Program Overview

Water Safety Instructor Certification

The Water Safety Instructor (WSI) course involves 25 hours of in-person training with a prerequisite test on the first day. Through video and hands-on skill building, the course includes all the water safety and drowning prevention tools and information needed to plan and conduct courses in the American Red Cross Swimming and Water Safety program. This includes Parent and Child Aquatics, Pre-School Aquatics, Learn to Swim, Adult Swim, and various water safety presentations. This course involves some online pre-course work that is required to be completed by the start of the first day of the course. WSI candidates MUST attend every session.

Requirements

To participate in the Water Safety Instructor course, individuals must:

• Be at least 16 years of age on or before the final scheduled lesson of this course.
• Demonstrate the following strokes demonstrating Red Cross Level 4 swimming skills:
  • Front crawl25 yards
  • Back crawl25 yards
  • Breaststroke25 yards
  • Elementary backstroke25 yards
  • Sidestroke25 yards
  • Butterfly15 yards
• Maintain position on back for one minute in deep water (floating or sculling).
• Tread water for one minute.