Christian Castle Lifeguard Olympics

When Christian Castle died in August of 2006 in a drowning accident, his parents were obviously grief-stricken. Christian’s father, Edmund, who taught lifeguarding skill’s at the time of his son’s death, said his son died in proximity to about five or six lifeguards. The tragedy led the Castle family to found two outlets to help grieve the loss of their child as well as to hopefully prevent other parents from suffering through what they went through. The family came up with the Christian Castle Lifeguard Olympics. It is an annual competition that hosts teams of lifeguards from all over the region. This year, the event featured 30 lifeguard teams from the El Paso region. The four-person teams competed in eight events, all designed to improve a lifeguard’s lifesaving skills. This year’s competition was held at Wet-n-Wild Waterworld.

The family also founded the Drowning Prevention Coalition, which is a group of 33 community organizations that work together to help prevent water related accidents. The group’s fundraiser, featuring five-time Olympic Diving champion Greg Louganis, is scheduled for Thursday, August 14, at the Camino Real hotel in downtown El Paso.

To read more about the Christian Castle Lifeguard Olympics or the the Drowning Prevention Coalition please click on the two links below.

http://umcfoundationelpaso.org/page_2_28_28.html

https://www.facebook.com/ElPasoParksandRec/posts/10151663987201838