From lawyer to lifeguard: Rehoboth Beach Patrol’s 42-year-old rookie reflects on his first summer protecting the shores

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Ben Schweers made Rehoboth Beach history this summer in a rather unconventional way. At 42, he became the oldest rookie lifeguard the city’s Beach Patrol has ever had.

“I turned 42 the day after the season started technically,” Schweers said. “That’s my claim to fame.”

Schweers took a break from his career as a trial attorney in Pittsburgh, and for nearly four months, he has been living in Rehoboth Beach. He said he was initially nervous about becoming a lifeguard, especially since most of his peers would be younger than him. However, he said he has been welcomed with open arms.

“When you’re out there on stand and you’re scanning the ocean, and you’re a collective force trying to protect the public, the age of the individual lifeguard, as long as they’re a capable lifeguard, really is irrelevant,” Schweers said.

Schweers began visiting Rehoboth Beach about six years ago with friends, and since then has visited annually for a week at a time. He fell in love with the beach, the community and the culture of the city.

As a vacationer, Schweers took note of the lifeguards on the beach and held them in high regard.

“They always had a smile on their face. They always look like they’re having fun even when they’re doing these intense workouts,” Schweers said. “I consider myself an athlete and a really active person. I was thinking that would be a really cool job to have someday.”

Schweers said he often works with medical malpractice and occupational disease cases in his legal career, which can be severe. Leading up to this summer, Schweers said he began to feel burnt out in the office setting.

“Trial work can be really intense and my caseload allowed me to do this, this summer. The stars kind of aligned so to speak and I jumped on the opportunity to come down here,” he said.

From law firms to low tides

In March, Schweers tried out for the patrol and was offered a lifeguard position. At the start of the summer season, Schweers and other incoming rookies completed a six-week bootcamp. There, they worked out twice a day for about 2 1/2 hours total. Workouts include mile-long open water swims, soft sand sprints and countless pushups.

Rehoboth Beach Patrol Chief Richard Szvitich said rookie bootcamp can often be the “best and worst thing that ever happened to you.” That’s mainly due to the physical strain of working out for six weeks with little to no breaks, but also the satisfaction rookies get from completing the training and bonding with their fellow lifeguards, he said.

“Alumni come back, they know that we all have that commonality of, ‘Yeah, we got our butts kicked in rookie week, but we would do it again in a heartbeat,’” Szvitich said.

For Schweers, boot camp was one of the hardest things he’s ever done physically and mentally. However, he said that if he was able to complete boot camp, he could get through anything. He plans to apply this thinking to his legal career.

“There will be no case too hard or a problem too great now that I’ve shown to myself that I can get through that training and what goes into being a Rehoboth Beach lifeguard,” Schweers said.

Schweers said there are some overlaps between being a lawyer and a lifeguard. He said both professions require considerable preparation. For lawyers, that means preparing for a case, and for lifeguards, it’s learning safety precautions. Rookies are also trained in proper rescue techniques and taught how to handle a wide range of medical injuries.

Schweers said that so far this summer, he’s completed two rescues involving children caught in rip currents.

“Our motto here is ‘everyone goes home,’ and really it’s our goal to make sure that everyone who comes down to this beach and/or goes in the ocean that they go home with their family later that day,” he said.

Though lifeguards are observing beachgoers for safety, Schweers said a typical shift is still fun.

“You’re getting to sit in one of the world’s most beautiful spots on one of the greatest beaches, and you’re sitting next to one of your best friends chatting all day, making jokes,” he said.

‘The best summer of my life’

Szvitich had a positive first impression of Schweers, who he said was enthusiastic about becoming a lifeguard.

“When he got here, you could see that he was ready to go. So that’s the important part,” Szvitich said. “Some people say they want to do it. We have a lot of people that come up and say, ‘Hey, I’d love to lifeguard next year and retire,’ or this or that and none of them show up. But Ben showed up.”

According to Szvitich, a good lifeguard is someone that is a little laid back, physically fit and has a team mindset. He said Schweers’s legal background benefits the team.

“Law is not something that you’re doing on your own. You’re relying on the people to go out and do research and bring it back to you, and [others] knowing that it’s the right thing,” Szvitich said. “I think that’s what’s happening here.”

Szvitich said he’s been working in the field for almost 30 years, and he came to the Rehoboth Beach Patrol as a 31-year-old rookie. He said older rookies like Schweers are helpful because they can stay on longer than lifeguards who need to return to school or other jobs before the season is over. They also bring life experience younger kids don’t normally have.

Since he began working as a lifeguard, Schweers said he has only grown fonder of Rehoboth Beach. Though he is not a local, he said he is considering making the city his new permanent home.

As the summer season wraps up, Schweers is preparing to return to his law firm. Though he initially thought it would be difficult to transition from being a lawyer to a lifeguard, he now believes the opposite might be true. He said he’s enjoyed his time with the beach patrol immensely, and he will miss the whole crew and city.

“It’s been, quite honestly, the best summer of my life,” Schweers said.

Schweers said that he will return to the beach next year to help train new rookies, as long as his work schedule allows it.