South Walton Fire District Junior Lifeguard Program, 911 CR/393, Santa Rosa Beach, FL (2026)

04/16/2026

2026 SWIM TEST INFORMATION!

You registered for the 2026 South Walton Fire District Junior Lifeguard Program, so what's next? Time to plan to attend ONE of the three swim test options. Please carefully read the information below and if you have any questions after reading, email us at juniors@swfd.org.

Our scheduled swim test dates and times are:

🌊Saturday, May 9, 9 a.m., Ed Walline Beach Access
🌊Saturday, May 16, 9 a.m., Ed Walline Beach Access
🌊Sunday, May 17, 9 a.m., Ed Walline Beach Access

Regardless of your child's swimming and/or Juniors experience, they must participate in ONE of the swim tests. In order to maintain a strong and reputable Juniors program, we do not exempt anyone from taking a swim test. We do our best to be accommodating for our Juniors and participating families, however, we ask you to remember we hold a high standard for this program to make it a successful, safe, and beneficial experience for everyone involved.

Following the successful completion of the swim test, you will make your payment for the summer program. Your child's spot in our 2026 program is NOT secure until the swim test is complete and the payment is processed. We accept cash, check, and card.

What does the swim test consist of? The test is a brief swim in the Gulf and then back to shore. It is weather and surf dependent. The test is meant to gauge a child's interest in the program and prove they are capable of swimming in open water. It is not a "race" to see who is the fastest, but it does ensure Juniors know how to swim without endangering themselves or others.

If your child prefers to swim with goggles, please bring those with you, as well as a towel. In the event of adverse weather or surf, we will communicate a change of plans and coordinate a make-up test date/time if necessary.

Again, email any questions to juniors@swfd.org. Thank you and see you soon!

04/10/2026

2026 REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

Please follow the link below to complete the Registration Form for our 2026 South Walton Fire District Junior Lifeguard Program. As a reminder, there is no rush to complete this instantly, please review the form and sign up this weekend as you have the time.

JUNE SESSION: June 2-18, 2026
JULY SESSION: July 7-23, 2026

https://forms.gle/LGJvy5YWtevi38k7A

Please read the rest of this post in its entirety, we appreciate your understanding in advance as we tried to include as much info as possible! If you have questions after reading, email us at juniors@swfd.org.

🛟After registering: You should receive an email once you complete the form, if you don't see it, we remind you to be patient and check your junk folder. There is no need to reach out to ensure you're on the list- we've got you. If you are registering multiple Juniors, click "Submit another response," and complete the form for any other Juniors.

🛟Please remember: Completing the registration form does not guarantee your spot in the 2026 Program. Registration is the first step, then your Junior must complete one of the swim tests being held May 9, 16, or 17 at Ed Walline Beach Access, starting at 9 a.m. More information on the swim tests to be posted next week.

🛟2026 Registration Addition: If competing is something your junior is interested in, keep an eye out for the option to join the competition mailing list in the registration form. This will ensure you receive email communication related to the 2026 competition plans.

🛟New to the Program?: Welcome to the family! This is a beach safety-based summer program held in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, for children ages 9 - 16 years old. Participants spend three weeks of the summer learning the skills to be confident, open water swimmers and surf lifesavers. The sessions are held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays of each week. We break the program into Foundations and Advanced levels of instruction to best suit both new and returning Juniors. Topics covered include: open water swimming, CPR and first aid, drowning prevention, rip current identification, beach warning flags, and surf rescue-based workouts with intensive, hands-on training.

🛟Final thoughts: If you've made it to the end of this post and still have questions, we're happy to hear from you at juniors@swfd.org. This page is not monitored 24/7 and our fastest means of communication is via email.

Thank you for your interest in the 2026 Program, SEA you soon. 🌊

03/31/2026

Hey family! As we get closer to summer and another awesome year of SWFD Junior Lifeguards, we wanted to put a couple of competition opportunities on your radar for the upcoming summer.

If competing is something your junior is interested in, keep an eye out for the option to join the competition mailing list in the registration form, which goes live April 10, 2026 at 12 p.m.

These are the big dates to remember:
🌊July 13: USLA Regional Competition in Gulf Shores, AL
🌊July 25: Emerald Coast Junior Lifeguard Competition in Miramar Beach vs. Destin Junior Lifeguards
🌊August 4-7: USLA National Competition in Fort Lauderdale, FL

Note: The Juniors portion at Nationals will only take place one of those days, either the 4th or the 7th.

These are great opportunities for your Juniors to race against other Juniors from around the country, and to see how those other programs train and compete. It is truly one of the best experiences for a Junior Lifeguard who either enjoys competing or hopes to make a career of surf lifesaving.

At this point in the year, this is all of the preliminary information we can share ahead of the 2026 program so you can save the dates to your calendar. Opting into the mailing list on the registration form will ensure you receive additional updates relevant to competitions.

Again: If competing is something your junior is interested in, keep an eye out for the option to join the mailing list in the registration form, which goes live April 10, 2026 at 12 p.m.

Questions? Email juniors@swfd.org and SEA you soon.

03/26/2026

Welcome to the beach, Alum Haylee McGregor! 💪🌊🛟

Haylee is now working as a professional lifeguard with us at South Walton Fire District for the 2026 season. We are so excited to see her take this step to join us after all of the hard work, time, and effort she has put in to pass the required physical tests and training academy.

Congratulations to the entire McGregor family on Haylee's progress, we can't wait to see how much of an impact she makes on the beach this summer.

Any former Junior Lifeguards or hopeful lifeguard candidates who are at least 17 years old can apply NOW to work this season. Follow the link below!

http://www.tinyurl.com/SWFDBeachSafetyCareers

03/23/2026

We are so proud of Lt. Brandon Brown, our Juniors Program Leader!

Please read the post below to learn more about his recent accomplishments with the Florida National Guard. We are fortunate to have him as part of our team who is responsible for teaching the next generation of surf lifesavers!

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03/05/2026

Calling all former , family, and friends! SWFD Beach Safety is hiring seasonal lifeguards for 2026.

This is the next step in a surf rescue career where you can directly give back to the community where you live. Former Juniors make great candidates for this job and will be able to use what they learned in our program every day that they are on-duty.

Keep in mind, the minimum age requirement to be a beach lifeguard with SWFD is 17 years old. Interested candidates should fill out the form linked below:
www.tinyurl.com/SWFDBeachSafetyCareers

03/02/2026

Check out this former Junior who is officially on the beach! 💪🌊🛟

South Walton Fire District Junior Lifeguard Alum Steele Rodgers is now working as a professional lifeguard with SWFD. Steele took part in several summers ago and has just recently met the hiring requirements for 2026.

What’s even more incredible is his family connection to SWFD! Steele’s older brother Brett is one of our Full-Time Lifeguards, his mom is one of our Seasonal Lifeguards, and his dad works for us as a Fire Inspector. You may also know his younger sister, Josie, who is a current member of .

It’s safe to say that it is truly a family affair in the Rodgers household when it comes to protecting the South Walton community.

We can't wait to see what’s next for Steele. He’s an awesome athlete and sure to be a great addition on this beach this season.

Any former Junior Lifeguards or hopeful lifeguard candidates who are at least 17 years old can apply NOW to work this season. Follow the link below!

http://www.tinyurl.com/SWFDBeachSafetyCareers

02/24/2026

In advance of our 2026 Junior Lifeguard Program, we are incredibly proud to shine a spotlight on a few familiar faces after they were honored at the annual South Walton Fire District Awards Ceremony.

🏆Junior Lifeguard Instructor Nicholas Brown was awarded the Beach Safety Competitor of the Year Award, which recognizes the frontline lifeguard who demonstrates the highest commitment to surf rescue training, skill improvement, and physical capabilities throughout the year. Nick is a former Junior Lifeguard from Okaloosa Island, now a seasonal lifeguard with SWFD, and dedicates his summers fostering the next generation of surf lifesavers through Juniors.

🏆Junior Lifeguard Alum and Current Instructor Tony Spears was awarded the Robert Heighton Lifesaving Award for his role in saving the life of a beach patron in cardiac arrest on June 13, 2025. By performing effective medical interventions and CPR, our responders successfully resuscitated the patient and saved their life. This is one of the first-ever Lifesaving Awards we have presented to a former Junior Lifeguard in our District's history.

🏆Last but certainly not least, Program Coordinator and Beach Safety Lieutenant Brandon Brown was awarded the Tim Padgett Exceptional Duty Award. Recipients of the Tim Padgett Award are those who perform at a high level and irrefutably elevate the District's reputation through their actions. Brandon's five years of cumulative work at the helm of our program has created the that you see and love today. His leadership, influence, and coaching has impacted and will continue to impact thousands of children in our community. This sort of mentorship is truly immesurable and creates a lifelong legacy within the community.

We appreciate the work of all three of these awesome Juniors alumni and current SWFD Beach Safety team members, and ask you to join us in congratulating them on these career milestones!

02/02/2026

SAVE THE DATE! 🌊🛟 We are excited to announce preliminary dates for our 2026 South Walton Fire District Junior Lifeguard Program so you can make sure is a part of your summer plans! Here are a few important dates to note:

🌊Online registration: April 10, 12 p.m. CT
🌊Swim Test Options: May 9, 16, or 17
🌊Session 1: June 2-18
🌊Session 2: July 7-23

The dates are a smidge different than last year, otherwise the format is the same. We are sticking with the Foundations and Advanced groups for both months (Advanced in the morning and Foundations in the afternoon). The swim tests and sessions take place at Ed Walline Beach Access.

In the event we have additional announcements, we will make another post to this page. Please keep in mind we are still in the planning stages to make 2026 our best year yet.

If you have any questions, email juniors@swfd.org. We will do our best to respond to comments on this post, but the quickest way to receive an answer is via email.

Thank you for your support and loyalty that makes the SWFD Juniors Program one of the best around. We love you guys!

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Program Background: The SWFD Junior Lifeguard Program is held in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, for children ages 9 - 16 years old to spend three weeks of the summer learning the skills to be confident, open water swimmers and lifesavers. The program began in 2006 and has grown to include more than 200 participants. Foundations and Advanced levels of instruction benefit both new and returning Juniors, with the overall goal to grow South Walton's surf rescue culture and lifeguard recruitment efforts. Topics covered include: open water swimming, CPR and first aid, drowning prevention, rip current identification, beach warning flags, and surf rescue-based workouts with intensive, hands-on training.

01/21/2026

As we prepare to share information about our 2026 plans in the coming weeks, we are asking for your help recruiting the next wave of lifeguards!

Former Juniors are a great fit, but no previous experience is required to work professionally with SWFD Beach Safety. Anyone interested is encouraged to follow the link in the post below to get started with their swim test.

10/31/2025

To our family,

As we reflect on the end of our 20th Season of Beach Safety in South Walton this year, we want to take a moment to say thank you to all of you who supported our 2025 Junior Lifeguard Program.

Juniors can appear from the outside looking in like a fun day at the beach, but we like to say this is not your average summer camp. We push our Juniors to be the best versions of themselves that they can be. We know that holding a high standard for physical fitness, competition, and public safety means it will take a special group of parents and children to make the program truly successful on the beach.

Without hesitation, you exceed our expectations every year. Having invested families like the ones we are fortunate to have gives us the chance to share our passion for open water safety and our mission to build a surf rescue-focused culture within the community.

We even witness your investment growing deeper each summer as you enroll additional children into the program and create an entire summer break around being a part of Juniors. This in turn leads to an immeasurable impact we can have in terms of rip current education and drowning prevention.

It’s especially meaningful to see even the most timid of Juniors find a new sense of self on the beach. While they may show up on Day 1 feeling afraid of what’s to come, they leave on the final day as a stronger, better educated version of themselves. They demonstrate a respect for the open water at such an early age that many adults around the world can only dream of having.

We are confident through each lesson shared- and each burpee or push up doled out- that we are creating something incredibly special in South Walton. The sweetest fruits of this program are also starting to grow this year into full form- We had a total of 8 former SWFD Juniors on our beaches serving the community in a professional capacity in 2025. This is one of the most significant accomplishments for us as instructors in our entire careers.

Whether you have one child who was a part of the 2025 program or a half dozen of them- talk about a sibling rivalry!- we can’t say thank you enough for spending your summer with us. We are looking forward to the off-season to come, where we will work on making next year’s program even better than it was before.

While our page may be quiet for now, trust us when we say we'll be back with more in 2026!

All our love and best wishes,

Your SWFD Juniors Team

08/22/2025

Another member of is officially on the beach working as a lifeguard for South Walton Fire District! Please join us in congratulating Zac Thornton on taking the next step in his surf rescue career.

Zac has spent the past two summers in our Juniors program, most recently completing all of the necessary training to work on the beach with us in a seasonal role.

The Thornton family is very much a part of the SWFD family, as Zac's older sister Bella is one of our Full-Time Lifeguards! It is an absolute privilege to have them both as part of our team.

We can't wait to see what this guy accomplishes next on the beach after his stellar time spent in the Juniors program. Way to go, Zac, we are so excited for you!

South Walton Fire District Junior Lifeguard Program

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