Open to boys and girls ages 9 through 17. Applicants must possess a basic swimming ability to be able to pass the following prerequisite exam:
o Swim 100 yards in less than 1 minute & 50 seconds
o Tread water or five minutes
o Swim underwater for approximately 10 yards
I barely made the 100 yard swim (1 minute 45 seconds and I was sweating!) but I can swim underwater until folks start looking for me, and I'll tread water as long as you like (Fred Lanoue, the GA Tech swim coach and author of Drownproofing, taught my mom swimming - my grandfather was a big GA Tech man and personal friends with Fred).
I've never been a fast swimmer, more endurance. My daughter turned out to be a good sprint swimmer (she is a lanky creature with long long legs, like her daddy), my son is a fireplug like me and like me he's a distance swimmer.
I have both the Red Cross and the BSA Lifesaving certificates, and I can tell you that the BSA program makes the Red Cross look like a flippin' stroll in the park!
(very proud to have passed BSA at the advanced age of 50! took the course along with my daughter, who also passed!)