Malibu Sports Spotlight: Shari Latta, Junior Lifeguard Instructor

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Shari Latta, Junior Lifeguard Instructor

One joy by land and two thrills by the sea. No, you won’t be seeing Paul Revere galloping through the streets of Malibu anytime soon. But, you might glimpse Shari Latta hustling back and forth between Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School and Zuma Beach doing what she does best: teaching our youth. 

Latta balances her love of teaching most of the year on land at the Children’s Creative Workshop, with time spent in the ocean during the summer as a lifeguard and junior guard instructor. For her, it has been the best of both worlds for more than 20 years. 

“Kids have become my passion. I love preschool and working with kids and teaching them about all the great things that I have learned in my life. I love the ocean and wanted to teach the kids about it,” Latta explained. “So the two passions blended together with the ocean and the kids. It kind of came into a really good place for me.” 

A Malibu resident since 1963, Latta has served since 1982 as the director of preschool at the Children’s Creative Workshop, located on the campus of Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School. This past June, Latta celebrated her 30th graduation of kids from the preschool. 

“It’s pretty special to have been here for this long,” she said. 

Just a few miles down the road along Pacific Coast Highway, Latta makes the short trek to Zuma Beach to lifeguard during the summer while also working as a junior guard instructor for five weeks at Tower 10. Certified as a lifeguard in 1984 and as a junior guard instructor in 1989, Latta spends countless hours at Zuma Beach while balancing her time at the preschool with 60 kids ages two-and-a-half to five. 

During July, Latta taught 170 young boys and girls as junior lifeguards. Ranging in age from nine to 17, the junior guard participants learn beach and ocean skills such as water safety, swimming, body surfing, surfing, first aid, rescue techniques, CPR and the use of lifesaving equipment such as the rescue can. 

The Malibu Times caught up with Latta as she took a break in between her multiple jobs. 

Talk about your jobs and how they co-exist in your life. 

Many of my preschoolers move on to become junior lifeguards. So as nine-year-olds they come down to the beach and now they have their pre-school teacher as their junior lifeguard instructor. I don’t know how they really feel about that seeing that I changed many of their diapers. Many of those kids go on through the program and become cadets. Then they become lifeguards, which is a really incredible and special thing. Not only are they my former preschoolers and my former junior guards, but now they are my peers and we work together. Some are even my supervisors. 

What is significant about the Junior Lifeguard program? 

I wanted to teach junior lifeguards because it is such a great way to impart the knowledge and skills about the ocean. Teaching junior guards is incredible. I spend a ton of time in the water with them. One of the great things about junior guards is watching kids go from not knowing how to go under a wave, being too scared to go under a wave, getting knocked down by a wave, to charging out there and diving under the wave, taking some strokes and swimming with confidence. It’s worth every bit of the cold and freezing that we deal with. 

What do you emphasize with the junior guards throughout the five-week course? 

My main responsibility with the junior guards is to keep the kids safe and for them to understand what the conditions are and learn to be able to look at the conditions and determine if it is safe for their abilities. For example, they go into the water and check the bottom of the ocean for sandbars or big holes. They look for rip currents. What I am really looking for is safety. 

What are some ocean safety tips for the public to know? 

People need to check with the lifeguards because they know best. Ask about the conditions and spend time looking at the conditions. Rip currents typically follow big waves. People have to be aware of the currents and what to do to get out of them. And have your hands in front of your head at all times when you take off on a wave. They need to understand the health and respect for the ocean. The ocean can really hurt you but it is also a nurturing and healing place.