Malibu Zuma Beach Junior Lifeguard Holly Maine will be going for lifeguarding gold Down Under next month.
The 15-year-old is a member of the United States Lifeguard Association Youth National Team, which will be competing at the sixth annual International Surf Rescue Challenge at Queensland, Australia’s Maroochydore Beach.
Maine, who trains at Zuma Beach, and her teammates will compete in various lifeguard challenges against other lifeguards from coastlines across the globe during the Sept. 3-6 event.
The Junior Lifeguard of four years said she is excited about the trip to the Sunshine Coast.
“I am really close with most of the team members so it will be fun with them,” Maine said. “I went to France last year [for the world championships], so I know what to expect. I am well prepared.”
Maine’s participation at the international competition will put a cap on a successful lifeguarding summer. In the past four weeks, Maine has won six gold medals at lifeguarding championships at the national and state level.
The Newbury Park High School sophomore won four gold medals at the Lifesaving Association Nationals in Daytona Beach, Fla. on Aug. 5. Maine said she is shocked about the amount of medals she garnered in Florida. She said she hopes her success at the championships helps her one day make the USLA Open National Team — a group composed of lifesaving competitors age 16 and above.
“It was really hot and humid there,” Maine said of the Sunshine State’s beach weather. “But as the day went on and I competed more, I was able to adjust better.”
She said all of the events were tough, but the ironguard win was the hardest to grab.
“It’s a swim, run and paddle — back-to-back. It was the last event of the day, and I had just raced and was really tired,” she said.
Success on the national level isn’t foreign to Maine. Last year, she won two events at Nationals, and, in 2013, she won gold in one event.
Maine also won two gold medals — paddle and paddle relay — at the California State Lifesaving Championships at Huntington Beach on July 23. Last summer, she came in second place in the paddle relay and third in the paddle.
Maine has spent most of her summer training in the water and on the sand under the watchful eye of Craig Rond, her lifeguard and water polo coach of four years. The Los Angeles Water Polo Club member said Maine has been doing water polo training four days per week and junior lifeguard training in the morning five days per week.
“We do running, swimming, paddling,” said Maine, an attacker in water polo. “Right now, I am basically off, but I am still swimming every other day, and running or doing some other type of cardio the days I don’t swim.”
“She is a great competitor,” Rond, a lifeguard of 32 years, said. “I’m thrilled at the way she competes. She is pretty awesome to watch.”
Rond said Maine will be a great lifeguard when she turns 18. “She is going to be off and running to a great career,” he said.
Longtime lifeguard Greg Bonann spent the summer helping Rond coach Maine. Bonann, the creator of the famed lifeguard television show “Baywatch,” said Maine has a natural knack for being a lifeguard.
“She is extraordinary for her age,” he said. “I think she is the most talented American lifeguard I have seen at her age, and I have seen a few.”
Bonann said Maine has great ocean knowledge. He said the young lifeguard has a natural ability at judging waves and knowing when they are going to break.
Maine dreams of one day being a lifeguard on the beach she spends so much of her time practicing on.
“My dream is to become a captain on the Baywatch boat or boat skipper,” she said.
Bonann said he expects Maine to become a senior lifeguard when she is 18 years old.
“I hope she becomes an L.A. County lifeguard,” Bonann said. “She would be a great competitor for us.”
Bonann said Maine and the other junior members of the U.S.’s lifeguard team will face some tough competition in Australia, but he believes Maine is up for the challenge.
Before the junior team heads to Australia, its coach, Casey Graham of Port Hueneme, will assign the young lifeguards different events to compete in. Maine said she hopes to be in the swim race.
“Over the years, I have developed into a pretty good ocean swimmer, so I want to see how I do in that,” she said.
Maine said she is looking forward to the championship event.
“It will be cool to meet new people because [people from] a lot of different countries are going,” she said.