Southampton Town Holds Its Biggest Junior Lifeguard Program Yet

Southampton Town held its biggest ever Junior Lifeguarding Tournament on Saturday, with 150 kids descending onto the sand at Ponquogue Beach in Hampton Bays.

While the future lifeguard hopefuls were able to compete in events such as running and swimming relays, simulated rescues, paddleboard races, and more, at the heart of it all was teaching the youth safety in and around the water, which should bode well for future generations.

“The whole point of the program is making sure the kids are learning while having fun along the way,” said Will Zaffuto, one of the several Southampton Town lifeguards who helped run the junior program this summer.

There are three different age groups that are a part of the program. The youngest group, the nippers, are for those 9-10 years old, run by lifeguard Elena Mugno, and are taught some swimming, but is really about getting comfortable in both the bays and ocean. The 11- and 12-year-olds, led by lifeguard Mackenzie Mahoney, get more into rescues on a smaller scale and the different techniques that are used to save people in the water. The eldest group of 13- to 15-year-olds, led by both Zaffuto and Kiley Kaiser, are shown the most realistic scenarios of water rescues and helps prepare the oldest guards to take the lifeguard tests when they turn 16.

One of the most popular children’s programs offered by Southampton Town, the junior lifeguarding program first came about in 1995 and has continued to grow every year since and often has a waiting list. The program runs for five weeks at the town’s various beaches and the fifth week is when the tournament is held, a culmination of everything the juniors have learned up to that point. Zaffuto said about 100 of the 150 juniors who took part in this year’s program hailed from the western side of town, mostly Ponquogue and Tiana beaches, with the rest from the east. This was also the first year, Zaffuto said, that Southampton Village’s Coopers Beach submitted a team of juniors.

“We had an incredible team of lifeguards,” Zaffuto said. “Everyone brought a great attitude, showing up with a smile on their face every day. We love it so much and we think they had a great year of competition and it all worked out really well.”

Zaffuto, like many of his coworkers at the various beaches, is local, having graduated from Westhampton Beach High School in 2021. He’s now a rising junior at Clemson University. He is a five-year veteran of the beaches and typically works out of Ponquogue. Being able to teach the junior lifeguards is a full-circle moment for him and his fellow guards. By now, almost all lifeguards on the beaches went through the junior lifeguard program and so giving back is what it’s all about.

For years, the junior lifeguard program was led by Ciara McKeon, another Westhampton Beach graduate who died in February 2022 after being hit by a car in the parking lot of the school in Florida where she had worked as a physical education teacher. Since McKeon’s untimely death, both Kaiser and Zaffuto have been leading the junior program for the town. Last year, the town lifeguards unveiled the “Heart and Hustle” Award in McKeon’s honor, given to a junior guard of their choosing who embodied her spirit.

“She brought heart and hustle every time she was on the beach,” Zaffuto said. “She had been bringing that for a long time before Kiley and I were lifeguards and she was in charge of this program for many years.”

While the tournament is a fun way to conclude the program, at the end of the day it’s just like any other lifeguard tournament, which is about honing and crafting the guards’ skills for when real rescues are needed.

“Especially the older junior guards,” Zaffuto confirmed. “The program segues directly into the lifeguard course and test, and now we know the kids well going into the class and those applying for jobs and getting ready to become an actual lifeguard.”