GSP Oman provides crucial water safety and lifeguard certification training in and around the capital city, Muscat. Offered year-round through a partnership with the American Red Cross, these courses certify participants in life-saving skills for two years. GSP Oman Representative, Michael Mitchell, offers the four-day training events often to lifeguards from local beaches, schools, hotels, and private venues.
“At the beginning of a training, I usually hear the same comments from participants. They are nervous about ‘what happens if this particular water emergency happens on my watch? Will I make the right decision?”. By the end of the course, the participants are tailoring their own Emergency Action Plans (EAP) to the possible emergencies of their own location. They begin creating their own scenarios and testing and timing their reaction times. They almost always say they feel much more confident after our lifeguarding course. One lifeguard said, “Now that I completed the course, I feel way more confidence that I will make the right decisions in the event of an emergency scenario." – GSP Oman Lifeguard Instructor, Michael Mitchell
The trainings were initially brought to Oman as local schools saw a need for training and employed former GSP representative, Butch Pierce, in providing the course. Through Pierce and Mitchell’s trainings, they have worked with lifeguards from 20+ countries! The combination of cultures provides a rich learning environment as one local participant commented “You genuinely care about every individual. You made sure everyone understood the material. You had no problem with repeating things. I found it difficult to understand some words but you explained them to me clearly. Overall I gained excellent information, it was easy to understand, and you provided relatable examples to help us comprehend the information.” – Yahia, Omani Lifeguard & Course Participant
GSP exists to transform lives through sport. We are thrilled to see how the partnership of this certification supports excellence in sport and the transforming of lives as lifeguards gain skills and confidence. Mitchell and the team enjoy getting to know the participants and seeing them develop the confidence they need to rescue someone from a life-threatening situation. GSP continues to develop professional trainings that support traditional sport endeavors in Oman and elsewhere.