Get Your BID On: National Lifeguard Championships

Share
Jul 17, 2025 | By: Mary Helen Sprecher

Photo © Khairil Azhar Junos | Dreamstime.com
 

Got a beach? Want to grab some eyeballs with one of the coolest events around? The United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) welcomes applications to host the annual National Lifeguard Championships
 

The United States Lifesaving Association National Lifeguard Championships are conducted annually at a beach location in the USA, normally on the four days leading up to and including the second Saturday in August.
 

The USLA is the national governing body of lifesaving sport in the USA, as America’s Full Member of the International Life Saving Federation (ILS). Lifesaving sport is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the ILS is recognized by the IOC as the governing body for lifesaving sport.
 

Photo © Erin Cadigan | Dreamstime.com

Click here for the Host Application Overview including benefits and responsibilities of hosting the event.
 

Click here for the Electronic Application to host the event.
 

Held annually since 1980, the Championships draw approximately 1,000 competitors, including working lifeguards, former lifeguards and junior lifeguards. Coaches, friends and families also travel to the event. 
 

It is estimated that the event consumes at least 1,500 hotel room nights, as well as other economic impact through restaurants, shopping, sightseeing and other attractions. The venue is promoted on the USLA website for up to a year prior.
 

The Championships are a positive and unique event in which working lifeguards and junior lifeguards compete through speed, agility and strategy using many techniques that are common to lifesaving. The events feature highly physically fit men and women whose primary professional goal is the prevention of drowning. 
 

The United States Lifesaving Association accepts bids from local organizations to host the event. Past hosts have included USLA chapters, tourism boards and government bodies. A close relationship with the local lifeguard agency is key to success of the event. The USLA prefers to conduct events at beaches where the lifeguard agency is certified as meeting the recommended standards of the USLA.
 

The successful bidder enters into a host agreement with the USLA. (The USLA will also consider multi-year bids.) Both the USLA and the host can benefit from sponsorship funding and other sources of revenue generated by the event.
 

Click here for the Host Application Overview including benefits and responsibilities of hosting the event.
 

Click here for the Electronic Application to host the event.
 

Click here for the USLA website

About the Author