FSU Campus Recreation | Instructor Training

The Aquatics Department offers students, faculty and staff, and the community the opportunity to enroll in certification classes. The classes are held at the Leach Center and are taught by certified American Red Cross instructors.

Instructor Courses

Water Safety Instructor Training

This 40-hour instructor course is designed to train individuals to teach American Red Cross Learn to Swim and Water Safety courses.

In order to participate, students must be 16 years of age, and be able to demonstrate competency in the 6 major swimming strokes: Front and Back Crawl, Breastroke, Elementary Backstroke, Sidestroke, and Butterfly. The swimming skills assessment will take place on the first day of class, and participants should come prepared to demonstrate 25 yards of each of strokes listed (15 yards for Butterfly). Students will also be asked to maintain a floating position on their back for 1 minute and tread water for 1 minute.

Instructor candidates that are unable to successfully pass the prerequisites will not be able to continue in the course and will be given a partial refund of $75 from the campus recreation center, the Red Cross Fee is non-refundable.

Participants Must Attend All 4 Sessions, Academic Schedule Will Be Considered

Lifeguarding Instructor Training

The purpose of the 19-hour instructor course is to train instructor candidates to teach the American Red Cross Lifeguarding, Lifeguarding Blended Learning, Aquatic Attraction Lifeguarding (Water ≤ 3′), Shallow Water Lifeguarding, Waterpark Skills, CPR/AED for Professional Rescuers and Health Care Providers, Administering Emergency Oxygen and Bloodborne Pathogens Training courses and/or modules.

To participate in this course, instructor candidates must be at least 17 years of age on the last day of the instructor course, possess current American Red Cross certificate for Lifeguarding/First Aid/CPR/AED or an equivalent certificate from another organization.

To receive a certification, participants must:

Successfully complete the Online Session
Successfully complete the Precourse Session
Attend and actively participate in all course sessions
Successfully complete class activities, including the four practice-teaching assignments
Score a minimum of 80 percent (32 correct answers out of 40 questions) on the Bloodborne Pathogens Training Instructor Self-Study Test
Score a minimum of 80 percent (20 correct answers out of 25 questions) on the instructor course final written exam.