said Shalan Hill, manager of Veterans Pool.
The training requires an investment of around 76 hours and $140. And each certification has to be renewed periodically.
It's a big investment for the kind of pay lifeguards make. At Veterans Pool, shift supervisors make $4.88 an hour. A lifeguard who has not completed all certifications is paid $4.44 an hour. A fully certified guard makes $4.64 an hour. Lifeguards can supplement their wages by teaching swimming lessons, which pays $5 an hour.
The pool has a staff of 30 lifeguards, including five supervisors. Most of the lifeguards are students at Brigham Young University.
Despite the pay and certification requirements, Provo has not had a shortage of lifeguard applicants. Hill has a two-inch-thick stack of applications on her desk, and about half the current crew worked at the pool last year.
Lifeguards are a special breed, Lois Babcock, assistant pool manager, will tell you. They have to endure hours in the hot sun, surrounded by hundreds of screaming children, and keep their attention sharply focused on the pool.
"When they go into it (being a lifeguard), they are not really thinking of saving lives," Babcock said. "It's just fun to be at the pool."
But, the reality is that at "any moment something could go wrong," Hill said.
Lifeguards deal with any number of bangs, cuts and bloody noses in day. And they regularly have to pull kids out of the splash-down pool at the bottom of the two water slides at Veterans Park, Babcock said.
But real emergencies are rare. The last near drowning occurred three to four years ago, she said.
That may be because of the attitude of lifeguards like Amy Smith, 21, a BYU student.
"I call myself a preventive lifeguard," Smith said. "I've never had to save someone. I see things before they happen."
It's a shade past high noon and the lifeguards at Veterans Pool are preparing for an onslaught of swimmers.
A busload of 60 children is due any minute, Hill tells the on-duty crew. The guards take their stations.
And here they come - swarms of children with one thing on their minds: water. The lifeguards at Veterans Pool are ready for them.