Lifeguard for fun
Combining fun activities with life-saving gestures - that's what Lifesaving Sport is all about. Dive into this little-known sport with Jérémy Ferrara, a Polytech student and French junior champion in this fast-growing discipline.
In the big swimming family, they form a separate branch that thrives far from the spotlight. Jérémy Ferrara is one of them. His specialty: lifesaving sport. An activity which, before being a sport, is a very serious profession, saving dozens of lives every year. Lifesaving sport is inspired by real-life situations experienced daily by lifeguards. A demanding discipline combining swimming, freediving, running, navigation and, of course, towing dummies. "There are two types of event: the flat-water events, i.e. in the pool, and the coastal events, on sand and at sea, which are the most spectacular"... explains the 20-year-old, whose pocket-sized physique contrasts with the typical swimmer's morphology. Last winter, in Castres, Jérémy Ferrara became French champion of the 100-meter obstacle course, which consists of a course strewn with floating barriers, forcing the rescuer to dive to imitate the search for a person in distress...
Montpellier, France's lifesaving capital
Although the sport of lifesaving began on the Australian coast at the turn of the 20th century, it wasn't until the early 90s that the first French competitions were held. Today, although the two Oceanic giants - Australia and New Zealand - still crush the competition, France is asserting itself as a major nation in the discipline. At the last World Games - a competition bringing together some thirty non-Olympic sports - France collected 11 medals, including 6 gold. An all-time record. As for the number of practitioners, it has grown exponentially over the last ten years. A symbol of this new wave, Jérémy Ferrara has no regrets about his choice. An accomplished swimmer who has been frequenting pools since the age of 3, he appreciates the variety of a discipline that contrasts with the monotony of traditional swimming: "In swimming, you do more or less the same thing in training, and surprises are rare in competition. In lifesaving, the best swimmer may well not win because he missed a technical passage...".
Rescue robots
Recognized as a top-level sport in France since 2009, lifesaving has found its home in Montpellier. The capital of Languedoc is now home to the "Pôle France" and has been entrusted with the organization of the 2014 world championships. It's an ideal environment for the young lifesaver, who switches between training and a preparatory course for engineering studies at Polytech. "I benefit from a special timetable, with the possibility of completing my preparatory course over three years instead of two," explains the man who could well see himself becoming a roboticist. And, why not, one day take part in perfecting rescue robots which, like the Helper drone tested this summer in Biscarosse, are increasingly becoming the indispensable auxiliaries for rescue operations at sea?