Euclid Lifeguard's take on summer fitness challenges

Many adolescent summer schedules center on watching television, Tweeting and trips to McDonald’s. However this summer the Euclid City Pool Lifeguards have kept it healthy with multiple summer fitness challenges. Sponsored by Euclid resident Karen Steigerwald, the guards have been encouraged to “Peddle to the Pools” and “Go the Extra 500.” These challenges encourage the guards to ride their bikes to work and swim more than their 500 yard lap requirement each week. The guards can participate in one or both of the events. Each guard keeps track of his or her bike/swim record on an honor system and prizes are awarded every three weeks to the top three guards.

The first round of these competitions began in June at the start of the summer pool season. For the “Peddle to the Pools” competition, the winners included Amy Steigerwald, Chris Munz, and Sam Phillips. In total, the three guards biked 164.5 miles, and that’s just between the top three. In the “Go the Extra 500” challenge, the top three winner included Amy Steigerwald, Kwame McGee and Michelle Connavino. Together they swam a total of 560 laps. Each of the winners in both categories got to pick a gift card from a range of places such as Dick’s, Subway, Panera, I-Tunes and even gas cards.

Karen Steigerwald, the organizer of this idea, is a registered nurse at Hillcrest Pediatric Emergency Room. Karen is always looking for a way to keep today’s youth active and healthy. “I see many children who are overweight and extremely unhealthy at my job. I wanted to encourage all of the Euclid guards to make a change this summer and do something active.” Since many of the lifeguards live in the city of Euclid , Karen sees no reason why they cannot bike to work. “I believe that lifeguards are role models for younger children at the pool. If they see the lifeguards swimming and biking maybe they will follow their lead.” The final round of “Peddle to the Pools” and “Go the extra 500” is currently in progress and will continue until the end of the summer.

Amy Steigerwald is a Senior at Lake Catholic High School, a Euclid Memorial Pool Lifeguard and has lived in Euclid all her life.